Terry Mills has made it clear, many times, that he dislikes multiple choice questions. Now, on Tom Peachey’s new blog, Terry has a post to discuss a suggested variation of MCQs. Continue reading “Terry Mills on a Variation on Multiple Choice Questions”
Category: education
Maths Anxiety Is Not a Thing, But Let’s Talk About It Anyway
A couple days ago there was an article in the SMH, titled,
Bad with numbers? You might have maths anxiety
Yeah, maybe. Or maybe you just suck at maths. It’s a conundrum.
Continue reading “Maths Anxiety Is Not a Thing, But Let’s Talk About It Anyway”
Yes More Mr. Nice Guy: Tom Peachey’s New Blog
On occasion, I get objections to the nastiness of this blog: “Why can’t you be nicer?”, and so forth. The answer is that I can’t because I can’t: my blog is fuelled by my disgust and anger at the perversion of mathematics education, and of education in general, and of our entire culture. That’s the way it is. But there is a solution: have someone else be nice for me. Continue reading “Yes More Mr. Nice Guy: Tom Peachey’s New Blog”
Maths Anxiety is Not a Thing
I am, of course, wrong. Prove it. Continue reading “Maths Anxiety is Not a Thing”
The Nature of Decolonising Mathematics
We have absolutely no time for this, but we feel obligated to write something. In their latest issue, the journal Nature – yes, that Nature – has a double-banger contribution to the “decolonization of mathematics”. To begin, there is an unsigned editorial, Why we have nothing to fear from the decolonization of mathematics. Then, the main event is a long article by “math and science writer“, Rachel Crowell, Charting a course to make maths truly universal. Both pieces are, of course, ridiculous. Continue reading “The Nature of Decolonising Mathematics”
Education Experts Notice the Disintegrating Dyke, and Advocate More Fingers
Yesterday, the Grattan Institute released a report:
Tackling under-achievement: Why Australia should embed high-quality small-group tuition in schools
Great idea. While you’re at it, maybe give each kid their own pony. Continue reading “Education Experts Notice the Disintegrating Dyke, and Advocate More Fingers”
Marshalling Resources
My family and I are just back from a week at the beach. Content from winning the Port Fairy boogie boarding championship,* I’ll soon get back to bashing the Australian curriculum and to other topics. First, a quick one, on some old books.
As is typical, the beach house where we stayed contained an odd assortment of games and DVDs and books. Oddest of the books was a selection from “The Marshall Cavendish Learning System”. These books are from the late 60s and rang the vaguest of bells, but I have no idea what the “learning system” was, if anything other than marketing, nor for whom the books were intended. The books, with no distinguishable authors, were published by the UK company Marshall Cavendish, which is now a Singaporean entity, or part of a Thai brewery, or something. God knows.
What is notable is that the books are good.
Rishi Rich’s New Maths Problem
Of course, Rishi Sunak’s original maths problem was how to hide God knows how many millions of pounds from the UK tax authorities. Rishi’s new maths problem is convincing anyone that his idea for school kids to study “maths” until they’re eighteen isn’t monumentally stupid.
On the other hand, if anyone commenting on Sunak’s latest idiocy wrote anything remotely intelligent, we failed to see it. (But thank God for Michael Spicer.)
What Should I Write About, What Should You Write About?
With a new year beginning, and with Do the Maths having struck a bit of a chord, it seems a good time to think about doing more than shooting stupid ACARA fish in ACARA’s stupid barrel. I’m open to suggestions for this blog, of what I might write about, and of what you might write about.
Continue reading “What Should I Write About, What Should You Write About?”
Do the Maths: Why Mathematics Education is Failing Our Kids
The following is our complete Arena article, which we announced a couple weeks ago. It includes footnotes and references and links that didn’t make it into the Arena version.
Continue reading “Do the Maths: Why Mathematics Education is Failing Our Kids”