Ed News Roundup
Some irony in the story in the Times recently about teaching math in colleges/universities . The story is about how a Central Washington professor, Dominic Klyve, has been given a grant (shared with six other higher ed institutions) to study using "primary sources" to help students grasp math concepts. What primary sources? People like Euclid and Archimedes. The idea is that students understand not just how to solve an equation but how the method to solve the problem was developed. I do like this "back to basics" idea (at least in trying to help students see math as a journey and not just a single endpoint of solving problems) but it's a bit of a clash with what K-12 students are learning via Common Core math. My understanding of how Common Core math is taught does not match up with what this professor (and others) are trying to find out for how college students should be taught math.