Those hyperlinks to other relevant content seem especially devious from this author. I have dozen new tabs of reading open now.
Math from Three to Seven
91–100 of 225 posts
Re: Math from Three to Seven
#92Axiom Maths is trying to import the concept of maths circles to the UK, providing support and materials for schools to host their own circles. It is run by a team with deep expertise in mathematics education, including the founding head of King's Maths School, a state school that is one of the top performing sixth forms in the country. https://axiommaths.com/how-we-work/
Practically speaking (running a little maths circle in the UK for my children, and some of their friends from nursery and primary school), I have found the Nrich website to be the single best source of resources:
https://nrich.maths.org/about-nrich
There is also https://parallel.org.uk/ by Simon Singh, but this is aimed at ages ~10+.
The book by Rozhkovskaya has some really nice activities in it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1470416956
The book by Zvonkin described in the article is a very good motivator, particularly for the honest descriptions of lessons gone badly wrong, and staying up late cutting out pieces of cardboard! But it's quite difficult to use as a teaching resource.
Re: Math from Three to Seven
#93USSR was feminist in some regards. Women had women-only spaces to learn math and science. There is a lot more equality of performance in STEM in former soviet populations.
As mentioned in the article, that might be completely explained by their comparative poverty.
Re: Math from Three to Seven
#94The author raises an interesting question as to how the Soviets produced so much scientific talent, but his discussion of math circles strikes me as more of a tangent than a convincing answer. Were these math circles really so widespread, and were they a big part of producing mathematical and scientific question? He doesn't address this. However, the book he is reviewing is available online [1] and I see from skimmin…
And that one was his own son, if memory serves. Genetics and family culture may play a big role.
Another girl, not his daughter, from the girl's circle also became a mathematician (whereas the daughter is a professor of film studies). So, yes, genetic, family culture (most of the parents of the kids from the math circles were teachers or academics), interests...
Re: Math from Three to Seven
#95From the book being reviewed: > All joking aside, we fledgling mathematicians understood that the single most important thing was not raw intelligence or knowledge (Americans tend to lag behind in the latter compared to all international students). What mattered was passion. The way to become successful in mathematics, like almost every endeavor, is to care about it, to love it, to obsess over it. And in this, Easter…
> I suspect we'll see a continuous slow decrease in all aspects of quality of software as those who have a genuine love and passion for the field are replaced by those in it just for the money.
And that's exactly how progress looks like!
When you need to know 6502 assembly to make a game, only geniuses can make games. When you can click one together in Roblox, game development opens up to many more people.
So the average game developer won't be as smart. But that's not because the new tools make us stupid.
The same applies to any kind of software. (Or photography, or music, or movies, etc.)
The average quality might go down when the floodgates open, but with modern tools the geniuses can produce even better stuff than before.
Re: Math from Three to Seven
#96This was a surprisingly interesting and well-written article. I hope people read it and not just the comments here :-) I'm unsure if it implies that "lame school exercises" are unnecessary or just not sufficient (I've recently read articles about how teaching "insight" without exercises is detrimental, though perhaps doing problems implies getting that repetition-work). Does anyone have good experiences with keeping…
have you tried TFA's tack of, instead of throwing him on the mercy of the school exercises, presenting a problem or two?
> "Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by fighting back" —PH
Re: Math from Three to Seven
#97From the book being reviewed: > All joking aside, we fledgling mathematicians understood that the single most important thing was not raw intelligence or knowledge (Americans tend to lag behind in the latter compared to all international students). What mattered was passion. The way to become successful in mathematics, like almost every endeavor, is to care about it, to love it, to obsess over it. And in this, Easter…
Hasn’t that happened already? As someone who started coding a long time ago and who did it for fun, I’ve seen the industry move from enthusiasts to mainstream and finally to massive comp optimisers who spend more time on angling for a promotion than building. I’ve fallen in and out of enjoyment of engineering many times. But I still come back because I love making something that adds value. There will always be space…
You say it like trying to get paid well is a bad thing?
Re: Math from Three to Seven
#98From the book being reviewed: > All joking aside, we fledgling mathematicians understood that the single most important thing was not raw intelligence or knowledge (Americans tend to lag behind in the latter compared to all international students). What mattered was passion. The way to become successful in mathematics, like almost every endeavor, is to care about it, to love it, to obsess over it. And in this, Easter…
> IMHO this is what drove American superiority in software engineering for several decades. The people who self selected into software engineering really loved the field. People in the Soviet Union had much less access to computers than in the US. And the first years after the fall of the USSR were quite lean for the vast majority of the population. Only by the late 90-s people in the xUSSR started getting enough mon…
> Only by the late 90-s people in the xUSSR started getting enough money to buy computers en-masse.
Well that, and computer continued getting ever cheaper.
Re: Math from Three to Seven
#99This was a surprisingly interesting and well-written article. I hope people read it and not just the comments here :-) I'm unsure if it implies that "lame school exercises" are unnecessary or just not sufficient (I've recently read articles about how teaching "insight" without exercises is detrimental, though perhaps doing problems implies getting that repetition-work). Does anyone have good experiences with keeping…
> I hope people read it and not just the comments here :-)
This got my upvote!
Re: Math from Three to Seven
#100From the book being reviewed: > All joking aside, we fledgling mathematicians understood that the single most important thing was not raw intelligence or knowledge (Americans tend to lag behind in the latter compared to all international students). What mattered was passion. The way to become successful in mathematics, like almost every endeavor, is to care about it, to love it, to obsess over it. And in this, Easter…
> IMHO this is what drove American superiority in software engineering for several decades. The people who self selected into software engineering really loved the field. IMO it was funding that made the difference. People outside of USA did not have any less passion towards the field.
I think the comment you replied to is not so much comparing USA vs rest of the world, but USA then and now.