OK, I am not a "math person." I admit it. I have, in fact, a bit of math phobia. I find that I am intimidated by it. So I went into this chapter with a bit of trepidation. Would I understand it or get anything out of it?
I am happy to report that I really enjoyed reading this chapter. I found the writing to be of very high quality, which is always pleasing to me. I loved the description of mathematics as the "discipline that helped mankind build pyramids, navigate oceans and send rockets into space" (p. 150). Math has always been a bit of a mystery to me (in fact, I adore this Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip that calls math a religion), but the author's love of and reverence for his subject resonates through this chapter. It's almost enough to make me begin to like math. Gulp.
Dave (who is the resident math genius in our household) and I engaged in a discussion about fractals as I was reading the chapter. He mentioned that before the advent of computers and technology, computing fractals was nearly impossible and could take decades. Now, technology has opened up this (and many other) areas in mathematics. Again, the rapid changes in technology and the impact technology has on different subject areas is evident. Our world is rapidly changing, whether we want it to or not. We must not be afraid to embrace those changes.
One thing that I have found in many other chapters is the notion that their discipline (whatever it is) is the most complex subject out there. Not so in the math chapter. The author readily admits that all disciplines are complex and have their own quirks. All disciplines need to incorporate technology in different ways. However, in listing what qualities teachers and programs need in order to utilize TPCK, all you need to do is replace mathematics with English, or science or any other discipline in order to get a good idea of what is needed for successful integration.
I was also interested in the discussion of the National Council of Mathematics Standards. I think that I will be spending some time on the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) website in order to investigate their standards and recent publications. Do they have any information about the impact of technology on teaching English? I need to find out.
I enjoyed the presentation by Kim and Lisa. Lisa's site that helped kids learn math basics by playing games was also fun for some language arts games. This might be a fun way of reviewing spelling and grammar basics with my kids. I also enjoyed Kim introducing portaportal. This is a great way of organizing links for a class to use, although I imagine I could also use a wikispace for this. I am going to send the virtual manipulatives site and the high school site to the math department head at out school. Hopefully, these will be helpful to the math department.
ReplyDeleteHi Meg,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you found some language arts games useful on the arcademic site. I find it a little reassuring to hear you talk about some of your kids still needing the basics, because at our level it feels like they may never get it! Especially caps and periods... so do they get it by high school? I hope so! I am glad you found some useful things to pass on to your math colleagues as well.
Meg,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear you found the portaportal idea useful. I think the virtual manipulative site is amazing and can help anyone. I enjoyed reading about your discussion with Dave and how fractals have become more comprehensible (to some people)
due to the use of technology. I wonder what will be next???