Sigh...it's still not cool to be smart

Brain fitness has yet to catch on -- it is still not cool to be smart!!
Please see the NYT article (4/29/09)

“Where we see the gap narrowing, that’s because there’s been an emphasis on supplemental education, on after-school programs that encourage students to read more and do more math problems,” Dr. Hrabowski said. “Where there are programs that encourage that additional work, students of color do the work and their performance improves and the gap narrows.”
But he said that educators and parents pushing children to higher achievement often find themselves swimming against a tide of popular culture.
“Even middle-class students are unfortunately influenced by the culture that says it’s simply not cool for students to be smart,” he said. “And that is a factor here in these math and reading scores.”

Is Math Applicable? Brain Fitness Part 2

College Board 2009 Forum Proposal:

While students would like relevant content, high school curricula dictate traditional subjects. In particular, classic high school Math (algebra, geometry, trig) is often viewed as the least applicable topic. However, quantitative reasoning can improve metacognition (thinking about thinking) and is an excellent way to boost knowledge, skills and attitude for success in the twenty-first century.

Brain Fitness for Academic, Professional and Personal Success

Proposal for College Board's Forum 2009 Part 1

To break the barriers of college access and success, we need to promote intellectualism by reshaping the view of brain fitness and putting it on par with physical fitness.

Participants will exchange ideas on motivation, instructional strategies and confidence-building with an emphasis on critical thinking and Math.

Helping Women with Math

Allanah Thomas has recognized the need for Math for women. She emphasizes mental Math and has trained thousands of people. Many of them have qualified for better jobs and therefore a better standard of living.

Alternatives to Inflict (see 4/16)

Alternatives to “inflict”:
Improve
Develop
Expand
Progress
Enhance
Boost
Upgrade
Bolster
Encourage
Give Confidence

How To Raise Our IQ: "Inflict" Kids with Books!!!

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times:
"One indication of the importance of school is that children’s I.Q.’s drop or stagnate over the summer months when they are on vacation (particularly for kids whose parents don’t inflict books or summer programs on them)."


"Inflicting" to describe books or summer programs!! This word illustrates the attitude and sentiment of many people regarding education. It would be terrific if we valued mental fitness as much as physical fitness.

Here's the American Heritage Dictionary definition
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/inflict

in·flict (n-flkt) KEY TRANSITIVE VERB: in·flict·ed , in·flict·ing , in·flicts
To deal or mete out (something punishing or burdensome); impose: inflicted heavy losses on the enemy; a storm that inflicted widespread damage.
To afflict.

Math's Image: Trig Class seen as "Forever "

Thanks Roz Chast...waivering between "funny!!" or "bad Math PR".

Macy's CEO would love more emphasis on Math

Please see below for Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren's comments on Math:


Q. Anything you would like business schools to teach more? Less?
A. In our business, there’s not enough emphasis on math. Coming out of college, we really like to have kids who like math, study math and get it. And so I’d like to make sure that there is an emphasis on math. I think there is a strong emphasis on marketing already, and we want that and we need that. But to me, the math piece is weak in most business school educations, and I’d like to have more emphasis on that.
Q. But somebody might say, “That’s what calculators are for.”
A. And that’s exactly the problem. Because when, at least when I was in school, we didn’t have the computer technology that we have today to do a lot of the work for us. And so I think there’s logic that has to go into this. And I don’t think you should actually have to have a calculator for every decision that you make that has numbers attached to it. Some of that should just come to you quickly, and you should be able to quickly move to your instincts about that being a good or not good decision.
And I think that just knowing how to manage people for the situation and individually, managing them differently — what I would call situational management — is really important. You really have to have some instincts there to adjust to get the most out of people and the most out of different situations. I don’t know how you teach that; I just want to make sure that it’s known that it has to be different, and you have to make adjustments.

Math Confidence and Math Facts

The title links to a posting by Keith Devlin the Math Guy about Algebra.

One of the posters to this article brought up the dependency that today's students have on calculators. An interesting study would be a comparison of Math confidence and fluency with Math facts for current middle schoolers, high schoolers, college students as well as adults.

It's the New Algebra II/Trig Regents!! (for 2010)

Click on the title and then scroll down for the Power Point on latest info on the Alg II/ Trig Regents coming soon to a school near you!
First adminstration of this Regents will be June 2010.
Good news -- it appears to match the SAT content more closely than the Math B material.

Motivation and Math -- thanks www.coolmath.com

This is an awesome web site -- for the Math and for the inspiration.

Success Later = the intersection of Failure, Determination and Thinking

http://thisisindexed.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/card2085.jpg

Where failure, determination and thinking intersect on the Venn diagram is success later-- thanks to Jessica Hagy for her terrific www.thisisindexed.com representation!!