What we mean when we say “Anyone can do math”

We need to unpack the phrase, and attendant phrases, that are so popular today, and that are in some ways so radical and unintuitive that we both believe and [...]

Posted In : , Math Musings, Pedagogy

December 3, 2018

How Do You Make Math Fun?

I was recently asked to be on a panel discussion online, along with a few others with an interest in recreational mathematics. The topic was how do you make [...]

Posted In : , Math Musings

September 12, 2018

Letter to a student – Fibonacci numbers and Lucas Numbers

Last spring I received a letter from a student who wanted to know more about me, and more, especially, about Fibonacci numbers. I wrote him back, and shared a [...]

Posted In : , Math Musings

August 21, 2018

Can’t let it go

I had a lovely experience last spring after a workshop with elementary teachers in a nearby school district. I thought I’d share. It began with saying yes to [...]

Posted In : , Doing & Thinking Math Classrooms, Making and Breaking Conjectures, Math Musings

November 26, 2017

Teachers Making Teachers Better

I’ve just witnessed one of the best back-and-forths ever on Twitter, and I had to share it. It’s a phenomenal example of the pileup that allows great [...]

Posted In : , Math Musings, Video

August 30, 2017

Poetry, botany, arithmetic, memorization

It’s probably a coincidence, but last weeks NYTimes had two articles in the Sunday Review on the value of memorizing relatively arcane knowledge. Memorize [...]

Posted In : , Math Musings