Is there such a thing as Native American math? Of course! Math is in every culture and adding Native American content to your math class is easy.
Education: Innovation and STEM
1 TL; DR Our app gave the correct answer 99% of the time. So we spent days creating a new app to teach multiplication in English and Lakota that is 100% accurate. Dennis wrote a script to check the answer produced when you hold the phone over one of the cards […]
When 99% isn’t good enough for our students
If you teach math, you are well aware of how essential it is that students learn basics such as multiplication and division. Of course math shouldn’t be all about rote memorization but if you believe it is a waste of time for students to memorize 9 x 7 = 63 […]
Teaching multiplication: Lesson Plan
Time-rate-distance problems are word problems that involve the distance an object will travel at a certain average rate for a given period of time. This type of problem drives many students crazy. That’s why we find it so helpful to have multiple examples. Okay, maybe this is a 15-minute lesson, […]
Time-rate-distance problems : 10-minute lesson
We’re wrapping up the game design class at Spirit Lake this week. Two weeks was the most time I could spare away from the office but we have accomplished a lot. Applications used in game design by middle school students Because all of the students had just completed grades 4 […]
Game Design by Middle School Students
ked students to select their favorite photo they took yesterday, crop it as they saw fit and share with me on One Drive and/ or email to me. The point of this lesson was to learn about file-sharing, photo editing and emailing attachments.
Warwick Game Design Class Photo Curation
1 It’s been a great start to the summer session teaching game design at Warwick Middle School. Students started off playing two math games, an adventure game and a collector game. We discussed the idea of game genre and what is needed to make a video game – assets, code, story […]
Teaching Game Design at Spirit Lake
We're testing educational software in the most remote areas of the country. It's beautiful but it's also important work, remembering schools most companies forget about.
Testing educational software where the antelope play
We want to improve education for both students and teachers. We are aware of how difficult it can be to get 30 students to stay in their seats, much less to pay attention. Life is not a subject Seriously, did you use math from 9-10 then read this blog during […]
4 ways we give teachers the support they need
A week ago, I wrote about how, despite heroic efforts on the part of many teachers and administrators and some success stories, the problems I see in education today are the same as when I began teaching in Banning and Riverside, CA almost 35 years ago. If nothing changes, nothing […]
How to change education: Rant part 2
1 For the past several weeks we have been criss-crossing the country talking to teachers and administrators. Thank you immensely for all who took the time to meet with us, attend our workshops and visit our booths at conferences, from Long Beach, California to Spirit Lake, North Dakota. If you still […]
Nothing changes in education when nothing changes
Five Principles of Extraordinary Math Teaching Dan Finkel is the Founder and Director of Operations of Math for Love, a Seattle-based organization devoted to transforming how math is taught and learned. Dan is also one of the creators of Prime Climb, a beautiful and colorful, mathematical board game. He contributes […]