Israeli Math Technology Startup Matific Gets $45mil Investment
(Photo: Pixabay, Creative Commons) A tech start-up company aiming to boost the world’s math skills will extend the reach of its products after securing $ 45 million in funding for educational video games, bringing the total amount invested in the games to $ 58 million. The start-up company, Matific, creates educational math and science video games […]
About 1 in 3 HS Seniors Prepared for College Math, NAEP Shows
(Photo: Pixabay, Creative Commons) According to the latest scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 37% of American 12th-graders are academically prepared for college math and reading. These numbers mark a dip from two years early when an estimated 39% of high-schoolers were prepared academically. The biggest declines in proficiency came at […]
Stanford Report Touts Benefits of Visual Element to Math Education
(Photo: Akash Kataruka, Creative Commons) Researchers at Stanford University have released a report titled “Seeing As Understanding: The Importance of Visual Mathematics for our Brain and Learning” that aims to dispel the notion that visual math, such as pictures, finger-counting, and diagrams, are only for lower-level tasks, and that higher-level math deals exclusively in symbols, notations, and words. […]
A Closer Reading of ‘The Math Revolution’: Get on Board or Get Left Behind
By Barry Garelick Peg Tyre, author of “The Good School” and “The Trouble With Boys”, is well regarded by many, including those who write about education. But I believe she missed the point in her latest article in The Atlantic. The story explores why there has been a surge in the number of teenagers who have […]
Bedtime Math App Shows Results, Newark Encourages Use
According to a study published this week in the journal Science, one app truly does help elementary school children learn the subject of math. Researchers from the University of Chicago looked at a demographically diverse group of first-graders and their parents, totaling close to 600, from across Chicago. One group was allowed access to the iPad app “Bedtime […]
SAT Changes Add Complex Reading, Wordier Math Problems
The College Board, makers of the SAT exam taken by thousands of high school students each year, is introducing a new version of the test this year – the biggest and most substantial redesign in a decade. According to experts, the most important change is that the included reading passages will be longer and harder to read, and […]
Poster Children of Math Education
By Barry Garelick I had a discussion about math education recently with a principal of a middle school where I had once worked. I think highly of him and enjoy our discussions even though we may not see eye to eye. In our last discussion he expressed the following view: “I think we have spent […]
Traditional Math: The Exception or the Rule?
By Barry Garelick For those of you who have been following my writing, you are aware that I teach math in middle and high school and that I am extremely interested in the most effective ways of teaching the subject. I majored in mathematics and am pursuing the teaching of it as a second career […]
A Math Teacher’s Day at Ed Camp
My Day at Ed Camp By Barry Garelick I attended an “Ed Camp” recently. This is one of many types of informal gatherings of teachers to talk about various education-related topics. The camp I attended took place at a charter school that prided itself on a student-centered approach to learning. In keeping with the school’s […]