Tag Archives: Math

Uncategorized

Inspired to go to School: Start with Why in Math Education

Leave a comment

My son, a high school senior, shared that Simon Sinek, leadership expert and author of Start with Why, will be presenting a talk today at assembly. First thought, I wish I could go.  Second thought, let my fingers do the walking so I go to www.startwithwhy.com and got hit with “Imagine a world where people wake up inspired to go to work”… would love this to say

“Imagine a world where students and teachers wake up inspired to go to school”.

This is why (haha!) I have a talk called “When Are We Ever Going to Use This Math?” to answer this question of “Why?” although upon deeper reflection, maybe I have been answering the wrong question.  So what could the question be?  Here are some ideas:

Why does every country have their students study Math?

Why study Math?

Why do people think people who study STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) are smart?

Why do people who study STEM usually make more money?

Please comment to add your own Why questions that will inspire and motivate students…thanks!

Uncategorized

Test Taking is a Skill: learning from ‘fuzzy errors”

2 Comments

At least 5 times a week, someone will share that their son or daughter is a poor test taker.  We all know people who ace the test with no effort but much can be gained by focused studying and commitment and I do not just mean test scores!

Tests may not always show knowledge and skills — that 7 in Physics was tough freshman year (yes out of 100!) but I learned so much about attention to detail and focus.  How many times do we see 2^3 (2 to the 3rd) = 6 rather than 8?  I call these “fuzzy errors”.  People can improve their test scores and their attention to detail by answering the exact question and noticing the finer points of what they are being asked.

How did I learn to do this?  The hard way — btw, my next score in Physics was exciting because it was double digit — 11!  (because class avg was so low, I still managed a C in the class).