Hi Alison, I agree -- nothing supports learning better than a good example! I hope that you released the pie-chart you created under a free content license ;-).
I'm observing the development of the Math Glossary with great interest -- I wish I had more time to engage with this development. I was a learning designer in one of my past lives and am fascinated by the approaches emerging in WE. What's interesting about examples is that they are strongly influenced by the learning context (eg. culture, preknowledge, teaching approach etc.) -- perhaps more in the humanities than the hard sciences. This raises a challenge for us in WikiEducator regarding how we structure resources, examples and activities for different educational contexts and purposes. I'm really looking forward to seeing what emerges over time. Another dimension for potential development in WikiEducator would be in the area of teacher guidelines, tips and experiences to supplement the OERs we're developing. After all -- we're a community of educators and sharing best practice and experience would be a great way to add value to our work. While this dimension has not received much attention yet, I should cite the Declan McCabe's work on the Biology for Elementary Schools project (See: http://www.wikieducator.org/Biology_in_elementary_schools ). These teaching materials include guidelines for teachers and reflections on implementing the lessons. Cheers Wayne On Tue, 2009-02-10 at 14:14 -0500, Alison Snieckus wrote: > Jim, > I completely agree. I'll go one step farther - examples need to be > realistic in some areas of math, particularly statistics and > probability. Which begs the question "realistic for who?" suggesting > the need for multiple examples with different contexts. We had a > recent discussion on the MathGloss (designed for learners aged 5-18) > talk page about this need. It's the examples and, I would add, the > tips for creation or interpretation that will be essential elements > going into the next phase of design for math learning resources. > > I also agree that what needs to be learned in math is changing. IMO, > aspects of algebra II are becoming outdated (e.g., all of the rules > and methods for factoring complex polynomials). Over the last 10 > years, there's been much talk (and some action) on including > statistics and probability as courses in secondary school in the US. > > For example, I recently went looking for a pie chart to include as an > example. Of all of the freely-available images of pie charts that I > looked at I think only one was constructed to my satisfaction. I ended > up making my own. OK, so can you tell that my background is in data > analysis and statistics? > > If you are nterested in making this vision of math learning resources > a reality, join us on the WikiEducator MathGloss project. > > Hope to see you there, > Alison Snieckus, WE user: ASnieckus > > > On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 1:28 PM, jkelly952 <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > While one can appreciate the time and effort that goes into > collecting > information from Wikipedia to develop the mathematics pages > which are > in SCHOOL-WIKIPEDIA.ORG , I hope that WikiEducator will not > follow the > same path. Only machines learn from definitions; human beings > need > examples (sometimes a lot!) to learn. For example "I am the > cat" and > the opposite is "I am not the cat". Does more to create the > foundation for understanding the term "negation"; than > "Negation is > the process that turns an affirmative statement into its > opposite". > Beginning and developing conceptualization of terms and ideas > is what > primary and to some extent secondary school learning is all > about. > Everyday situations generalized to become definitions is what > learning > is about at these levels. > > To help nations develop their own mathematics programs > WikiEducator > would be wise to go beyond the usual definitions provide by > other > Wiki's, and concentrate on providing examples and > illustrations. This > way educational leaders can select terms and ideas that meet > their > nation's needs for mathematics. And strangely even in the so > called > "mathematically rich nations" with their multiple mathematical > programs need to have a mechanism so that they can rethink > about what > mathematics concepts should continue and what new terms and > concepts > should be brought into elementary and secondary schools. The > world's > need for mathematics is changing > > Jim Kelly > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
