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Communicating Advanced Mathematics to Kids

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21–30 of 58 posts

Re: Communicating Advanced Mathematics to Kids

#22
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very nice site! Too bad they don't offer an RSS feed, so it's hard for me to keep in touch with that site.

Doesn't this work? http://chalkdustmagazine.com/feed/

That's strange. Didn't find it, now it's there.

Did they just add it?

I'm using the TLS version, though:

https://chalkdustmagazine.com/feed/

Re: Communicating Advanced Mathematics to Kids

#23
post #17

A good place to promote this would be with secular homeschoolers. Those homeschooling for nonreligious reasons are often dealing with a bright kid interested in advanced subjects. They often need lay explanations that make advanced subjects approachable without dumbing it down. A lot of stuff is intentionally overcomplicated. My oldest was furious when I finally explained to him that algebra is basically renaming the…

I've actually been trying to explain that exact concept (algebra variables) to some advanced third graders. It's been surprisingly hard to get them to grasp it.

Have you looked at the Dragon Box app?

Re: Communicating Advanced Mathematics to Kids

#24
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't this work? http://chalkdustmagazine.com/feed/

That's strange. Didn't find it, now it's there. Did they just add it? I'm using the TLS version, though: https://chalkdustmagazine.com/feed/

Did you try that link/URL earlier? Perhaps you were trying other links, and this one was, in fact, always there.

How were you previously trying to find the RSS feed? It's still not obvious to me from the front page that it exists.

Re: Communicating Advanced Mathematics to Kids

#25

My son is now 4 years old, he has been showing a great deal of interest in playing with numbers and puzzles, so I have been thinking quite a bit about this lately. The other day I ran across an issue of Scientific American from the late 70s ( http://flowcytometry.sysbio.med.harvard.edu/files/flowcytome... ) and I was super impressed by the quality and educational value of the content. Much superior to its current ver…

I grew up in an inner city Detroit neighborhood. The junior high school that I attended was pretty rough so, to avoid the gangs that formed after school, I quickly ran over to the near by public library and stayed there until it was safe to walk home around dinner time.

A friend showed me a magazine at the library; it was Scientific American and it completely hooked me. This was 1963 and SA was then a great magazine. I read every current issue and then read the bound volumes of past issues. My favorite monthly columns were Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games and the Amateur Scientist. I read every one of those two columns ever published.

The schools I attended were not very good, but I learned a lot of math and science during those years at the library. I went on to score very high in math and science, got into great colleges and ended up with a very successful career.

Re: Communicating Advanced Mathematics to Kids

#26
post #25

My son is now 4 years old, he has been showing a great deal of interest in playing with numbers and puzzles, so I have been thinking quite a bit about this lately. The other day I ran across an issue of Scientific American from the late 70s ( http://flowcytometry.sysbio.med.harvard.edu/files/flowcytome... ) and I was super impressed by the quality and educational value of the content. Much superior to its current ver…

I grew up in an inner city Detroit neighborhood. The junior high school that I attended was pretty rough so, to avoid the gangs that formed after school, I quickly ran over to the near by public library and stayed there until it was safe to walk home around dinner time. A friend showed me a magazine at the library; it was Scientific American and it completely hooked me. This was 1963 and SA was then a great magazine.…

Thank you for sharing your story! I am going to google Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games later this afternoon!

Re: Communicating Advanced Mathematics to Kids

#27
post #25

My son is now 4 years old, he has been showing a great deal of interest in playing with numbers and puzzles, so I have been thinking quite a bit about this lately. The other day I ran across an issue of Scientific American from the late 70s ( http://flowcytometry.sysbio.med.harvard.edu/files/flowcytome... ) and I was super impressed by the quality and educational value of the content. Much superior to its current ver…

I grew up in an inner city Detroit neighborhood. The junior high school that I attended was pretty rough so, to avoid the gangs that formed after school, I quickly ran over to the near by public library and stayed there until it was safe to walk home around dinner time. A friend showed me a magazine at the library; it was Scientific American and it completely hooked me. This was 1963 and SA was then a great magazine.…

Martin Gardner was amazing. I was privileged to meet him shortly before he left us, and he was still spry, mentally alert, and interested in nearly everything. Much of his work has dated badly, some equally, much of it is timeless, and just as engaging now as it was then.

Martin was a huge influence on my life, and I treasure the afternoon I spent with him in person, and the thousands of hours I spent with him via his writings.

Re: Communicating Advanced Mathematics to Kids

#28
post #2

This strongly reminds me of the various math magazines we have here in Germany. (I know that other countries have similar magazines, but I only grew up with the German ones, except for one Canadian one.) The most popular seems to be "Wurzel" [1] (translated: "root"). The target audience of the magazines are students (pupils) at school, as well as young students at university. The articles explain advanced math topics…

The French magazine “Tangente” is equally good.

http://tangente-mag.com

Re: Communicating Advanced Mathematics to Kids

#29
post #17

A good place to promote this would be with secular homeschoolers. Those homeschooling for nonreligious reasons are often dealing with a bright kid interested in advanced subjects. They often need lay explanations that make advanced subjects approachable without dumbing it down. A lot of stuff is intentionally overcomplicated. My oldest was furious when I finally explained to him that algebra is basically renaming the…

I've actually been trying to explain that exact concept (algebra variables) to some advanced third graders. It's been surprisingly hard to get them to grasp it.

I've always translated "x" to "?" (the value to be discovered) as a mental shortcut. The "?" symbol might be easier to interpret for third graders.

Re: Communicating Advanced Mathematics to Kids

#30
post #23
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've actually been trying to explain that exact concept (algebra variables) to some advanced third graders. It's been surprisingly hard to get them to grasp it.

Have you looked at the Dragon Box app?

I shill DragonBox every chance I get ;) It does a great job of teaching abstract algebra to children who don’t even know arithmetic.
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