Like other enthusiasts of mathematics, I’m captivated by the way that mathematical ideas can explain things in the physical world around me, and by the way that I can carry out mathematical thought experiments in my mind and then apply the results to control my external physical environment.
Continue Reading ››ICME: A Sensory-Motor Experience of Korea
I had the immense good fortune this year to attend ICME, the International Congress on Mathematical Education. The Congress is held every year divisible by 4, and this iteration (the twelfth) was held in Seoul, Korea. It is quite something to be at a meeting of nearly 4000 … Continue Reading ››
The Standards Are Not The Curriculum
We were so impressed by Jamila Riser's talk at NCSM a couple of years ago that we asked her to present an Ignite! for us this year. Now, we've asked her to guest blog so we can share even more about the amazing work she's doing in Delaware. Jamila is the Director of the Delaware … Continue Reading ››
Exploring the Law of Large Numbers with TinkerPlots
As part of our guest blog series, we bring you a post from Kathryn Shafer. A former middle school and high school math teacher, Kathy is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Ball State University, Indiana. She's done a variety of work for Key, including presenting webinars, moderating online courses, and … Continue Reading ››
What’s the Appropriate Role for the Teacher when using Computer Games?
I had the privilege this year of participating in the CADRE Fellows Program of NSF's Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education, and met a number of colleagues in the program whose projects, like our Data Games project, are exploring the classroom benefits of computer-game- or simulation-based-learning. (In this post, I’ll refer to technology-oriented … Continue Reading ››
Sketchpad Reflection Puzzles
In a recent blog post, Karen Greenhaus describes how it's possible to construct familiar corporate logos using Sketchpad. You might start with a rhombus, for example, and then reflect it twice to … Continue Reading ››Sketchpad Activities, Cognitive Demand, and Differentiation
Not long ago, I conducted a Saturday morning PD session for some Texas teachers participating in an NSF research project. (The research is a controlled study of the relationship between students’ use of Sketchpad and their conjecturing and proving behavior. I hope we’ll have a blog post about this study itself before too long.) Because of the … Continue Reading ››
The Mathematics of Logos
As you may know, we created a new logo for Key using a circle and rotational animation 
to create a visual representation of pi. Karen Coe describes this in her post Branding Isn't About Math. Are You Sure About That? (You can also … Continue Reading ››
to create a visual representation of pi. Karen Coe describes this in her post Branding Isn't About Math. Are You Sure About That? (You can also … Continue Reading ››Preparing Tomorrow’s Data Scientists Through Data Games
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, "Big Data’s Problem: Little Talent," the technology industry faces a major dearth of employees with strong data analysis skills. The article quotes a 2011 study by McKinsey:
A significant constraint on realizing value from Big Data will be a shortage of talent, particularly of people with deep expertise … Continue Reading ››
Exploring Conic Sections with Sketchpad
As a student, I didn’t place conic sections on my list of favorite high school topics. The standard textbook treatment of the ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola seemed uninspired. There were messy algebraic equations with multiple square roots. There was lots of terminology. Drawing a conic meant plotting several points on graph paper and connecting them with … Continue Reading ››