CTK Insights

NCTM began publishing its Yearbooks in 1926. The very first one has been reprinted in 1955 and until a few years back was available at the NCTM store. My yesterday's search at the NCTM site for "First Yearbook" brought up only one item: Johnny W. Lott's (NCTM President 2002-2004) article A Static Mathematics Curriculum Is [...]

This is a well known fact that M. C. Escher - the Dutch artist whose graphic work achieved recognition towards the end of the 20th century, especially among mathematicians - consistently denied his ability to understand or do mathematics. His son George has observed that Father had difficulty comprehending that the working of his mind [...]

David Eugene Smith was a well-known author, math historian and educator and a past president of the Mathematical Association of America. His 1913 address to the New England Association of Teachers of Mathematics raises and attempts to answer questions that are relevant to math education today as they were then. Below I gathered several quotes [...]

The basic tenet of constructivism - a trend in the theory of education and pedagogical practice - is that children learn by actively constructing their own knowledge as opposed to being seen as empty vessels to be filled with pre-existent information. There are of course legitimate doubts whether every child is capable of rediscovering all [...]

I often wondered why in the last decades educational reformers put so much emphasis on studying algebra. Until about 200 years ago studying geometry was the surest way on the road to mastering logical thinking. Personally, I do not believe the latter and doubt that emphasis on algebra will do any good to the current [...]

This Is Just Plain Counting I and many others think it's a good idea to start a math class with a simple non-traditional problem to get the students into the right mood for the class. My main source for the problems below is a Russian booklet by E. G. Kozlova intended for early and middle [...]

If you have not read yet a memo by Steve's Google Platform rant, you should. A first-hand account on management practice and philosophy differences between Amazon and Google. The memo has been intended for internal google distribution but somehow found its way to a wider audience. Besides revealing some truths about the two successful online [...]

At the beginning of his career, Doug Rohrer - presently Professor of Psychology at the University of South Florida - was a math teacher. As such, he was used to begin his mathematics classes with thought provokers, the kind of puzzles that are intrinsically provocative and whose solution - often surprising - does not require [...]