Results tagged “math”

We just got a statement from Senator Ed Murray on the R-71 signature count. It's like a word problem out of a stem-winder algebra book. Man, we'll be happy when politics is all done by computer. Says Murray--wait, got a pencil and paper handy? You'll need it:

The UW's weather guru Cliff Mass is part of a threesome that have appealed to the King County Superior Court to block the Seattle Public Schools' adoption of an inquiry-based math textbook series: Discovering Algebra, Discovering Geometry, and Discovering Advanced Algebra. In a press release, they argue that inquiry-based math instruction has resulted in a growing "achievement gap in mathematics among ethnic minority and free-lunch students in 4th, 7th, and 10th grades." The argument is also playing out in the op-ed pages of the Seattle Times, where a math teacher at Roosevelt responded to Mass's vocal criticism, oddly without including a single math-achievement benchmark that might sway us in favor of the series.

For those in search of information on so many people think that then Key Curriculum math books recently adopted by the Seattle School District are so bad, Where's the Math?, a local group promoting better math education in our schools, has info on a review of the books by UW math prof John Lee (PDF of the full review here). Prof. Lee explains upfront that "a course that does not imbue students with the spirit, techniques, and practice of deductive reasoning is not a mathematics course worthy of the name." He goes on to explain exactly how well he thinks these books do that, well worth the read for people interested.

The P-I says that the Seattle school board voted to adopt (4-3) the Key Curriculum Press Discovering Mathematics textbooks series--for algebra, advanced algebra, geometry, pre-calculus and calculus classes across the district. (Statistics classes get an Addison-Wesley textbook.)

Yesterday we blogged about Cliff Mass's opinion on the high school algebra and geometry textbooks the school board is considering--and nobody with an opposing view commented. You'd think it was unanimous agreement. However, we were notified about this indignant response on Twitter: "Wow, I just lost all respect for the Seattlest - GG. http://bit.ly/1R3H08 Cliff Mass is an idiot. Agh so pissed off. Why can't ppl see that all the great minds are saying NOT TO lecture at kids or drill-n-kill. WELCOME TO OUR GENERATION!! Lets go to the weatherman for how we should teach math. EXCELLENT IDEA. Include all the rich white males from Bellevue while you're at it."

Tucked at the end of UW meteorologist Cliff Mass's post about the millions of square miles of low clouds over the ocean that will ruin our sun-loving lives for the foreseeable future is a PS about Seattle's high school math "situation" that we mentioned last week. Says Cliff: "I was amazed that three of them are still considering a terrible math series (Discovering Algebra, Discovering Geometry) that was found by the State Board of Education to be unsuitable. And dropped by San Diego as a failure." They lost us with the titles, for god's sake, but it helps to have Cliff weigh in with an expert opinion.

We're attending a wedding this summer. And, like any prospective wedding guest, before we buy a gift we're going to figure out how likely it is that the couple will eventually divorce.

LUNCH AND POLITICAL POEMS: Nation humorist Calvin Trillin does a special midday Monday event at Elliott Bay, reading from his collection of poems about the 2008 election cycle Deciding the Next Decider: The 2008 Presidential Race in Rhyme. The event is free and open to the public, but if you want to go one step further and make a lunch of it, call up the cafe (206-682-6664) to pre-order from your choice of box lunch: roast beef sandwich, albacore tuna sandwich, or egg salad sandwich, all of which are served with chips and a cookie.