[math4] FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 20

[Stephen Jacobs]

Should be "ED" colleges, not "we" colleges.

Silly iPhone predictive typing :-)


On 3/16/09 4:21 PM, "fourthgrademath-request at lists.sugarlabs.org"
<fourthgrademath-request at lists.sugarlabs.org> wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. Re: FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19 (Caroline Meeks)
>    2. Re: FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19 (Greg Dekoenigsberg)
>    3. mongo now in git (Greg Dekoenigsberg)
>    4. Re: FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19 (Richard Holden)
>    5. Re: FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19 (Greg Dekoenigsberg)
>    6. Trying to build teams of teachers+coders (Greg Dekoenigsberg)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:05:50 -0400
> From: Caroline Meeks <caroline at solutiongrove.com>
> Subject: Re: [math4] FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19
> To: fourthgrademath at lists.sugarlabs.org
> Message-ID:
> <b74fba2b0903161005j2af6aa6bl5bba020af9f9bc0d at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
>> 
>> 
>> ------------------------------
>> 
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:57:08 -0400 (EDT)
>> From: Greg Dekoenigsberg <gdk at redhat.com>
>> Subject: [math4] Teachers and developers: "Finding the 44"
>> To: FourthGradeMath at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> Message-ID: <alpine.LFD.2.00.0903160709380.3670 at localhost.localdomain>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Greg,
> 
> Love this idea. What do we have right now? 20 developers and 1 teacher?
> 
> One suggestion based on the group work I've been doing and studying this
> semester and my experience is that groups of 6 might work better on average
> then groups of 2.
> 
> Maybe 4 developers and 2 teachers working on 4 activities.
> 
> And although the activities should not be perfect, they should be very
> thoughtful. That is full of thought about why what you are trying might work
> for learning.  Team members should be thinking together about learning and
> it would be great if we could transfer some of those thoughts to the next
> person who picks up the activity and improves it.  Maybe the next person
> will also improve or have a different view of the pedagy of the activity
> too.
> 
> 
> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Lest anyone think I don't want teachers around, which is perhaps what some
>> may have construed from my comments, I want to make it VERY clear:
>> 
>> THIS WON'T WORK IF WE CAN'T FIND 4TH GRADE MATH TEACHERS TO HELP US.
>> 
>> The way forward, ultimately, is to pair teachers and developers together
>> to build activities that map *directly* to clear objectives, as defined
>> by the curriculum framework:
>> 
>> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Math4Team/Resources/CurriculumChart
>> 
>> The nice thing about the open source model is that these activities don't
>> have to be perfect.  In fact, they *shouldn't* be perfect.  They should be
>> experimental.  They should be moving targets.  They should come together
>> quickly.  They should be simple, and numerous.  Over time, it will become
>> clear which ones have the most momentum, because people will actually be
>> using them, and ultimately we will polish those gems that our community
>> find most useful.
>> 
>> What we're really doing here is establishing a framework that will allow
>> us to get started -- because it tells us *what we should be working on*.
>> Too frequently, we've had developers decide to write a cool activity,
>> without having a clear goal.  The result is a bunch of cool activities,
>> but with not nearly enough coverage.
>> 
>> Hence Math4.  44 objectives, 44 activities.  Which means that we need 44
>> developers, and 44 teachers to guide them.  :)
>> 
>> If you look again at the Curriculum Chart:
>> 
>> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Math4Team/Resources/CurriculumChart
>> 
>> ...you see the 44 objectives, and next to them, slots for people and
>> activities.  As we recruit developers and teachers, we should be pairing
>> them up by objective.
>> 
>> As an example, I've added myself and Mongo to the following objective:
>> 
>> "4.P.3: Determine values of variables in simple equations, e.g., 4106 ? x
>> = 37, 5 = y + 3, and s ? y = 3."
>> 
>> Note: Mongo, in the short term, will really just be a drill tool that can
>> handle any content.  However, I am picking a single objective anyway, even
>> though it could conceivably handle multiple objectives.
>> 
>> So now we need 43 developers and 44 teachers.  I'm doing what I can to
>> bring developers to the table.
>> 
>> Who can bring the teachers?  We need your help.
>> 
>> 
>> You're exactly right!  This initial period is not about a finished
>> product, it's about getting started.
>> 
>> I think Caroline is frustrated because this isn't very educational at
>> this point, but what it is, is very open source like.  Now if you're use
>> to what end products look like in Open Source, you'll be wondering why
>> we're so "off the mark" at these beginning stages.
> 
> 
> I'm not frustrated. I'm excited!!!  I just know from research how many
> learning technologies are totally ineffective and sometimes even reduce
> learning.  So I want to encourage thinking about pedagogy and learning
> during the design stage.
> 
> I also want to encourage reflective practice in general.
> 
> I do this for two reasons. First, I think it will make your work better and
> second, its the change we need to accomplish in the schools and with the
> students, it just makes sense for us to try to practice it ourselves.
> 
> I'm excited because having kids using instructional materials that really
> promote thinking and result in learning is the whole point.  What you are
> starting is important.  Thinking about it is important too.
> 
> Thanks!
> Caroline
> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>> 
>> End of FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19
>> **********************************************
>> 
> 
>