The array representation

Patrick Barmby, Tony Harries, Steve Higgins and Jennifer Suggate have written an article that was recently published online in Educational Studies in Mathematics. The article is entitled The array representation and primary children’s understanding and reasoning in multiplication, and here is a copy of the abstract:

We examine whether the array representation can support children’s understanding and reasoning in multiplication. To begin, we define what we mean by understanding and reasoning. We adopt a ‘representational-reasoning’ model of understanding, where understanding is seen as connections being made between mental representations of concepts, with reasoning linking together the different parts of the understanding. We examine in detail the implications of this model, drawing upon the wider literature on assessing understanding, multiple representations, self explanations and key developmental understandings. Having also established theoretically why the array representation might support children’s understanding and reasoning, we describe the results of a study which looked at children using the array for multiplication calculations. Children worked in pairs on laptop computers, using Flash Macromedia programs with the array representation to carry out multiplication calculations. In using this approach, we were able to record all the actions carried out by children on the computer, using a recording program called Camtasia. The analysis of the obtained audiovisual data identified ways in which the array representation helped children, and also problems that children had with using the array. Based on these results, implications for using the array in the classroom are considered.

The array representation

Patrick Barmby, Tony Harries, Steve Higgins and Jennifer Suggate have written an article that was recently published online in Educational Studies in Mathematics. The article is entitled The array representation and primary children’s understanding and reasoning in multiplication, and here is a copy of the abstract:

We examine whether the array representation can support children’s understanding and reasoning in multiplication. To begin, we define what we mean by understanding and reasoning. We adopt a ‘representational-reasoning’ model of understanding, where understanding is seen as connections being made between mental representations of concepts, with reasoning linking together the different parts of the understanding. We examine in detail the implications of this model, drawing upon the wider literature on assessing understanding, multiple representations, self explanations and key developmental understandings. Having also established theoretically why the array representation might support children’s understanding and reasoning, we describe the results of a study which looked at children using the array for multiplication calculations. Children worked in pairs on laptop computers, using Flash Macromedia programs with the array representation to carry out multiplication calculations. In using this approach, we were able to record all the actions carried out by children on the computer, using a recording program called Camtasia. The analysis of the obtained audiovisual data identified ways in which the array representation helped children, and also problems that children had with using the array. Based on these results, implications for using the array in the classroom are considered.

Bodily experience and mathematical conceptions

Wolff-Michael Roth and Jennifer S. Thom have written an article entitled Bodily experience and mathematical conceptions: from classical views to a phenomenological reconceptualization. This article was recently published in Educational Studies in Mathematics. Here is the abstract of the article:

Mathematical concepts and conceptions have been theorized as abstractions from—and therefore transcending—bodily and embodied experience. In this contribution, we re-theorize mathematical conceptions by building on recent philosophical work in dialectical phenomenology. Accordingly, a conception exists only in, through, and as of the experiences that the individual realizes it. To exemplify our reconceptualization of mathematical conceptions, we draw on an episode from a study in a second-grade classroom where the students learned about three-dimensional geometrical objects.

Bodily experience and mathematical conceptions

Wolff-Michael Roth and Jennifer S. Thom have written an article entitled Bodily experience and mathematical conceptions: from classical views to a phenomenological reconceptualization. This article was recently published in Educational Studies in Mathematics. Here is the abstract of the article:

Mathematical concepts and conceptions have been theorized as abstractions from—and therefore transcending—bodily and embodied experience. In this contribution, we re-theorize mathematical conceptions by building on recent philosophical work in dialectical phenomenology. Accordingly, a conception exists only in, through, and as of the experiences that the individual realizes it. To exemplify our reconceptualization of mathematical conceptions, we draw on an episode from a study in a second-grade classroom where the students learned about three-dimensional geometrical objects.

Of Hurricanes And Cable News Sunday

As Hurricane Gustav bears-down on the Louisiana coast, the cable news channels have been covering the story all day. (See CNN's here.)And so they should cover this major news event.I grew-up in Florida, which is Hurricane Country.And, interesting as it may seem, one of the things that many Florida folks used to say, (and many still do say) is that these monster storms don't hit the big coastal

What really matters?

Berinderjeet Kaur from the National Institute of Education in Singapore has written an article with the interesting title: Teaching and learning of mathematics: what really matters to teachers and students? This article was recently published in ZDM. In some previous articles, Kaur has reported on studies concerning the expectations that Singapore students have of their "best" mathematics teacher. In this article, Kaur draws upon data from The learner's perspective study (LPS), and in particular data from the interviews of students and teachers in Singapore, and the main research questions are related to what students and teachers attach importance to in a mathematics lesson. The Singapore study used a similar research design as that of the LPS. This paper reports on the analysis of data from a part of the study that involved interviews of from the classrooms of three competent teachers.

Here is the abstract:

The learner’s perspective study, motivated by a strong belief that the characterization of the practices of mathematics classrooms must attend to learner practice with at least the same priority as that accorded to teacher practice, is a comprehensive study that adopts a complementary accounts methodology to negotiate meanings in classrooms. In Singapore, three mathematics teachers recognized for their locally defined ‘teaching competence’ participated in the study. The comprehensive sets of data from the three classrooms have been used to explore several premises related to the teaching and learning of mathematics. In this paper the student interview data and the teacher interview data were examined to ascertain what do students attach importance to and what do teachers attach importance to in a mathematics lesson? The findings of the student interview data showed that they attached importance to several sub-aspects of the three main aspects, i.e., exposition, seatwork and review and feedback of their teachers’ pedagogical practices. The findings of the teacher interview data showed that they attached importance to student’s self assessment, teacher’s demonstration of procedures, review of prior knowledge and close monitoring of their student’s progress in learning and detailed feedback of their work. It was also found that teachers and students did attach importance to some common lesson events.

What really matters?

Berinderjeet Kaur from the National Institute of Education in Singapore has written an article with the interesting title: Teaching and learning of mathematics: what really matters to teachers and students? This article was recently published in ZDM. In some previous articles, Kaur has reported on studies concerning the expectations that Singapore students have of their "best" mathematics teacher. In this article, Kaur draws upon data from The learner's perspective study (LPS), and in particular data from the interviews of students and teachers in Singapore, and the main research questions are related to what students and teachers attach importance to in a mathematics lesson. The Singapore study used a similar research design as that of the LPS. This paper reports on the analysis of data from a part of the study that involved interviews of from the classrooms of three competent teachers.

Here is the abstract:

The learner’s perspective study, motivated by a strong belief that the characterization of the practices of mathematics classrooms must attend to learner practice with at least the same priority as that accorded to teacher practice, is a comprehensive study that adopts a complementary accounts methodology to negotiate meanings in classrooms. In Singapore, three mathematics teachers recognized for their locally defined ‘teaching competence’ participated in the study. The comprehensive sets of data from the three classrooms have been used to explore several premises related to the teaching and learning of mathematics. In this paper the student interview data and the teacher interview data were examined to ascertain what do students attach importance to and what do teachers attach importance to in a mathematics lesson? The findings of the student interview data showed that they attached importance to several sub-aspects of the three main aspects, i.e., exposition, seatwork and review and feedback of their teachers’ pedagogical practices. The findings of the teacher interview data showed that they attached importance to student’s self assessment, teacher’s demonstration of procedures, review of prior knowledge and close monitoring of their student’s progress in learning and detailed feedback of their work. It was also found that teachers and students did attach importance to some common lesson events.

Gender differences in Germany

Henrik Winkelmann, Marja van den Heuvel-Panhuizen and Alexander Robitzsch have written an article called Gender differences in the mathematics achievements of German primary school students: results from a German large-scale study. The article was recently published in ZDM. Here is the article abstract:

In Germany, national standards for mathematics for the end of primary school were established in 2004. In the present study, data were collected to evaluate these standards, and were used to compare the mathematical skills of girls and boys. Many studies have shown that gender differences are strongest at the highest levels of education. The findings from primary school are less consistent. Thus, in our study we analyzed achievement differences in a sample of approximately 10,000 third and fourth graders, representative of the German elementary school population. Gender-specific competencies were compared in the different content domains, both for the general mathematical competence, and for the cognitive levels of the tasks. Overall, boys outperformed girls, but substantial variation was found between the content domains and general mathematical achievement. Differences were higher in grade three than in grade four. The proportion of boys in the classroom did not appear to affect the individual level of performance. Analysis of the items on which boys or girls clearly outperformed each other reproduced a pattern of specific item characteristics predicting gender bias consistent with those reported in previous studies in other countries.

Gender differences in Germany

Henrik Winkelmann, Marja van den Heuvel-Panhuizen and Alexander Robitzsch have written an article called Gender differences in the mathematics achievements of German primary school students: results from a German large-scale study. The article was recently published in ZDM. Here is the article abstract:

In Germany, national standards for mathematics for the end of primary school were established in 2004. In the present study, data were collected to evaluate these standards, and were used to compare the mathematical skills of girls and boys. Many studies have shown that gender differences are strongest at the highest levels of education. The findings from primary school are less consistent. Thus, in our study we analyzed achievement differences in a sample of approximately 10,000 third and fourth graders, representative of the German elementary school population. Gender-specific competencies were compared in the different content domains, both for the general mathematical competence, and for the cognitive levels of the tasks. Overall, boys outperformed girls, but substantial variation was found between the content domains and general mathematical achievement. Differences were higher in grade three than in grade four. The proportion of boys in the classroom did not appear to affect the individual level of performance. Analysis of the items on which boys or girls clearly outperformed each other reproduced a pattern of specific item characteristics predicting gender bias consistent with those reported in previous studies in other countries.

Congrats Prof Khalid!

Congrats to Prof Khalid Abdul Kadir for being the recipient of the first Merdeka award for Health, Science and Technology. Prof Khalid is the head of the Johor Baru Monash University Clinical School and his area of specialty is the treatment of diabetes. With so much depressing news of politicians seeking bogus PhDs and VCs having lousy CVs, it is good to read about a genuine academic who cares about his area of research. I don't know much about the research of diabetes but I do know that a simple google search reveals that Prof Khalid has quite a few publications in refereed journals. I'm guessing that Monash would not have made him the head of their clinical school in JB if he was a sub par academic.

The truth about cats and dogs

We have a new exchange student from Azerbaijan, which has gotten me into this blog from a teacher in that country.

Leigh has a really interesting recent post about how dogs and cats are viewed in Azerbaijan. Very different from how we view them (almost as children), and also quite different from what I observed in Bolivia, where nearly every household has at least one dog for guarding purposes. Dogs are also rarely spayed or neutered, so they have the same hordes of stray dogs roaming around as what Leigh is talking about.

Promises to keep

Sarah Vowell has a really nice homage to Ted Kennedy and the Democrats, the party of Pell Grants, in yesterday's NY Times. I particularly enjoyed her interpretation of Obama's vision of the "promise" of the U.S.:

Picture this: a wind-powered public school classroom of 19 multiracial 8-year-olds reading above grade level and answering the questions of their engaging, inspirational teacher before going home to a cancer-free (or in remission) parent or parents who have to work only eight hours a day in a country at war solely with the people who make war on us, where maybe Exxon Mobil can settle for, oh, $8 billion in quarterly profits instead of $11 billion, and the federal government’s point man for Biblical natural disasters is someone who knows more about emergency management than how to put on a horse show.

China Arnold: Monster

This creature masquerading-as-a-mother murdered her baby by cooking the little girl in a microwave oven:DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- A mother was convicted Friday of killing her month-old daughter by burning her in a microwave oven, with jurors rejecting a defense attorney's claims there was evidence that someone else was responsible.China Arnold, 28, showed no reaction when the jury's verdict was

Two years at Harvard Business School

Just read a book written by a journalist, Philip Delves Broughton, who attended Harvard Business School or HBS, as it is popularly known, and wrote about his experiences there. It's a much cheaper way to get a sense of what studying at HBS is like and definitely less stressful!

There is no doubt that HBS is the most powerful brand name in terms of business schools (sorry Wharton). What I found interesting about this book is that the author is very unlike the type A, super intense and incredibly driven individuals that one typically finds at HBS. He doesn't have any background in finance, he didn't even know how to use excel when he first attended HBS and didn't know the management speak that is common currency in these circles.

Although he finds himself being critical of some of the attitudes adopted by some of his colleagues - those type A people - he also writes very fondly of some of them. Some of them are actually nice people who don't want to work in the two industries most associated with HBS graduates - investment banking and management consultancy. (Not to say that ibankers and management consultants are not nice people :))

And I think through his journey at HBS, he actually slowly finds himself being more comfortable in the world of balance sheets, financial ratios and management jargon. He begins to write more sympathetically about the kind of stuff which you learn at HBS and even some of his experiences. He goes for that mandatory interview with Mckinsey (he didn't get the job), he pitches an idea to a venture capitalist, he visits the HQ of Google in California.

In the end, his path was not the same taken by most of his fellow graduates. He was the only one from his class that did not have a job when he graduated. I think he spent some time writing this book and doing some small consultancy projects here and there. For those of you who want to get a sense of the academic and career challenges that one faces in a place like HBS, I definitely recommend this book. There are some parts in which he discusses some of the details of what he learned at HBS which some might find boring but these snippets, in my opinion, are still instructive. While this is not as exciting as Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker, I found it to be well written and an instructive read.

...And It's Sarah Palin! Who?!?!

Word just leaked that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (NGA bio) has been tapped by John McCain to be his vice presidential running mate. Certainly his choice is not an attempt to nail down Alaska's vote in the Electoral College. It is an obvious attempt to appeal to independent women voters (and any Clinton supporters Obama didn't win over at the Democratic Convention) and to counter Obama's youth and dynamism. How Palin will face up to Joe Biden in the VP debate is another question.

Here is an initial look into Palin's education record in a year-and-a-half as Alaska Governor.

(1) In her 2008 State of the State Address she had this to say:

Victor Hugo said, “He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” It's a privileged obligation we have to “open education doors.” ... Stepping through “the door” is about more than passing a standardized test. We need kids prepared to pass life's tests – like getting a job and valuing a strong work ethic. Our Three-year Education Plan invests more than a billion dollars each year. We must forward-fund education, letting schools plan ahead. We must stop pink-slipping teachers, and then struggle to recruit and retain them the next year.

We will enable schools to finally focus on innovation and accountability to see superior results. We're asking lawmakers to pass a new K-12 funding plan early this year. This is a significant investment that is needed to increase the base student allocation, district cost factors and intensive needs students. It includes $100 million in school construction and deferred maintenance. There is awesome potential to improve education, respect good teachers, and embrace choice for parents. This potential will prime Alaska to compete in a global economy that is so competitive it will blow us away if we are not prepared. Beyond high school, we will boost job training and University options. We are proposing more than $10 million in new funding for apprenticeship programs, expansion of construction, engineering and health care degrees to meet demands. But it must be about more than funds, it must be a change in philosophy. It is time to shift focus, from just dollars and cents to “caliyulriit,” which is Yupik for “people who want to work.” Work for pride in supporting our families, in and out of the home. Work for purpose and for action, and ultimately destiny fulfilled by being fruitful. It's about results and getting kids excited about their future – whether it is college, trade school or military.

(2) In her 2006 gubernatorial campaign, her education platform included:

A. Schools of Choice
B. Expanded Vocational Training Opportunities
C. Pre-Kindergarten
D. Competitive Teacher Salaries & Benefits

(3) Palin has been a strong supporter of the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project. The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development created the Project in partnership with the University of Alaska in support of their shared mission to improve academic achievement for students in Alaska. Through mentoring for beginning teachers, the goals of the program are to increase teacher retention and increase student achievement. The model is adapted from the New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Prior to being elected Governor in 2006, Palin had served four years on a city council and six years as a mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a city of 6,000 people.

Proceedings from ICME-10

It has been four years since ICME-10 was arranged in Copenhagen. For different reasons, the publication of the proceedings has delayed. A while ago, though, the proceedings were finally published. Participants at ICME-10 can order a printed book (for free), but those who did not attend can download the proceedings as a (large!) pdf-document. To read the proceedings from this important conference, click here!

Proceedings from ICME-10

It has been four years since ICME-10 was arranged in Copenhagen. For different reasons, the publication of the proceedings has delayed. A while ago, though, the proceedings were finally published. Participants at ICME-10 can order a printed book (for free), but those who did not attend can download the proceedings as a (large!) pdf-document. To read the proceedings from this important conference, click here!

Administrative Buffoonery Or Crazy Like A Fox?

Oftentimes, stupidity needs no explanation:Iowa Central Community College President Robert Paxton will collect $400,000 from the school in return for his resignation.After 13 years as president of the Fort Dodge school, Paxton resigned Wednesday, one day before the school’s board of trustees was scheduled to discuss an undisclosed “personnel matter.”The special meeting was called after The Des

Review of Math Investigations

Mathematics in school is a major issue in the US. Yesterday, Washington Post printed an article about a review of the mathematics curriculum in Loudoun County (Virginia). This county has introduced a curriculum for elementary school that is called Math Investigations, and there appears to be lots of critics who claim the curriculum fails to teach basic math skills. So, in the eyes of someone from outside the US context, this appears to be related to the so-called Math Wars. I am not trying to make any judgments in this debate, but it is interesting to be a spectator!

After reading about the curriculum on the web, I find it quite interesting. The curriculum was developed in the 1990s, and it was developed with support from the National Science Foundation. From their website, I learn that the Investigations in Number, Data, and Space (which is the official name of the curriculum, it appears) was designed to:

• Support students to make sense of mathematics and learn that they can be mathematical thinkers.
• Focus on computational fluency with whole numbers as a major goal of the elementary grades.
• Provide substantive work in important areas of mathematics—rational numbers, geometry, measurement, data, and early algebra—and connections among them.
• Emphasize reasoning about mathematical ideas.
• Communicate mathematics content and pedagogy to teachers.
• Engage the range of learners in understanding mathematics.

The guiding principles underlying these goals are that students have mathematical ideas, (...) teachers are engaged in ongoing learning about mathematics content, pedagogy, and student learning (...) and that teachers collaborate with the students and curriculum materials to create the curriculum as enacted in the classroom (quoted from their website). In many ways, the Investigations curriculum appears to have some common underlying ideas with the Everyday Math curriculum (which has also been strongly criticized by some). According to several impact studies, the Investigations curriculum appears to have a positive impact on the achievement of students, and Everyday Math is also a curriculum that is strongly based on research. As someone standing outside of this debackle, I am therefore somewhat amazed by the criticism these curricula has raised. Somewhat, but maybe not all that amazed after all. Our previous Norwegian curriculum (called L97) featured some of the same ideas about teaching and learning of mathematics, with a focus on letting the students discover and reinvent the mathematical ideas, having "mathematics in everyday life" as a main area of the curriculum, etc. After less than 10 years of implementations (evaluation reports showing that the curriculum had not really been implemented in the classrooms), it was replaced by a new curriculum called "Kunnskapsløftet" (Knowledge Promotion). This curriculum has a much stronger emphasis on basic skills, little or no mention of discovery and reinvention, little emphasis on connections with everyday life, etc. So, I guess this debate is not only typical for the US and in this case Loudoun county.

For me as a researcher, I think it is interesting to see how much resistance these "reform curriculum" efforts encounter, and it reminds me of something I read in The teaching gap. Teaching of mathematics appears to be some kind of cultural entity, and I think Stigler and Hiebert used the notion: "cultural scripts". In order to implement a new curriculum, it is often necessary to change some of these cultural scripts, and that appears to be a rather cumbersome endeavor...

P.S. If any of you has some references to research, articles, etc. that relates to the above mentioned curriculum papers, please let me know!

Review of Math Investigations

Mathematics in school is a major issue in the US. Yesterday, Washington Post printed an article about a review of the mathematics curriculum in Loudoun County (Virginia). This county has introduced a curriculum for elementary school that is called Math Investigations, and there appears to be lots of critics who claim the curriculum fails to teach basic math skills. So, in the eyes of someone from outside the US context, this appears to be related to the so-called Math Wars. I am not trying to make any judgments in this debate, but it is interesting to be a spectator!

After reading about the curriculum on the web, I find it quite interesting. The curriculum was developed in the 1990s, and it was developed with support from the National Science Foundation. From their website, I learn that the Investigations in Number, Data, and Space (which is the official name of the curriculum, it appears) was designed to:

• Support students to make sense of mathematics and learn that they can be mathematical thinkers.
• Focus on computational fluency with whole numbers as a major goal of the elementary grades.
• Provide substantive work in important areas of mathematics—rational numbers, geometry, measurement, data, and early algebra—and connections among them.
• Emphasize reasoning about mathematical ideas.
• Communicate mathematics content and pedagogy to teachers.
• Engage the range of learners in understanding mathematics.

The guiding principles underlying these goals are that students have mathematical ideas, (...) teachers are engaged in ongoing learning about mathematics content, pedagogy, and student learning (...) and that teachers collaborate with the students and curriculum materials to create the curriculum as enacted in the classroom (quoted from their website). In many ways, the Investigations curriculum appears to have some common underlying ideas with the Everyday Math curriculum (which has also been strongly criticized by some). According to several impact studies, the Investigations curriculum appears to have a positive impact on the achievement of students, and Everyday Math is also a curriculum that is strongly based on research. As someone standing outside of this debackle, I am therefore somewhat amazed by the criticism these curricula has raised. Somewhat, but maybe not all that amazed after all. Our previous Norwegian curriculum (called L97) featured some of the same ideas about teaching and learning of mathematics, with a focus on letting the students discover and reinvent the mathematical ideas, having "mathematics in everyday life" as a main area of the curriculum, etc. After less than 10 years of implementations (evaluation reports showing that the curriculum had not really been implemented in the classrooms), it was replaced by a new curriculum called "Kunnskapsløftet" (Knowledge Promotion). This curriculum has a much stronger emphasis on basic skills, little or no mention of discovery and reinvention, little emphasis on connections with everyday life, etc. So, I guess this debate is not only typical for the US and in this case Loudoun county.

For me as a researcher, I think it is interesting to see how much resistance these "reform curriculum" efforts encounter, and it reminds me of something I read in The teaching gap. Teaching of mathematics appears to be some kind of cultural entity, and I think Stigler and Hiebert used the notion: "cultural scripts". In order to implement a new curriculum, it is often necessary to change some of these cultural scripts, and that appears to be a rather cumbersome endeavor...

P.S. If any of you has some references to research, articles, etc. that relates to the above mentioned curriculum papers, please let me know!

UM and possibly USM to become Apex Universities?

Looks like UM is likely to get designated to be an Apex university which will allow it to get more funding and autonomy and perhaps USM as well. UKM and UPM will not be happy. My sense is that it probably makes more sense to have 2 universities designated as Apex universities so that there will be some level of competition. But without a radical restructuring of how research and teaching and admissions are conducted and without a qualified and politically independent VC in place, I cannot imagine UM and USM breaking into the ranks of the top 100 universities in the world.

The second year

... already I can tell is going to be so much better than the first year.

I'm All Hot About: Jill Biden

I'm tired of hearing Jill Biden called a 'teacher.' Really--no knocks to teachers, but Jill Biden isn't teaching children. Ms. Biden is a professor of English at Delaware Technical and Community College. That's right-- she's one of the "honored but invisible" faculty serving on the front lines of higher education.

Yes, there are "front lines" of higher ed-- as anyone watching the battles between colleges and their states knows, the community college is the dear stepchild of the system. As I describe in a paper I'm working on for the Brookings Institution, every year nearly one million new students enroll in the 1,200 public two-year colleges nationwide. In many states those schools are bursting at the seams, dramatically underfunded and insufficiently respected. This is especially true at the urban community colleges, like DTCC.

When community colleges were founded, they were nearly uniformly small and required relatively little funding. The majority of their campuses were built more than thirty years ago and have not been updated since. Further, while growth in the number of community colleges began to slow in the mid-1970s, enrollment continued to surge. The ratio of enrollment to the number of community colleges grew much more rapidly at urban colleges than at non-urban schools during the period of 1992 to 2002. Given this trend, it is not surprising that many urban community colleges are crowded both day and night, with day classes for younger students and evenings classes for working adults. Many colleges in urban areas were never built to accommodate the sizeable populations they now educate, and the effects of the overcrowding are substantial. Their classrooms lack technology, their science laboratories do not meet current educational standards, most classes are quite large, and with faculty who are often overwhelmed and demoralized.

In the midst of all of this, stands Jill Biden, wife of the future vice-president. There's no doubt that, as she hopes, she is making a difference by working at a community college. One of my most fervent hopes is that she continues her commitment to those important institutions when she moves to Washington and crafts her new agenda. It's about time for a significant revitalization of the American community college, and she's the perfect person to lead the way.

EduProfs in the 21st Century

Edu-Academia is taking giant leaps forward (in my opinion) with the willingness of faculty (and future faculty) to get out there in the blogosphere and talk with the commoners. If we only hear the thoughts of our colleagues when they appear in peer-reviewed journals, then we're often engaging in an out-of-date conversation.

So, props for the day go to my Facebook pal Aaron Pallas; Columbia faculty and as it turns out skoolboy extraordinaire. It's a brave, brave new world, and the bigger the population the more powerful it is....

And my oh my, I had NO idea that I was *already* friends with skoolboy and eduwonkette. My known circle of friends already included Kevin Carey. Now things are SO interesting....

Notes From The Education Underground

Each and every year some well-intended naive soul teacher comes around and solicits for the United Way. Here's an example why I don't give 'em a nickle:For months, the United Way of Central Carolinas board said Gloria Pace King was worth every penny of her controversial $1.2 million pay package.Tuesday, 37 of those board members unanimously called on their longtime CEO to resign or be

Let's Carnival!

The 186th edition of The Carnival of Education (hosted this week by SharpBrains.) is open for your educational pleasure!And don't forget to round out your educational experience by taking a look at the Women's Independence Day Edition of The Carnival of Homeschooling.

EduDecision '08: The Hillary Factor

Last evening, I watched Hillary Rodham Clinton give her speech in support of Obama at the Democratic Convention.Interestingly, she never promoted (or even mentioned) Obama's fitness to be the commander-in-chief. (I don't think McCain's handlers will overlook that omission either.)In my opinion, her remarks were a lukewarm endorsement at best.But don't take my word for it, go over there, take a

New TMME monograph

TMME - The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast - has published a new monograph. This time around, the topic for the monograph is concerning Interdisciplinary Educational Research In Mathematics and Its Connections to The Arts and Sciences. The book is based on a symposium that was held in Denmark last year, and the major themes of the papers in the monograph are:

1. How can modelling activities be used to foster interdisciplinary projects in the school and university setting?
2. How can the intricate connections between mathematics and physics be used to design and research interdisciplinary activities in schools and the university?
3. How can research within the ethnomathematics domain of mathematics education be linked to critical mathematics education and interdisciplinary projects involving mathematics, art and culture?
4. How can the push for mathematical and statistical literacy be connected to other subjects in the school curricula and emphasized via interdisciplinary activities?
5. What are concrete examples of classroom experiments with empirical data that demonstrate new and unusual connections/relations between mathematics, arts and the sciences with implications for pedagogy?
6. What is the role of technology and new ICT interfaces in linking communities of learners in interdisciplinary activities involving problem solving? The book is an important contribution to the literature on educational initiatives in interdisciplinary education increasing vital for emerging professions of the 21st century.

Chief editor of TMME, Bharath Sriraman, has edited the book in cooperation with Claus Michelsen, Astrid Beckmann, and Viktor Freiman.

New TMME monograph

TMME - The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast - has published a new monograph. This time around, the topic for the monograph is concerning Interdisciplinary Educational Research In Mathematics and Its Connections to The Arts and Sciences. The book is based on a symposium that was held in Denmark last year, and the major themes of the papers in the monograph are:

1. How can modelling activities be used to foster interdisciplinary projects in the school and university setting?
2. How can the intricate connections between mathematics and physics be used to design and research interdisciplinary activities in schools and the university?
3. How can research within the ethnomathematics domain of mathematics education be linked to critical mathematics education and interdisciplinary projects involving mathematics, art and culture?
4. How can the push for mathematical and statistical literacy be connected to other subjects in the school curricula and emphasized via interdisciplinary activities?
5. What are concrete examples of classroom experiments with empirical data that demonstrate new and unusual connections/relations between mathematics, arts and the sciences with implications for pedagogy?
6. What is the role of technology and new ICT interfaces in linking communities of learners in interdisciplinary activities involving problem solving? The book is an important contribution to the literature on educational initiatives in interdisciplinary education increasing vital for emerging professions of the 21st century.

Chief editor of TMME, Bharath Sriraman, has edited the book in cooperation with Claus Michelsen, Astrid Beckmann, and Viktor Freiman.

Women of mathematics

Katrina Piatek-Jimenez has written an article called: Images of mathematicians: a new perspective on the shortage of women in mathematical careers, which was recently published in ZDM. Here is the abstract:

Though women earn nearly half of the mathematics baccalaureate degrees in the United States, they make up a much smaller percentage of those pursuing advanced degrees in mathematics and those entering mathematics-related careers. Through semi-structured interviews, this study took a qualitative look at the beliefs held by five undergraduate women mathematics students about themselves and about mathematicians. The findings of this study suggest that these women held stereotypical beliefs about mathematicians, describing them to be exceptionally intelligent, obsessed with mathematics, and socially inept. Furthermore, each of these women held the firm belief that they do not exhibit at least one of these traits, the first one being unattainable and the latter two being undesirable. The results of this study suggest that although many women are earning undergraduate degrees in mathematics, their beliefs about mathematicians may be preventing them from identifying as one and choosing to pursue mathematical careers.

Women of mathematics

Katrina Piatek-Jimenez has written an article called: Images of mathematicians: a new perspective on the shortage of women in mathematical careers, which was recently published in ZDM. Here is the abstract:

Though women earn nearly half of the mathematics baccalaureate degrees in the United States, they make up a much smaller percentage of those pursuing advanced degrees in mathematics and those entering mathematics-related careers. Through semi-structured interviews, this study took a qualitative look at the beliefs held by five undergraduate women mathematics students about themselves and about mathematicians. The findings of this study suggest that these women held stereotypical beliefs about mathematicians, describing them to be exceptionally intelligent, obsessed with mathematics, and socially inept. Furthermore, each of these women held the firm belief that they do not exhibit at least one of these traits, the first one being unattainable and the latter two being undesirable. The results of this study suggest that although many women are earning undergraduate degrees in mathematics, their beliefs about mathematicians may be preventing them from identifying as one and choosing to pursue mathematical careers.

Realistic Mathematics Education in Indonesia

Robert K. Sembiring, Sutarto Hadi and Maarten Dolk have written an article about an interesting experimental study related to the current reform movement in Indonesia, where the theory of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) is being adopted. The article is entitled Reforming mathematics learning in Indonesian classrooms through RME, and it was published online in ZDM on Sunday, August 24. Here is the abstract of the article:

This paper reports an experimental study on the development of exemplary curriculum materials for the teaching of fractions in Indonesian primary schools. The study’s context is the current reform movement adopting realistic mathematics education (RME) theory, known as Pendidikan Matematika Realistik Indonesia (PMRI), and it looked at the role of design research in supporting the dissemination of PMRI. The study was carried out in two cycles of teaching experiments in two primary schools. The findings of the design research signified the importance of collaboration between mathematics educators and teachers in developing RME curriculum materials. The availability of RME curriculum materials is an important component in the success of the PMRI movement, particularly in supporting students and teachers in activity-based mathematics learning. Most of the students and teachers in the two schools positively appraised teaching and learning with the developed materials. Since the teachers were actively involved in developing the materials, they felt a sense of ownership and recognised that their students’ classroom experiences of the materials helped them avoid standard difficulties. That appears to be a particular benefit of the bottom-up approach characteristic of the PMRI movement.

Realistic Mathematics Education in Indonesia

Robert K. Sembiring, Sutarto Hadi and Maarten Dolk have written an article about an interesting experimental study related to the current reform movement in Indonesia, where the theory of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) is being adopted. The article is entitled Reforming mathematics learning in Indonesian classrooms through RME, and it was published online in ZDM on Sunday, August 24. Here is the abstract of the article:

This paper reports an experimental study on the development of exemplary curriculum materials for the teaching of fractions in Indonesian primary schools. The study’s context is the current reform movement adopting realistic mathematics education (RME) theory, known as Pendidikan Matematika Realistik Indonesia (PMRI), and it looked at the role of design research in supporting the dissemination of PMRI. The study was carried out in two cycles of teaching experiments in two primary schools. The findings of the design research signified the importance of collaboration between mathematics educators and teachers in developing RME curriculum materials. The availability of RME curriculum materials is an important component in the success of the PMRI movement, particularly in supporting students and teachers in activity-based mathematics learning. Most of the students and teachers in the two schools positively appraised teaching and learning with the developed materials. Since the teachers were actively involved in developing the materials, they felt a sense of ownership and recognised that their students’ classroom experiences of the materials helped them avoid standard difficulties. That appears to be a particular benefit of the bottom-up approach characteristic of the PMRI movement.

Carnival Entries Are Due!

Entries for the 186th edition of The Carnival Of Education (Hosted this week over at SharpBrains.) are due. Please email them to: afernandez [at] gmail [dot] com . (Or, easier yet, use this handy submission form.) Submissions should be received no later than 9:00 PM (Eastern) 6:00 PM (Pacific) Today. Contributions should include your site's name, the title of the post, and the post's URL if

Notes From The Education Underground

Today was the first day of classes in our junior high school.The kids seem to be OK;All 193 of them.*sigh*We classroom teachers will be getting our first monthly pay check six weeks after we reported for our first day of work last week.For what is now the sixth year, I'll be receiving the same take-home pay.And, like the prices down at our local Wal-Mart, what is expected of us continues to

HP and AMD scholarships

Hey guys, just got notification of this pretty cool scholarship being offered by HP and AMD. There are three scholarships worth RM25,000 each and as well as a HP notebook. (The last three laptops I've bought have been HPs and they've worked great for me. And no, I'm not being paid by HP to say this.:)) There are no bonds associated with this scholarship and the closing data is Sept 30, 2008. For more details, please go to this site.

Worst and Best Teachers in Movies

Worst

Best

Worst and Best Teachers in Movies

Worst

Best

Mentoring Science Teachers

I thought I'd share this post from teacher leader Anthony Cody's blog Living in Dialogue. He discusses an initiative called TeamScience, a project to support new science teachers in Oakland (California) Unified School District.

Science teachers, in addition to knowing their content, must also know how to organize cooperative groups for hands-on activities. That means a whole level of classroom management that takes practice to master. TeamScience mentors will do their best to close this gap. We have several goals. The first and foremost is to make these new teachers as effective as possible, as quickly as possible.

TeamScience is a collaborative effort with the Santa Cruz-based New Teacher Center (NTC), my employer.

Another project that supports new science teachers through online protocols is e-Mentoring for Student Success, a collaboration between the NTC, the National Science Teachers Association and Montana State University.

Future teachers' competence to plan a lesson

Sigrid Blömeke, Lynn Paine, Richard T. Houang, Feng-Jui Hsieh, William H. Schmidt, M. Teresa Tatto, Kiril Bankov, Tenoch Cedilll, Leland Cogan, Shin Il Han, Marcella Santillan and John Schwille have written an article entitled Future teachers’ competence to plan a lesson: first results of a six-country study on the efficiency of teacher education. The article was published online in ZDM last week. The paper presents data from four countries in relation to the study called: "Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century (MT21)" (see webpage!). The entire MT21 report is available for free download at the project webpage. Here is a copy of the abstract:

The study "Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century (MT21)" focuses beyond others on the measurement of teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge (GPK). GPK is regarded as a latent construct embedded in a larger theory of teachers’ professional competence. It is laid out how GPK was defined and operationalized. As part of an international comparison GPK was measured with several complex vignettes. In the present paper, the results of future mathematics teachers’ knowledge from four countries (Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, and the US) with very different teacher-education systems are presented. Significant and relevant differences between the four countries as well as between future teachers at the beginning and at the end of teacher education were found. The results are discussed with reference to cultural discourses about teacher education.

Future teachers' competence to plan a lesson

Sigrid Blömeke, Lynn Paine, Richard T. Houang, Feng-Jui Hsieh, William H. Schmidt, M. Teresa Tatto, Kiril Bankov, Tenoch Cedilll, Leland Cogan, Shin Il Han, Marcella Santillan and John Schwille have written an article entitled Future teachers’ competence to plan a lesson: first results of a six-country study on the efficiency of teacher education. The article was published online in ZDM last week. The paper presents data from four countries in relation to the study called: "Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century (MT21)" (see webpage!). The entire MT21 report is available for free download at the project webpage. Here is a copy of the abstract:

The study "Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century (MT21)" focuses beyond others on the measurement of teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge (GPK). GPK is regarded as a latent construct embedded in a larger theory of teachers’ professional competence. It is laid out how GPK was defined and operationalized. As part of an international comparison GPK was measured with several complex vignettes. In the present paper, the results of future mathematics teachers’ knowledge from four countries (Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, and the US) with very different teacher-education systems are presented. Significant and relevant differences between the four countries as well as between future teachers at the beginning and at the end of teacher education were found. The results are discussed with reference to cultural discourses about teacher education.

Cognitive styles

Demetra Pitta-Pantazi and Constantinos Christou have written an article called Cognitive styles, dynamic geometry and measurement performance. The article was recently published online in Educational Studies in Mathematics. Here is the abstract of the article:

This paper reports the outcomes of an empirical study undertaken to investigate the effect of students’ cognitive styles on achievement in measurement tasks in a dynamic geometry learning environment, and to explore the ability of dynamic geometry learning in accommodating different cognitive styles and enhancing students’ learning. A total of 49 6th grade students were tested using the VICS and the extended CSA-WA tests (Peterson, Verbal imagery cognitive styles and extended cognitive style analysis-wholistic analytic test—Administration guide. New Zealand: Peterson, 2005) for cognitive styles. The same students were also administered a pre-test and a post-test involving 20 measurement tasks. All students were taught a unit in measurement (area of triangles and parallelograms) with the use of dynamic geometry, after a pre-test. As expected, the dynamic geometry software seems to accommodate different cognitive styles and enhances students’ learning. However, contrary to expectations, verbalisers and wholist/verbalisers gained more in their measurement achievement in the environment of dynamic geometry than students who had a tendency towards other cognitive styles. The results are discussed in terms of the nature of the measurement tasks administered to the students.

Cognitive styles

Demetra Pitta-Pantazi and Constantinos Christou have written an article called Cognitive styles, dynamic geometry and measurement performance. The article was recently published online in Educational Studies in Mathematics. Here is the abstract of the article:

This paper reports the outcomes of an empirical study undertaken to investigate the effect of students’ cognitive styles on achievement in measurement tasks in a dynamic geometry learning environment, and to explore the ability of dynamic geometry learning in accommodating different cognitive styles and enhancing students’ learning. A total of 49 6th grade students were tested using the VICS and the extended CSA-WA tests (Peterson, Verbal imagery cognitive styles and extended cognitive style analysis-wholistic analytic test—Administration guide. New Zealand: Peterson, 2005) for cognitive styles. The same students were also administered a pre-test and a post-test involving 20 measurement tasks. All students were taught a unit in measurement (area of triangles and parallelograms) with the use of dynamic geometry, after a pre-test. As expected, the dynamic geometry software seems to accommodate different cognitive styles and enhances students’ learning. However, contrary to expectations, verbalisers and wholist/verbalisers gained more in their measurement achievement in the environment of dynamic geometry than students who had a tendency towards other cognitive styles. The results are discussed in terms of the nature of the measurement tasks administered to the students.

Embodied design

Dor Abrahamson has written an article in Educational Studies in Mathematics about Embodied design: constructing means for constructing meaning:

Design-based research studies are conducted as iterative implementation-analysis-modification cycles, in which emerging theoretical models and pedagogically plausible activities are reciprocally tuned toward each other as a means of investigating conjectures pertaining to mechanisms underlying content teaching and learning. Yet this approach, even when resulting in empirically effective educational products, remains under-conceptualized as long as researchers cannot be explicit about their craft and specifically how data analyses inform design decisions. Consequentially, design decisions may appear arbitrary, design methodology is insufficiently documented for broad dissemination, and design practice is inadequately conversant with learning-sciences perspectives. One reason for this apparent under-theorizing, I propose, is that designers do not have appropriate constructs to formulate and reflect on their own intuitive responses to students’ observed interactions with the media under development. Recent socio-cultural explication of epistemic artifacts as semiotic means for mathematical learners to objectify presymbolic notions (e.g., Radford, Mathematical Thinking and Learning 5(1): 37–70, 2003) may offer design-based researchers intellectual perspectives and analytic tools for theorizing design improvements as responses to participants’ compromised attempts to build and communicate meaning with available media. By explaining these media as potential semiotic means for students to objectify their emerging understandings of mathematical ideas, designers, reciprocally, create semiotic means to objectify their own intuitive design decisions, as they build and improve these media. Examining three case studies of undergraduate students reasoning about a simple probability situation (binomial), I demonstrate how the semiotic approach illuminates the process and content of student reasoning and, so doing, explicates and possibly enhances design-based research methodology.

Embodied design

Dor Abrahamson has written an article in Educational Studies in Mathematics about Embodied design: constructing means for constructing meaning:

Design-based research studies are conducted as iterative implementation-analysis-modification cycles, in which emerging theoretical models and pedagogically plausible activities are reciprocally tuned toward each other as a means of investigating conjectures pertaining to mechanisms underlying content teaching and learning. Yet this approach, even when resulting in empirically effective educational products, remains under-conceptualized as long as researchers cannot be explicit about their craft and specifically how data analyses inform design decisions. Consequentially, design decisions may appear arbitrary, design methodology is insufficiently documented for broad dissemination, and design practice is inadequately conversant with learning-sciences perspectives. One reason for this apparent under-theorizing, I propose, is that designers do not have appropriate constructs to formulate and reflect on their own intuitive responses to students’ observed interactions with the media under development. Recent socio-cultural explication of epistemic artifacts as semiotic means for mathematical learners to objectify presymbolic notions (e.g., Radford, Mathematical Thinking and Learning 5(1): 37–70, 2003) may offer design-based researchers intellectual perspectives and analytic tools for theorizing design improvements as responses to participants’ compromised attempts to build and communicate meaning with available media. By explaining these media as potential semiotic means for students to objectify their emerging understandings of mathematical ideas, designers, reciprocally, create semiotic means to objectify their own intuitive design decisions, as they build and improve these media. Examining three case studies of undergraduate students reasoning about a simple probability situation (binomial), I demonstrate how the semiotic approach illuminates the process and content of student reasoning and, so doing, explicates and possibly enhances design-based research methodology.

Teachers' perspectives on authentic mathematics

Michael Weiss, Patricio Herbst and Chialing Chen (all from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) have written an interesting article about Teachers’ perspectives on “authentic mathematics” and the two-column proof form. The article was published online in Educational Studies in Mathematics on Friday. Here is the abstract:

We investigate experienced high school geometry teachers’ perspectives on “authentic mathematics” and the much-criticized two-column proof form. A videotaped episode was shown to 26 teachers gathered in five focus groups. In the episode, a teacher allows a student doing a proof to assume a statement is true without immediately justifying it, provided he return to complete the argument later. Prompted by this episode, the teachers in our focus groups revealed two apparently contradictory dispositions regarding the use of the two-column proof form in the classroom. For some, the two-column form is understood to prohibit a move like that shown in the video. But for others, the form is seen as a resource enabling such a move. These contradictory responses are warranted in competing but complementary notions, grounded on the corpus of teacher responses, that teachers hold about the nature of authentic mathematical activity when proving.

Teachers' perspectives on authentic mathematics

Michael Weiss, Patricio Herbst and Chialing Chen (all from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) have written an interesting article about Teachers’ perspectives on “authentic mathematics” and the two-column proof form. The article was published online in Educational Studies in Mathematics on Friday. Here is the abstract:

We investigate experienced high school geometry teachers’ perspectives on “authentic mathematics” and the much-criticized two-column proof form. A videotaped episode was shown to 26 teachers gathered in five focus groups. In the episode, a teacher allows a student doing a proof to assume a statement is true without immediately justifying it, provided he return to complete the argument later. Prompted by this episode, the teachers in our focus groups revealed two apparently contradictory dispositions regarding the use of the two-column proof form in the classroom. For some, the two-column form is understood to prohibit a move like that shown in the video. But for others, the form is seen as a resource enabling such a move. These contradictory responses are warranted in competing but complementary notions, grounded on the corpus of teacher responses, that teachers hold about the nature of authentic mathematical activity when proving.

New roles for mathematics

Mette Andresen and Lena Lindenskov have written an article that was published in ZDM just before the weekend. The article is entitled New roles for mathematics in multi-disciplinary, upper secondary school projects, and here is the abstract:

A new concept, compulsory multi-disciplinary courses, was introduced in upper secondary school curriculum as a central part of a recent reform. This paper reports from a case study of such a triple/four-disciplinary project in mathematics, physics, chemistry and ‘general study preparation’ performed under the reform by a team of experienced teachers. The aim of the case study was to inquire how the teachers met the demands of the introduction of this new concept and, to look for signs of new relations established by the students between mathematics and other subjects, as a result of the multi-disciplinary teaching. The study revealed examples of good practice in planning and teaching. In addition, it served to illuminate interesting aspects of how students perceived the school subject mathematics and its relations to other subjects and to common sense.

New roles for mathematics

Mette Andresen and Lena Lindenskov have written an article that was published in ZDM just before the weekend. The article is entitled New roles for mathematics in multi-disciplinary, upper secondary school projects, and here is the abstract:

A new concept, compulsory multi-disciplinary courses, was introduced in upper secondary school curriculum as a central part of a recent reform. This paper reports from a case study of such a triple/four-disciplinary project in mathematics, physics, chemistry and ‘general study preparation’ performed under the reform by a team of experienced teachers. The aim of the case study was to inquire how the teachers met the demands of the introduction of this new concept and, to look for signs of new relations established by the students between mathematics and other subjects, as a result of the multi-disciplinary teaching. The study revealed examples of good practice in planning and teaching. In addition, it served to illuminate interesting aspects of how students perceived the school subject mathematics and its relations to other subjects and to common sense.

Cool People You Should Know: eduwonkette

Imagine my tremendous surprise and the look of sheer "duh" on my face when I learned this evening that graduate student extraordanaire, Jennifer Jennings is none other than my favorite super-eduresearcher, "eduwonkette!"

It's like that old econ joke 'bout only searching for answers under the lamplight-- of course we all thought this incredibly bright witty commentator was a PROFESSOR, an esteemed one, one with decades under her belt. Shame on us--all of us-- for never considering that the coolest of the cool, the top blogger of 'em all right now, is only just finishing her PhD.

Lesson learned. Huge props to you, Jen. I'm officially "edu-optimistic" about the future soc of ed faculty of America. A real blogger is among us.

Update: Jennings is featured in a New York mag piece. Wow grad student, you go girl!

Disbelief About Free Will Encourages Cheating

Does moral behavior draw on a belief in free will? (PDF) Two experiments examined whether inducing participants to believe that human behavior is predetermined would encourage cheating. In Experiment 1, participants read excerpts that encouraged a belief in determinism (i.e., behavior as the consequence of environmental and genetic factors) or neutral text. Exposure to the deterministic message increased immoral behavior on a passive cheating task that involved allowing a flawed computer program to reveal answers to mathematical problems that participants should have been solving themselves. Moreover, increased cheating behavior was mediated by decreased belief in free will. In Experiment 2, exposure to deterministic statements led participants to overpay themselves on a cognitive test relative to participants who were exposed to statements endorsing free will as well as participants in numerous control conditions. These findings suggest that the debate over free will has societal, as well as scientific and theoretical, implications.

This maps onto the evidence about the effects of believing that ability can be developed through hard work, or is simply inborn.

Through more than three decades of systematic research, [Dweck] has been figuring out answers to why some people achieve their potential while equally talented others don’t—why some become Muhammad Ali and others Mike Tyson. The key, she found, isn’t ability; it’s whether you look at ability as something inherent that needs to be demonstrated or as something that can be developed.

Disbelief About Free Will Encourages Cheating

Does moral behavior draw on a belief in free will? (PDF) Two experiments examined whether inducing participants to believe that human behavior is predetermined would encourage cheating. In Experiment 1, participants read excerpts that encouraged a belief in determinism (i.e., behavior as the consequence of environmental and genetic factors) or neutral text. Exposure to the deterministic message increased immoral behavior on a passive cheating task that involved allowing a flawed computer program to reveal answers to mathematical problems that participants should have been solving themselves. Moreover, increased cheating behavior was mediated by decreased belief in free will. In Experiment 2, exposure to deterministic statements led participants to overpay themselves on a cognitive test relative to participants who were exposed to statements endorsing free will as well as participants in numerous control conditions. These findings suggest that the debate over free will has societal, as well as scientific and theoretical, implications.

This maps onto the evidence about the effects of believing that ability can be developed through hard work, or is simply inborn.

Through more than three decades of systematic research, [Dweck] has been figuring out answers to why some people achieve their potential while equally talented others don’t—why some become Muhammad Ali and others Mike Tyson. The key, she found, isn’t ability; it’s whether you look at ability as something inherent that needs to be demonstrated or as something that can be developed.

YESS-4, Day 7

At the last day of YESS-4, Ferdinando Arzarello is going to deliver the main lecture. The topic for his talk is "Tools for analyzing learning processes in mathematics". He starts off with a discussion of problems concerning What, Why, How and Goals:

• What is necessary to observe in the classroom? (What)
  
• Which theoretical frames are suitable to answer the What-problem? (Why)
  
• How to observe all that is necessary? and How to interpret the observed data according to the assumed frame? (How)
  
• How to improve consequent didactical practices in the classroom? (Goal)

YESS-4, Day 7

At the last day of YESS-4, Ferdinando Arzarello is going to deliver the main lecture. The topic for his talk is "Tools for analyzing learning processes in mathematics". He starts off with a discussion of problems concerning What, Why, How and Goals:

• What is necessary to observe in the classroom? (What)
  
• Which theoretical frames are suitable to answer the What-problem? (Why)
  
• How to observe all that is necessary? and How to interpret the observed data according to the assumed frame? (How)
  
• How to improve consequent didactical practices in the classroom? (Goal)

What Do New York City and Madison, Wisconsin Have In Common?

Read here (New York Times, 8/23/2008) and here (WISC-TV, 7/15/2008).

Musical Elective Of The Week

The Musical Elective of the Week is Ron Sexsmith.

Once again we head up north to Canada for our weekly Musical Elective. Ron Sexsmith, a 44-year-old singer/songwriter, hails from Ontario and currently resides in Toronto. (He's our third Canadian profiled, after Kathleen Edwards and Great Big Sea.)

Sexsmith made his major-label debut in 1995 with his self-titled album. It earned him wide acclaim, based in part through praise from Elvis Costello. He has followed it with regular album releases: Other Songs (1997), Whereabouts (1999), Blue Boy (2001), Cobblestone Runway (2002), Retriever (2004) and Time Being (2006). On July 9, 2008, he released his latest album, Exit Strategy of the Soul. Billboard calls it "instantly memorable."

The common thread through all of Sexsmith's albums and music is intelligent lyrics, elegant folk/pop craftsmanship, and his unique voice. I confess that I have yet to hear his latest album, but I have always appreciated his past offerings. Some favorite tracks include "Secret Heart" (since covered by Feist, Nick Lowe and Rod Stewart) from Ron Sexsmith, "This Song" from 2001's stellar, Steve Earle-produced Blue Boy, and "These Days" from Cobblestone Runway.

I brought a song into this world
Just a melody with words
It trembles here before my eyes
But how can this song survive?
--"This Song" from Blue Boy (2001)

Now, given that we have a newly adopted dog and are caring for a 90-pound behemoth lab this weekend, I gave strong consideration to Three Dog Night, Temple Of The Dog, and Dr. Dog. But I didn't want to be accused of having gone to the dogs.

If you want to find out more about Mr. Sexsmith, visit his web site. He will be touring selected cities in the U.S. and Canada in September and October. So, check him out.

------------------------------------------

Extra Credit--Past Musical Electives of the Week:

Kasey Chambers
Lucinda Williams
Great Big Sea
Griffin House
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer
Neil Finn
Ray LaMontagne
Stuart Stotts
Dan Wilson
Kathleen Edwards

Bogus PhD confirmed

Well, our suspicions have been proven correct. We first highlighted this issue here and Malaysiakini has confirmed it here. The BN candidate for the Permatang Pauh by-election, Arif Shah, was indeed enrolled in a bogus PhD program. Too bad the Malaysiakini article didn't highlight that we first brought it up here, thanks to Sree's sharp eyes. Also, in the same Mkini article, he said that he obtained his diploma from the Federal Institute of Technology in KL so there goes the 'fact' that he studied in NTU in Singapore. I think this points to a larger problem with UMNO and perhaps the BN, that politicians are increasingly pressured to have degrees so much so that they feel they have to go out and buy one. Really sad.

YESS-4, Day 5

At the 5th day of the YERME Summer School, Günter Törner is going to deliver the main lecture. His topic is "theory versus practice", and you can learn more from the paper that is published on the YESS-4 website.

Törner has published a multitude of papers and books in mathematics (algebra, geometry and discrete mathematics) as well as mathematics education. Several of them are available on his website, so take a look at the links I just gave you!

YESS-4, Day 5

At the 5th day of the YERME Summer School, Günter Törner is going to deliver the main lecture. His topic is "theory versus practice", and you can learn more from the paper that is published on the YESS-4 website.

Törner has published a multitude of papers and books in mathematics (algebra, geometry and discrete mathematics) as well as mathematics education. Several of them are available on his website, so take a look at the links I just gave you!

Poll: Obama Favored on Education Issues

UPDATE: Sherman Dorn offers cautions (here and here) on this poll's methodology.

--------------------------

A new Gallup/Phi Delta Kappan poll shows that voters overwhelmingly favor Obama over McCain on education issues.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Amy Hetzner provides a nice summary of the campaign-related portions of the poll.

A new poll on the public’s perception of education indicates that more think Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would be better for public schools than think rival John McCain would, even on the traditionally Republican issue of parental choice.

.....

While President Bush ran neck-and-neck in previous polls with Democratic candidates Al Gore and John Kerry on the question of whom respondents would vote for solely based on a desire to strengthen public schools, Obama was favored 46% to 29% over McCain on the same question this year, according to the poll.

People also found Obama much more likely than McCain to close the achievement gap between white and minority students, by a factor of 59% to 18%.

Obama’s weakest showing was on the issue of promoting parental choice. But even there he beat the poll’s 3 percentage point margin of error, with 43% saying he would be better vs. 32% for McCain.

Will The New President Support New Educators?

In yesterday's lukewarm editorial about the presidential candidates' education policy platforms, the Washington Post clearly sided with Barack Obama as the preferable option over John McCain. Not exactly a strong endorsement.

One thing is clear. Obama's presidential platform specifically focuses on developing excellent teachers--recognizing educators as the #1 school-based impact on student achievement. As a U.S. Senator, Obama has sponsored and co-sponsored legislation that would fund teacher residency programs and high-quality teacher induction programs. He's not a Johnny-come-lately to this issue.

Other than the fact that the charter-and-voucher-happy Lisa Graham Keegan (Matthew Yglesias/The Atlantic blog) (Arizona Republic article) is his chief education advisor, why is McCain clinging primarily to the tired, old right-wing focus on school structure, market-based reforms, and demonizing teachers at the exclusion of everything else? What too many conservatives don't seem willing to admit is that teachers drive results. Whether it's a public school, a charter school, a voucher school, a religious school or a home school, if a child has a good teacher he will be more likely to succeed. If teacher quality is lacking, learning is much less likely to occur. Teachers are not the enemy - they will lead us where we need to go if we support them and, yes, challenge them when appropriate to do better. But It can't be all sticks and no carrots. And It can't be done to teachers, it must be done with them.

The 'It' is what is in question in this campaign.

There is some hope in McCain's education platform. Buried within it is an interesting idea:

Provide Funding For Needed Professional Teacher Development. Where federal funds are involved, teacher development money should be used to enhance the ability of teachers to perform in today's technology driven environment. We need to provide teachers with high quality professional development opportunities with a primary focus on instructional strategies that address the academic needs of their students. The first 35 percent of Title II funding would be directed to the school level so principals and teachers could focus these resources on the specific needs of their schools.

I agree that Title II monies should be better directed at high-quality, high-impact professional development. About half of these funds currently go to class size reduction which is not necessarily the biggest bang for the buck, particularly outside the early grades. Certainly, some professional development monies are directed at low-quality, pray-and-spray, one-size-fits-all PD seminars. And some teachers are allowed to self-select PD offerings that really aren't focused on improving their teaching. I'm not saying that enrollment in Underwater Basket Weaving is rampant, but simply that districts and school leaders should have more say in -- and a better understanding about -- helping teachers improve through purposeful PD.

As McCain so often discusses, it is also appropriate to focus on weeding out ineffective teachers. But even more important is identifying the effective ones through meaningful evaluation systems [Ed Sector] [NGA] [NCCTQ], figuring out what makes them effective, and using that knowledge to transform the practice of the vast majority of mediocre-to-average-to very good teachers by improving preparation [ECS] [Edutopia] [SREB] [TNE], instituting high-quality induction programs [NTC] [AASCU] [AEE], and and designing career-long professional development opportunities [CCSR] [CCSSO] [PEN] [VA DOE] that support individualized teaching contexts.

The main problem with McCain's proposal is that he has proposed ratcheting down increases in domestic spending. That means little money to implement No Child Left Behind-related programs and fund needed teacher quality reforms. (Remember, we've got to fund those tax cuts for the rich that sickened McCain just a few years ago; oh yes, and pay for the 100-year war in Iraq.)

Obama, on the other hand, has signaled a willingness to reform teacher compensation and strengthen professional development systems and ante up federal resources and target them at high-need, hard-to-staff schools and districts across the country. His focus clearly is on making teachers better with a focus on student outcomes. That's a more comprehensive approach that makes a lot more sense. I agree with the Post that he needs to go further in fleshing out his views on issues such as teacher assignment and teacher tenure, but Obama's reform-minded, student-focused teacher policy proposals are a refreshing change from the "status quo or bust" and "more money is the only answer" ethos of many recent Democratic presidential contenders.

With regard to McCain, I wish he would spend less time talking about bad teachers and more time talking about how we can learn from good ones. And enough with this voucher obsession! Let's focus on making our public schools as good as they can be. That starts with strengthening America's teaching force.