The 2018 Northern Hemisphere Mathematical Methods exams (1 and 2) are out. We didn’t spot any Magritte-esque lunacy, which was a pleasant surprise. In general, the exam questions were merely trivial, clumsy, contrived, calculator-infested and loathsomely ugly. So, all in all not bad by VCAA standards. There, was, however, one notable question. The final multiple […]
Our second post on the 2017 VCE exam madness concerns a question on the first Specialist Mathematics exam. Typically Specialist exams, particularly the first exams, don’t go too far off the rails; it’s usually more “meh” than madness. (Not that “meh” is an overwhelming endorsement of what is nominally a special mathematics subject.) This year, […]
Yes, we’ve used that title before, but it’s a damn good title. And there is so much madness in Mathematical Methods to cover. And not only Methods. Victoria’s VCE exams are coming to an end, the maths exams are done, and there is all manner of new and astonishing nonsense to consider. This year, the Victorian Curriculum and […]
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about my brother Jeff happily declaring women to be objects, and the philosopher Frege’s attempts to untangle concepts from the objects to which those concepts may apply. The point, apart from the self-indulgent pleasure of reminiscing and of pondering such things, was to raise the question of the meaning […]
The Age‘s Schools Summit is today, and VCAA’s Andrew Smith has one of the keynotes. Smith’s title: How a well-designed curriculum can contribute to developing well-rounded individuals who are prepared to contribute meaningfully to society and the workforce. And, um, which “well-designed curriculum” might that be, Andrew? ACARA’s K-10 masterpiece? Or, are you referring to […]
Yeah, I wanted to get a whole bunch of stuff into the title and so decided to go full 17th Century with it. But, I’ll make up for the florid title with the post being brief and with 21st Century wording. I fucking hate PowerPoint.
This post is a mulligan stew. I’m still crazy-busy, making it very difficult to find any peace or writing rhythm to tackle the posts that I’m keener to do. There have also been a few “maybe” news stories to write about, and some follow-up slaps to hand to VCAA, but nothing sufficiently compelling to make […]
Over the summer, my family and I took a holiday, driving around Tasmania. It was great, of course, albeit the ferry over was a bad mistake.1 Our first stop was Stanley, a gorgeous, windswept town, featuring a mini Ayers Rock, and penguins that could be viewed unobscured by an MCG-sized stadium or a crazed horde […]
God knows why you are here, whoever you are. But, assuming you wish to be here, this stupid homepage can be a bit of a guide to this stupid blog. The blog is mostly about mathematics education, and how and why it now sucks, but occasionally strays into family stuff and censorship stuff and politics […]
A few weeks ago, I had a drive-by post on the MAV. This was in response to the MAV’s idiotic contribution to the Age‘s article on CAS and VCAA’s non-clearing of calculators for VCE exams. Of course the main culprit was VCAA, who demonstrated that they are speedily returning to their natural state of arrogance and […]