Month: November 2021

ACARA Trolls Tudge

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November 30, 2021

6:07 pm

15 Comments on ACARA Trolls Tudge

ACARA

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Well, ok, ACARA didn’t start it. But still, it’s funny.

Last week, on 25 November, the Centre for Independent Studies posted an “analysis paper”, Failing to teach the teacher: An analysis of mathematics Initial Teacher Education. By “CIS Research Fellow” Glenn Fahey and two guys from something called Shaping Minds, the paper hammers education faculties’ emphasis on constructivist methods at the expense of explicit teaching. The paper, which Greg Ashman discusses a little here, is spot on and underwhelming. Continue reading “ACARA Trolls Tudge” →

The State of Such Things

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November 29, 2021

10:56 am

2 Comments on The State of Such Things

VCAA

A few days ago, the QEDcat received an email from a Victorian teacher, someone we don’t know and who, it seems, doesn’t follow this blog. The teacher and his colleagues had been discussing a rather weird exercise and he had wanted our opinion on the exercise. We were happy to oblige of course, and the issue turned out to be related to this screw-up. We also took the opportunity to suggest that the teacher’s choice was either to ask us or to ask the VCAA. The teacher replied,

Yep. One of the other teachers said we should check what vcaa say. But I actually want to know the correct answer.

Which is where we are.  A ratbag blogger is considered, correctly, to be a more reliable authority than the actual Authority.

How the Other Maths Lives

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November 23, 2021

4:44 pm

59 Comments on How the Other Maths Lives

Uncategorized

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A few days ago, the Sydney Morning Herald had an article on “the hardest question” from this year’s NSW Extension 2 Exam. The question is worth 5 marks, which equates to 9 minutes of a 3 hour exam (accessible here). The question, and another question (6-ish minutes), which apparently came along for the ride, are posted below. Readers’ homework exercise is to Compare and Contrast. Continue reading “How the Other Maths Lives” →

More Mathematics Books, Free to More Homes

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November 23, 2021

3:27 pm

16 Comments on More Mathematics Books, Free to More Homes

textbooks

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UPDATE (25/11/21)

OK, all done. Thanks to those who expressed interest, and thanks in particular to MyCool, for playing the role of sweeper. Books will be handballed as arranged.

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Or the same homes. I couldn’t care less.

This pile of books is not nearly as extensive or as high quality as the last bunch, and I’m not going to work hard to find homes, or to deliver the books to the homes. Still there are some good books there for undergraduate maths and engineering folk, and a few classics. Continue reading “More Mathematics Books, Free to More Homes” →

Tony Gardiner: ‘Problem-Solving’? Or Problem Solving?

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November 17, 2021

4:30 pm

22 Comments on Tony Gardiner: ‘Problem-Solving’? Or Problem Solving?

Uncategorized

The following is an article by Tony Gardiner, originally published in 1996 in the Mathematical Gazette. It is reproduced here with the kind permission of Tony, the Chief Editor of the Mathematical Gazette and the Mathematical Association. The original article is available on JSTOR, here (via an educational library), and we’ve also separately posted the problems in Tony’s article here.

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Discussion: VCAA’s Blunt Implement

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November 15, 2021

1:59 pm

96 Comments on Discussion: VCAA’s Blunt Implement

VCAA

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This is not one we’ve had time to look at but it seems important. We don’t intend to comment but we’re providing this post as a forum for discussion.

In November last year, VCAA released its draft of the new mathematics study design, to begin in 2023.  The draft is no longer linked on VCAA’s website, but we wrote about the draft here, here and here. The current study design, ostensibly in operation until the end of 2022, is here. Continue reading “Discussion: VCAA’s Blunt Implement” →

NotCH 4: Five Problems From Tony Gardiner

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November 14, 2021

2:28 pm

12 Comments on NotCH 4: Five Problems From Tony Gardiner

NotCH

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We have written about Tony Gardiner and excerpted from his writings a number of times: here, here, here, here and here. We will post an entire article by Tony in a day or so, but we are first posting the problems contained within the article. Unlike the “problem” here, the problems below are genuinely presented by Tony to puzzle over, and are only loosely tied to the text of the article. Have fun. Continue reading “NotCH 4: Five Problems From Tony Gardiner” →

Further Exams and Further Errors

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November 14, 2021

10:10 am

27 Comments on Further Exams and Further Errors

exams

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By overwhelming demand,* we have decided, much belatedly, to put up a post for discussion of the 2021 Further Mathematics exams. We have no particular plans to update this post, although we will do so if anything of interest arises. We’ll just note the two excerpts below, from Exam 2, the first of which is discussed here, at 5:30. Thanks to Simon and SRK to bringing these to our attention.**

Continue reading “Further Exams and Further Errors” →