more on math teaching

Good Math, Bad Math : Teaching Multiplication: Is it repeated addition?:

All over subjects in early education, we don't teach children the whole truth about things. In fact, we often teach them things which aren't even incomplete truths, but are utter falsehoods. We teach reading by phonics - when phonics doesn't work a lot of the time. We teach them in the US that our government is a democracy, when in fact it's a republic, which isn't the same thing. In physics, we teach them that mass is a constant, and that energy and matter are different things. We teach them Newton's laws. In chemistry, we teach them that electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom. All of these things, we teach at best incomplete truths at the start, because the whole truth is too complicated to be understood when you're just starting to learn.

I don't see why math should be any different than all of those other topics. We start teaching math using the natural or whole numbers. We don't start off with the full real number system - we start with non-negative integers. We start by saying "you can't subtract a larger number from a smaller one". Then later, we teach them fractions, negative numbers, irrational numbers, complex numbers.

As I keep saying, I like the idea of teaching with intuition. I don't really want to lie to kids - I think that the best way to teach is to be honest about being incomplete. Don't say "You can't subtract a larger number from a smaller one"; say "We haven't learned to do that yet.". Teach the intuition, but show a couple of different ones, to make it clear that the intuition isn't the whole story; but don't spend time explaining the whole story to second-graders - they're not ready to understand it. Tell them what they can understand, and let them know that there's more to learn about it.

Muppets return to TV's date set: August 3rd!

Muppets return to TV, woo hoo! | The Disney Blog:

This August 3rd, set your DVRs to the Disney Channel to record “Studio DC: Almost Live.” The Muppets look to return to form in a half-hour, music-filled sketch comedy show that will feature many of The Disney Channels current slate of stars, as well as a few surprises. Announced celebrities include: Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, Ashley Tisdale, Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Brenda Song and Phill Lewis. Some of the Muppets returning include the big names like Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, and Fozzie Bear, as well as some of the more familiar minor characters.

Update - yeah, it's NYRF weekend, so I'm gonna have to program the vcr/dvd and hope I get it right, and/or hope for the repeat or torrent...bleh

blocking a point of view in an open society? yup...

Pharyngula: City workers in Birmingham are not reading this right now:

The Birmingham city council has put up blocking software to lock out atheist websites, which is OK — they've got to crack that whip and keep their employees focused on the work at hand, of course. Unfortunately, they apparently aren't doing this to improve productivity, but simply to shut down a point of view some bureaucrat doesn't like.

The authority's Bluecoat Software computer system allows staff to look at websites relating to Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and other religions but blocks sites to do with "witchcraft or Satanism" and "occult practices, atheistic views, voodoo rituals or any other form of mysticism".

I'm always peeved at this inconsistent categorization. If you're going to group undesirable topics under the heading of "Forms of mysticism", then atheism does not belong there, but Christianity and Islam do, right along with witchcraft, the occult, voodoo, and New Age nonsense. I suppose we could even stretch that category to cover pornography, since it largely seems to consist of imaginary bodies airbrushed and photoshopped into an impossibly ideal form.

I know he's intentionally insulting to it, but objectively speaking, he's right: Christianity and all religions are forms of mysticism by definition, and atheism is the antithesis of mysticism in almost every way possible.

going...going...

Remember when I complained about having a "get extra miles" promotion on my credit card, but it was for Bennigans and Steak and Ale, neither of which exist in the DC area in a significant quantity to make it worth it as all of the stores I know of except 1 (Seven Corners) had closed down?

Well...

Bennigan's files for bankruptcy protection - Yahoo! News:

Restaurant chains Bennigan's and Steak & Ale have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and stores owned by its parent company will shut their doors.

There's a comment in there about franchisee stores maybe staying open, but my guess is that they're gone too, 'cause if enough stores close, the distributors will stop making the specialized products (sauces, items needed for particular recipes, that sort of thing) for that store and thus, they'll start to lose any advantage to being what they were.

still, there's a *sigh* there, 'cause I actually liked them most of the time (except for Steak and Ale's ruining of the atmosphere by 1) playing crappy lite jazz, and 2) not having an Ale to speak of, only lager beers).

for catchy subject line, see icon...

How you can put evolution back into museums:

Here is the exhibit I want my zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo, to feature at the entrance:

Bronze replicas of a fish (in artificial pond), an early amphibian, an early mammal, an early primate, and several lineages of hominids, all arranged on top of bronze phylogentic "tree" inlaid into the sidewalk. Humans are not displayed, but their proper phylogenetic position is denoted by bronze footprints next to a plaque that says, "Stand here for photo op."