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Join David Wees and Maria Droujkova for brainstorming a mathematics education video series for <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://education.ted.com/" rel="nofollow">TED-ED new archive</a>.<br>
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<h2 id="toc2"><a name="Making mathematics real: A TED-ED series proposal-How to join"></a><strong>How to join</strong></h2>
<ul><li>Follow this link at the time of the event: <strong><a class="wiki_link_ext" href="https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?password=M.FCAF787B38E30D58F943EB7232EE27" rel="nofollow">http://tinyurl.com/math20event</a></strong></li>
<li>Thursday, May 12th 2011 we will meet in the LearnCentral online room at 6:30pm Pacific, 9:30pm Eastern time. <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=5&day=12&year=2011&hour=21&min=30&sec=0&p1=207" rel="nofollow">WorldClock for your time zone.</a></li>
<li>Click
"OK" and "Accept" several times as your browser installs the software.
When you see Elluminate Session Log-In, enter your name and click the
"Login" button</li><li>If this is your first time, come a few minutes
earlier to check out the technology. The room opens half an hour before
the event.</li></ul><br>
All events in the Math 2.0 weekly series: <a class="wiki_link" href="http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/events">http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/events</a><br>
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<h2 id="toc3"><a name="Making mathematics real: A TED-ED series proposal-About the proposal"></a>About the proposal</h2>
The TED-Ed Brain Trust is a private online forum created to shape and
accelerate TED's push into the realm of Education. It aims to assemble a
new archive of remarkable educational videos designed to catalyze
learning around the globe. TED is seeking the expertise of visionary
educators, organizations and creative professionals to help guide,
galvanize and ultimately lead this exciting new initiative.<br>
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<img src="http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/file/view/TED-EDbanner.jpg/221098624/TED-EDbanner.jpg" alt="TED-EDbanner.jpg" title="TED-EDbanner.jpg"><br>
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During the event, David Wees will introduce the idea of video series centered on real mathematics. Here are quotes from the <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://education.ted.com/showthread.php?381-Mathematics-education" rel="nofollow">TED forum discussion</a>.<br>
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<strong>David Wees:</strong> I'd like to see a video describing the need
to move from a computation based system, to one focused on mathematics
for the real world (for most people).<br>
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If you look at a typical cross-section of our society, I think you'd
find that most people lack functional numeracy. They find doing their
taxes difficult, they don't really understand either probability or
statistics, they are easily misled by data, and actually using
mathematics to solve problems in their lives is something they almost
never do.<br>
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The reason I think this happens is because so little of the mathematics
curriculum which is taught is situated in a real world context. We focus
on how you solve computations, rather than how do you use computations.
We should shift the focus from curriculum maps based on the notation
that the pinnacle of mathematical achievement is the ability to do
calculus, to an over-riding principle that virtually all of the
mathematics we do should be implemented based on its relevance to the
real world of ordinary people.<br>
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It takes a single year to learn most of the computational mathematics
you need to know to do well at Calculus, and those people who choose to
go down that path should also be supported, but our mathematics
curriculum has totally the wrong focus. To borrow an analogy from the
English class, our mathematics curriculum is constructed so that we only
teach the grammar and spelling, and never do any actual writing.<br>
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I'd like to see a move away from how can we match real life stuff to the
curriculum already taught at each grade to what are some real problems
kids want to be able to solve, or need to be able to solve when they are
no longer kids, and THEN what mathematics is useful to solve these
problems.<br>
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<strong>Maria Droujkova:</strong> I propose the following twist: include
not only problems, but reviews of communities where these problems
arise, or are relevant, or can be celebrated. I think in terms of
communities because of the Math Future project<span class="Apple-converted-space">.
The goal is for people to have immediate, and explicit, invitation to
join groups and communities who use mathematics in these particular
ways. TED videos can include bridges - ways people can join communities.
This relates to the point Dave Meslin made in <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_meslin_the_antidote_to_apathy.html" rel="nofollow">his recent TED video</a>,
about the need to explicitly and clearly tell people where and how to
participate. Gamer communities have problems that have to do with
statistics, reverse-engineering, and optimization (World of Warcraft <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://elitistjerks.com/f73/t101212-wotlk_4_0_cats/p12/#post1767952" rel="nofollow">example</a>).
Game developer communities do a lot of 3d modeling and vectors. Maker
communities (Wired, Maker Faire) have a lot of applied math and topics
such as logic circuits. Artists work with perspective, projections, and
increasingly modeling for computer art (so, triangulation for example).
Ratio and proportion are obvious topics. There are several active health
tracking communities, who use a lot of interesting mathematics, for
example, <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://quantifiedself.com/" rel="nofollow">The Quantified Self</a>. </span><br>
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<h2 id="toc4"><a name="Making mathematics real: A TED-ED series proposal-Event Hosts"></a>Event Hosts</h2>
<img src="http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/file/view/DavidWees.jpeg/221099906/DavidWees.jpeg" alt="DavidWees.jpeg" title="DavidWees.jpeg"><br>
<strong>David Wees</strong> writes: My life since I graduated from
teacher training in 2002 has been an never ending adventure. I have
lived in 4 different countries since then and have met the love of my
life and we started our family. I wouldn't trade a moment of it, despite
some of the difficulties I have faced. At <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://davidwees.com/" rel="nofollow">my website</a>,
I showcase projects I have been involved in. I also write articles
about incorporating technology into teaching which is a major passion of
mine.<br>
<img src="http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/file/view/MariaD2_2009-100by100.jpg/83164445/MariaD2_2009-100by100.jpg" alt="MariaD2_2009-100by100.jpg" title="MariaD2_2009-100by100.jpg"><br>
<strong>Maria Droujkova</strong> is the founder and director of <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.naturalmath.com/" rel="nofollow">Natural Math</a>, and the founder of <a href="http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/" rel="nofollow">Math Future</a>
network. Her research interests include Early Algebra, Multiplicative
Reasoning, and social media. Maria organizes Math Clubs and other local
math groups and events, and online communities and events.
<br><br> <br>