This conversation has closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »
Who could best contribute to the ideas of computer-based math education?
Based on the vision I set forth in my TED talk, we're hosting a key summit in London this November to drive a worldwide change to computer-based math education (http://www.computerbasedmath.org/events/londonsummit2011/index.html). Very interested in ideas of who could best contribute? And I'm not just talking educators but leaders who want radical change and have a stake in the future of STEM education. We've already got many countries, governments and quite a few fields represented but really want to make sure we don't miss key people out.
Bemnet Gizachew
http://www.mypicx.com/uploadimg/522916619_10132011_1.png
http://www.mypicx.com/uploadimg/1128109856_10132011_2.png
http://www.mypicx.com/uploadimg/159747351_10132011_3.png
http://www.mypicx.com/uploadimg/852067881_10132011_4.png
Properly using this tools with the super tools like mathemaica and wolfram alpha can transform math from "following steps" subject" to a subject interesting ,applicable subject. Using computers properly one can focus its mind on the big picture . I think I can be a great help to the computer based math education . I can bring the perceptive from a developing country .
Molly Rozga
I am currently working on my senior research paper, which is focused on using technology and project based mathematics (real world applications) to build student engagement and content retention. Through my various field experiences, I have seen teachers using projects to connect middle school students, and the results are incredible! Imagine if more teachers were taught to think of math this way! I applaud your efforts, Mr. Wolfram, and cannot wait to be involved in change!
Paul Nilsson
Sabin Muntean 30+
Vi may not be a specialist in math software, but she definitely knows how to make understanding math interesting and fun.
Sol Lederman
MC HeKTiK
Sol Lederman
"The conventional classroom is important in the computer-based math world. Teacher instruction, group discussions, and classroom exercises are all important."
Nat Strafaci
Sol Lederman
Robert Galway 10+
1. Computer games where increased advantage in play could be achieved by applying age appropriate math techniques. Not equations, but scenarios where how to apply the math was part of the puzzle. Tapping the competitive nature of kids might be a good motivator for on-line competition. Make new math knowledge like a new toy. We just need to provide applications and games that are a playground to show off the new toy and enjoy it.
2. Perhaps have contests for best child developed game, learning technique, or applications.
3. Work with Scouting organizations to integrate math projects in the programs.
4. If you could earn the scholastic equivalent of “frequent flyer miles” on-line for extra age appropriate math work accomplished, sort of earning points or “education dollars” honored by academic institutions and perhaps co-subsidized by industry and government, that might be an immediate and progressive positive feedback mechanism that would appeal to kids.
5. Industry adding some cool perks to the existing scholastic mathematics competitions, like meeting Bill Gates, Conrad Wolfram, key Scientists, Mathematicians, Nobel laureates, etc.
6. Kids like catching adults making mistakes. Perhaps we offer so many of the points from 4 above for the first one to identify a mistake in any published document.
7. Personalize great math discoveries. Talk about the lives of great mathematicians. Put in perspective the inovativeness of the time.
8. Have a design completion where communication of design decisions using math was the key factor.
9. Per Bloom, we need to inject knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation to the critical thinking process. Teachers need to make math learning a critical thinking process.
10. Motivate thinking adults.
Sol Lederman
Idan Solon
robert richards
...continued
You see I am not all together certain that “better tools or models” is the answer, maybe one answer but not the answer. In my experience those that do very well in math are in a minority while those that do ok are the majority, those that don’t do well at all are also in a minority, albeit a far less glorious one. I wonder if more work and research should be done on those that don’t get it instead of those that do. It seems likely to me and something that you have stated in your video, that it may indeed be a conceptual predilection.
Personally I am beginning to think the problem with math is not the model. Rather another communication tool that is severely limiting and interfering with the conceptual structure tools needed to “get” maths….that is human language and not just spoken. It is finite but inaccurate, wonderfully expressive but imprecise. It is absolutely the tool that is used to construct conceptual structures yet the tool is hopelessly inadequate to the task. The sooner we turn from alphabetical to numerical communication the better.
So, in this sense…
I believe what you are suggesting is crucial to the continued evolutional advancement of humanity.
Sol Lederman
robert richards
Conrad Wolfram,
I have seen your video and applaud your model. Is it the right model? Who can know…but certainly it appears a greater (dare I say it) “holistic” model that has been delivered before and delivers hope.
My math skills are appalling; in fact it remains an embarrassment to me on a personal level. I don’t mind that other people know that I don’t get math… but I feel embarrassed for myself. I am not an unintelligent person, I am no Einstein either. I am a creative individual, an accomplished professional musician and can do most things I put my mind too. Yet I have a block to math.
It may be an emotional knee-jerk reaction but I do get a sense of “it’s easy for you to say” when I hear people stating that the answer to the problem of math in education is a better model. As an example; Being a musician I find it amazing that some people have such a hard time learning music, while those that haven’t a clue at all (in moments of shameful weakness) I wonder if they just didn’t try hard enough. But it doesn’t stop there. There is another side to professional musicians where some can read (music) and perform but not create spontaneously, where others can perform and create spontaneously but cannot read. Could they all learn to read and create…in most cases I believe so… but the divide is there in the first place not because they did not possess a better model, but because it was conceptually hard for them to learn that particular skill set....continued
Rodrigo Datahan
Sol Lederman
wayne hall
Maybe a e-bay for education content?
One worry was will this take teachers out of the picture. It is my belief that it will create even more demand.
Think of what could be done in a place like Haiti. Free education, and a system based on ability and desire.
Just a though.
Ed Schulte 30+
Not one same exactly but an interesting current event itemhttp://www.eontarionow.com/health/2011/09/21/video-gamers-solve-aids-mystery/
Sol Lederman
Conor O'Higgins
*The many people setting up charter schools in the UK
*University teachers and students of game design.
*The Dyson foundation
*Sudhir Karandikar
I hope this hellps. Best of luck with this worthy project!
Sol Lederman
David Irvine
I know many mathematicians and physicists, computer scientists who would struggle to change a car tyre or work out how to mend a broken pipe. The Engineering capability is lost when we dive straight in. Given this ability and then the extremely powerful tool that is computers we can make enormous differences. I believe it's before children can use computers, even before reading a writing the creative capability of using stuff around them as tools to get other stuff working is paramount, missing out this part is like putting a child in a fast car, they may get somewhere fast and not necessarily know how they did, i.e. they will struggle to make better cars or transport.
So my opinion is teach problem solving pre-computer and with computers eventually (with reading and writing). This way people will understand at the deepest level.
You can drive without really knowing how a clutch works or how to get around a faulty handbrake etc., you will just drive better when you do.
Phillip Odom
Deborah Zotian
I had a teacher use poker to teach statistics. It was the first time all term the light bulb went on for many of the students. The thought of using Chess would bring in logic and planninig. I like that.
Sol Lederman
David Irvine
If these people were never taught first principles (or how a clutch works) then all their knowledge on these subjects is very much limited and taking on new ideas will be so much more difficult.
It's a problem of progress, we leave behind many things (like ability to light fires or prepare and cook food in the wild etc.). When we expand these issues we leave behind to scientific and Engineering type subjects in particular then I believe there could be bad consequences.
It's a balance to get right and no real right or wrong, just a balance and first we need to recodnise it.
I take your point, perhaps everyone does not need to know everything, but it sure helps to know more that we sometimes do.
Urs Wäfler
Sol Lederman
christine bell
I think you need people who use this in their everyday life. Engineers and programmers. E.g. Simulation programs are amazing tools to develop and improve technology. A lot of things that can be computed now were not possible in the past. I could imagine people in that sector could help with the 'convincing educators' bit.
I remember being at school and just not realising what the hell maths is for and how it is used (apart from giving the right amount of change at a shopping till). It was once I realised that it is a short cut und incredibly powerful that I got interested. Computing helped me get decent maths A-levels in a fraction of the time you would usually require. I was almost angry afterwards. I remember thinking, "that was really easy and I can't believe they (and I) wasted so much time".
I'm not going to wait for teachers to catch up. My daughter is starting programming next week. The only difficulty I face is getting a teenager to do something that is just so 'uncool'. If I can get her through the first weeks/months - and she starts really understanding - then we've made it and the rest will be a breeze. Hopefully, she'll then have more time to go to the cinema or lie around in a hammock - because we can make the whole process quicker and more efficient - which I think is really cool.
I'm cheesed off that I have to do that. I'd rather do other things after work. I'm paying tax for an education system that is still stuck in the last century. Maybe you also need some parents with IT skills to move this on.
Sol Lederman
Tony Kuphaldt 10+
On a similar theme, I now use Excel spreadsheets to teach simple mathematical modeling to 2-year college students. It's really neat to see the students become empowered to analyze real-world data using such a ubiquitous tool. It's also another way computers could be used to help students grasp concepts like variables (every variable in Excel is a box on the screen referenced by a column/row address).
I think a critically important concept when applying computers to math education is to make sure students *understand* the how and the why of what the software shows them on the screen. Software developers tend to be in the habit of shielding all the messy details from the user in deference to a polished presentation, but when you're using computers to teach math, the students really need to see what's going on "inside" so to speak. Programming the computer to do a specific mathematical task addresses this need nicely.
Mike Monkowski
Sol Lederman
Fritzie Reisner 10+
William Hardaway
Sol Lederman
Regarding the game community -- I do believe that there is much we can learn from how video games engage students but I'm not impressed by how most video games are too focused on mindless drilling.
Mike Monkowski
I disagree with the theme of Conrad Wolfram's talk, that the teaching of math should be replaced with the teaching of computer programming. The two fields overlap in many ways, but their fundamental concepts are quite different. The mathematical concepts have to be understood before they can be implemented as a computer program.
A good computer programmer is one who understands the domain to which the programming is being applied: engineering, finance, meteorology, music, and so on. To say that one could learn math by programming it, is equivalent to saying one could learn music by programming it. The fact that computers use binary arithmetic in their implementation is irrelevant. They use electric signals and solid state physics as well, but it would be folly to suggest that one could learn band theory simply by programming, without the background physics.
Salman Khan uses computers in a very different way. He uses computers as his medium, as a time machine for his lectures. He uses it for analysis of the students progress. I think Wolfram is held back by his view of computers as just powerful calculators. TED itself is an example that computers are much more than that.
I think to improve the teaching of math, you must first understand what the current problems are. Khan uses computers to fix the problem that one pace of teaching does not fit all. If that were the only problem, we'd be done now. Wolfram didn't really outline the problem that he was trying to fix, he just said that learning to calculate is a waste of time.
So what are the specific problems?
Conor Palin-Stewart