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.

Teaching

Building Thinking Classrooms

My supervisor has been experimenting with a “Building Thinking Classrooms” (BTC) approach to teaching, so our department began the year by participating in a BTC-style activity: standing in small groups around the room, working on “non-routine” problems on chalk boards / white boards. It was certainly engaging, social, and compelling, but I was definitely missing quiet time to think deeply about the problems on my own. It also seemed nearly impossible to not be influenced by other groups, especially those who quickly arrived at a successful approach. In any event, it was a thoughtful way to start the year, and it led to some great, productive conversations.

Originally posted on Mastodon.

By MrHonner, 9 monthsSeptember 7, 2025 ago

Teaching

Profile on COMAP

I’m proud to be profiled on the COMAP blog, in an article that highlights the incredible work of our mathematical modeling group this past year. I’m grateful to the students for all their hard work, and to organizations like COMAP for creating opportunities to get students involved in applied mathematics and modeling. You can read the profile here.

Media Resources Teaching

Decision Education Webinar

I’ll be a guest on next week’s Lunch and Learn webinar series from the Alliance for Decision Education, where we will be talking about how forecasting — making quantitative projections about real world events — is a great way to put mathematics in context for students. The webinar is free and open to all, and you can learn more and register here.

Related Posts

2023 – Year in Review

By MrHonner, 11 monthsJuly 3, 2025 ago

Teaching

Workshop — Applying Math Through Modeling

Last night I ran a workshop for teachers about mathematical modeling. Modeling can be nebulous and overwhelming to those unaccustomed to applied math, so my goal was to give teachers an accessible introduction to the modeling process that allowed them to experience what distinguishes modeling from what might be considered “school math”.

The workshop was based on the work I’ve done building and running a mathematical modeling program at my school the past three years, where I’ve drawn heavily on resources from the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (COMAP) and modeling competitions like the MathWorks M3 Challenge.

Modeling is a wonderful way to get students doing authentic applied math, and even though I’ve got a lot to learn myself, I was happy to share what’s worked for me and my students as we have built our program.

Strogatz, the NYT, and Taxicab Geometry

Building Thinking Classrooms

Profile on COMAP

Decision Education Webinar

Workshop — Applying Math Through Modeling

Follow Mr Honner