Group items tagged

Mathematics in Popular Culture Essays on Appearances in Film, Fiction, Games, Television and Other Media Edited by Jessica K. Sklar and Elizabeth S. Sklar Foreword by Keith Devlin Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-4978-1 Ebook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8994-7 25 photos, appendices, notes, bibliographies, index 353pp. 2012

Published by University of Chicago Press, July 2012. "Math and science hold powerful places in contemporary society, setting the foundations for entry into some of the most robust and highest-paying industries. However, effective math and science education is not equally available to all students, with some of the poorest students-those who would benefit most-going egregiously underserved. This ongoing problem with education highlights one of the core causes of the widening class gap. While this educational inequality can be attributed to a number of economic and political causes, in Empowering Science and Mathematics Education in Urban Communities, Angela Calabrese Barton and Edna Tan demonstrate that it is augmented by a consistent failure to integrate student history, culture, and social needs into the core curriculum. They argue that teachers and schools should create hybrid third spaces-neither classroom nor home-in which underserved students can merge their personal worlds with those of math and science. A host of examples buttress this argument: schools where these spaces have been instituted now provide students not only an immediate motivation to engage the subjects most critical to their future livelihoods but also the broader math and science literacy necessary for robust societal engagement. A unique look at a frustratingly understudied subject, Empowering Science and Mathematics Education pushes beyond the idea of teaching for social justice and into larger questions of how and why students participate in math and science. " Excerpts in Google Books

Abstract: "Students' attitudes toward mathematics and its learning have been subject to numerous studies in the past six decades. These studies treat such attitudes as both desirable learning outcomes and correlates of mathematics achievement. Many Likert-type attitude scales have been devised to measure significant constructs underlying mathematics-related attitudes, such as confidence, anxiety, and utility of mathematics. The psychometric properties of these attitude scales may be culture and age dependent. As part of a research project called Singapore Mathematics Assessment and Pedagogy Project (SMAPP), an effort was made to devise and validate an attitude toward learning mathematics scale that can be used with lower secondary school students in Singapore. This paper explains the use of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to reduce an initial 57-item questionnaire to one with 24 items that cover these six dimensions: Checking solutions, Confidence, Enjoyment, Use of IT in mathematics learning, Multiple solutions, and Usefulness of mathematics. The data comprise responses from about 890 Secondary 1 (Grade 7) students in 2010, who took the 57-item questionnaire, and another 850 students who took the 24-item questionnaire in 2011. The nature of the final questionnaire is discussed. This effort contributes to the continual effort to devise validated attitude scales that are suitable for different cultures and student groups."

Published in 2014, tells the story of how, in the seventeenth century, Italian Jesuit authorities evidently tried to suppress the idea of infinitesimals in mathematics and how subsequently their flourishing led to the development of calculus and shifted the balance of world culture and the influence of nations.

"Mathematical Expeditions is a collection of over 500 culturally and historically diverse mathematical problems carefully chosen to enrich mathematics teaching from middle school through the college level." Forthcoming June 2012.

A well made Mandarin resource for kids. Choose a topic page then hover over the objects to see the characters and pinyin and hear the pronunciation. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Mandarin+%26+Chinese+culture

Essays and commentaries (full text access requires subscription)

Prometheus Books The Glorious Golden Ratio [978-1-61614-423-4] - "For centuries, mathematicians, scientists, artists, and architects have been fascinated by a ratio that is ubiquitous in nature and is commonly found across many cultures. It has been called the "Golden Ratio" because of its prevalence as a design element and its seemingly universal esthetic appeal. From the ratio of certain proportions of the human body and the heliacal structure of DNA to the design of ancient Greek statues and temples as well as modern masterpieces, the Golden Ratio is a key pattern that has wide-ranging and perhaps endless applications and manifestations. What exactly is the Golden Ratio? How was it discovered? Where is it found? These questions and more are thoroughly explained in this engaging tour of one of mathematics' most interesting phenomena. With their talent for elucidating mathematical mysteries, veteran educators and prolific mathematics writers Alfred S. Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann begin by tracing the appearance of the Golden Ratio throughout history. They demonstrate a variety of ingenious techniques used to construct it and illustrate the many surprising geometric figures in which the Golden Ratio is embedded. They also point out the intriguing relationship between the Golden Ratio and other famous numbers (such as the Fibonacci numbers, Pythagorean triples, and others). They then explore its prevalence in nature as well as in architecture, art, literature, and technology. "

During the live online event Saturday January 14th 2pm ET, Shad Moarif, the founder of Karismath, will lead brainstorming about mathematical videos and dynamic mathematics in general. Event challenge! What types of the Grid do you see from the pedagogical perspective? Discussions beginning before the event This wiki: discussion tab http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/message/list/Karismath LinkedIn: "Math, Math Education, Math Culture" group http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=33207&type=member&item=88774229&qid=00e42ab4-4f69-453e-8a79-0a181ab07bc9 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/karismath/posts/334691806549990 Math Future email group: http://groups.google.com/group/mathfuture/browse_thread/thread/071299f3319650cf# In a grid, there is an obvious connection between the product cell and the simultaneity of two bits of information coexisting within it. Shad is exploring ways of breaking this connection down into a sequence of transitional steps by distilling them visually. Shad has categorized the Grid into eleven types according to their uses for storing, sorting, and displaying numerical information (see below). What pedagogical types of the Grid come to your mind? How to join Follow this link at the time of the event: http://tinyurl.com/math20event

Interesting use of math graphs in a creative and humorous way.

"A McNugget number is a positive integer that can be obtained by adding together orders of McDonald's® Chicken McNuggets" While these numbers are interesting in themselves, I'm particularly taken by the idea of building an interesting problem based on consumer or popular culture. What other prompts might we find in a similar vien?

"A McNugget number is a positive integer that can be obtained by adding together orders of McDonald's® Chicken McNuggets" Find the largest number that IS NOT a McNugget number.

Who created mathematics? Where did it begin? To answer these questions, we need to think about what mathematics is. In their work on ethnomathematics, Borba (1990) and D'Ambrosio (1990) define the compnonents of ethnomathematics as the follows: ethnos - within a cultural environment mathema - explaining and understanding in order to transcend, managing and coping with reality in order to survive and thrive. tics - techniques such as counting, ordering, sorting, measuring, weighing, ciphering, classifying, ordering, inferring and modeling.

Running the Numbers looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans .......

A fun online Spirograph, great for maths lessons, looking at cogs and cams in D&T and pop culture in art.

Published 2012. "Spherical trigonometry was at the heart of astronomy and ocean-going navigation for two millennia. The discipline was a mainstay of mathematics education for centuries, and it was a standard subject in high schools until the 1950s. Today, however, it is rarely taught. Heavenly Mathematics traces the rich history of this forgotten art, revealing how the cultures of classical Greece, medieval Islam, and the modern West used spherical trigonometry to chart the heavens and the Earth. Glen Van Brummelen explores this exquisite branch of mathematics and its role in ancient astronomy, geography, and cartography; Islamic religious rituals; celestial navigation; polyhedra; stereographic projection; and more. He conveys the sheer beauty of spherical trigonometry, providing readers with a new appreciation for its elegant proofs and often surprising conclusions. Heavenly Mathematics is illustrated throughout with stunning historical images and informative drawings and diagrams that have been used to teach the subject in the past. This unique compendium also features easy-to-use appendixes as well as exercises at the end of each chapter that originally appeared in textbooks from the eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries."

From the abstract: "is research develops around a technological intervention intended to transform a peer produced reference resource into a peer produced learning environment. An early Web 2.0 community for mathematics, PlanetMath.org, will henceforth become a mathematical practicum, and a laboratory for learning science."

Abstract: "Australian pre-service teachers have to acquire layers of knowledge as school classrooms are multicultural in composition. To what extent does the experience of an overseas professional experience tour contribute to the development of pre-service teachers in meeting recognised professional teaching standards? This paper describes the perceptions of Australian preservice mathematics teachers who participated in educational and cultural activities during planned tours to Malaysia. The data set was collected through the use of questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions."

Abstract: "A simulated academic career was combined with inquiry-based learning in an upper-division undergraduate mathematics course. Concepts such as tenure, professional conferences and journals were simulated. Simulation procedures were combined with student-led, inquirybased classroom formats. A qualitative analysis (ethnography) describes the culture that emerged within the simulation during a pilot test. A discussion follows evaluating the potential for career simulations to invite students to consider graduate studies and academic careers in the STEM disciplines."