NYT

Strogatz, the NYT, and Triangular Numbers

My latest article for the New York Times Learning Network turns Steven Strogatz’s wonderful “Math, Revealed” essay on triangular numbers into a teaching and learning resource. Learn about how a favorite number pattern connects algebra, geometry, and calculus, and even extends into CAT scans the Fab Four!

The article is freely available here, and as with the articles in the series, include free access to Strogatz’s original New York Times essay.

NYT Teaching Writing

Strogatz, the NYT, and Mathematical Packing

My latest article for the New York Times Learning Network turning Steven Strogatz’s wonderful “Math, Revealed” essays into teaching and learning resources is out. This piece is about mathematical packing, the age-old human quest to find efficiency in organization, and covers everything from packing soda cans in a box to packing information in high-dimensional spaces! It also includes some easy-to-state, but yet unsolved, mathematical conjectures about the best way to fit squares in squares.

The piece is freely available here, and includes free access to Professor Strogatz’s original essay.

NYT Resources Teaching

Strogatz, the NYT, and Taxicab Geometry

I’m excited to share a new piece I’ve written for the New York Times Learning Network that turns mathematician Steven Strogatz’s excellent “Math, Revealed” essay on Taxicab geometry into a resource for teaching and learning.

If you’ve ever wondered how pi could be equal to 4, or what a perpendicular bisector looks like in the Manhattan metric, take a look! The article includes discussion prompts, creative challenges, and classroom suggestions from algebra to calculus. And it even includes some suggestions from Strogatz himself! The piece is freely available here, and also includes free access to the original essay.

NYT Teaching

Remote Learning — Week 8

Last week the New York Times published the opinion piece “Why I’m Learning More With Distance Learning Than I Do in School“, by Veronique Mintz, an 8th grade student from New York City. As the title suggests, Ms. Mintz not only enjoys the current distance learning model, but actually prefers it to being in school.

It’s a terrific essay that offers teachers plenty to think about, even if it isn’t a flattering portrayal of their work. Important questions about classroom management, collaborative learning, and instructional design are raised. At it’s heart the piece touches on a very complicated question: Where does a teacher focus their effort?

It’s a thoughtful and well-written piece, and Ms. Mintz deserves praise for it. But I don’t believe that her experience is anywhere near typical. Which led me to submit the following letter to the editor.

It’s wonderful that Ms. Mintz is finding success during emergency remote learning. Many of my students are also doing well. I’d even say some are thriving. What they and Ms. Mintz are doing isn’t easy, and it’s inspiring. And not just to us teachers.

But many students are missing the structure of school and the collaboration of the classroom. They miss the school leaders who greet them at the door with a smile. They miss the teachers who can read slumped shoulders and slight hesitations and say just the right thing to get them back on track. I hope Ms. Mintz understands that despite great efforts, many students are not finding the same kind of success she is. More importantly, I hope the readers of the New York Times understand that, too.

I appreciate a good opinion piece, but certain kinds of opinions on education are far more likely to make the pages of the NYT than others. As I mentioned on Twitter, these Op Eds always leave me with questions, and not just about education.

And like all NYT op eds on education this leaves me wondering “How does the NYT decide who gets to write op eds on education?”
— Patrick Honner (@MrHonner) May 6, 2020

Data NYT Resources Teaching

7 Ways to Explore the Math of the Coronavirus Using the New York Times

My latest piece for the New York Times Learning Network is “7 Ways to Explore the Math of the Coronavirus Using the New York Times”, a collection of ideas for using NYT articles, infographics, and interactives to explore the mathematics underlying the current coronavirus epidemic.

The opportunities range from statistical literacy to network theory. Here’s an example of some data analysis you can engage in using a wonderful NYT interactive:

By using sliders to change, for example, the level of intervention (e.g., moderate or aggressive) or the length of intervention (e.g., 14 days or 60 days), students can see how outcomes change. And, by playing with the model, they will be able to answer questions like: “What is the impact of shortening our social distancing period?” or “What happens when we delay the start of our interventions?”

The full article is freely available on the New York Times Learning Network.

By MrHonner, 6 yearsApril 7, 2020 ago

Strogatz, the NYT, and Triangular Numbers

Strogatz, the NYT, and Mathematical Packing

Strogatz, the NYT, and Taxicab Geometry

Remote Learning — Week 8

7 Ways to Explore the Math of the Coronavirus Using the New York Times

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