Category: Uncategorized

Week 7 Reading

As a student who loved math growing up, but gradually lost interest over time, I often wonder what changed. I found Keith Devlin’s talk on “Using Video Games to Break the Symbol Barrier” very interesting.  Devlin argues that one explanation might be found in the way math is represented, particularly in its symbolic form. He proposes… Read more Week 7 Reading

Are we designing for the wrong learning goal?

I was interested in the results of the Berkowitz article, which found that children from families with math anxiety improved their understanding of math after playing with a math app at least once a week. However, playing with the app more than once a week did not further improve their math scores. This result made… Read more Are we designing for the wrong learning goal?

Week 7 DQC

In Breaking the Symbol Barrier Devlin compares math to piano music. Music is merely represented on paper, while it is experienced when someone plays a piano. The instrument is engaging and provides immediate feedback to the learner. Math is similarly represented on paper with symbols but experienced through mathematical thinking. Devlin argues that Everyday Math can… Read more Week 7 DQC

Week 7: Math

The Zhang article made me wonder how students’ interactions with online math games have changed in the age of YouTube. From Ashley’s talk last week, we learned that kids are no longer using Google to search for content. In the article, from November 2012-October 2013, 6% of traffic to coolmath-games came from social media sites including… Read more Week 7: Math

Week 6

How can what we know about the demographics of those who already engage in online affinity spaces shape the ways in which educators engage all students? In other words, could targeted exposure among students that are not the typical users by teachers create more interest in partaking in these kinds of literacy practices?

Week 6

The reading on fan-based spaces struck a particular cord with me because not only was I regular visitor on neopets in my middle school days but an active contributor to the Harry Potter fanfiction websites in my high school days. It was interesting to view something that I just did for fun analyzed in an… Read more Week 6

Week 6 Reading

The Curwood reading brought up really interesting points regarding the effect of fan-fiction on writing skills. I think there is a lot of benefit to fan-fiction communities as it provides users with a location to discuss lore, be inspired by other pieces of fan-fiction, and share ideas. All these – especially in the context of… Read more Week 6 Reading

Week 6 Response

In reading the Cassell (2004) article, one section stood out to me in particular: “Despite descriptions of the multicultural aspects of storytelling activities, and some descriptions of their link to children’s literacy and other aspects of development (Labov, 1972; Lee, 1992; Miller & Hoogstra, 1992), virtually no attempt has been made to integrate their benefits into… Read more Week 6 Response

Week 6: Curwood

Throughout my middle school years, many of my friends were drawn into the world of Harry Potter fan fiction, writing stories, reading work of other contributors, and actively finding solace in the community. Such interactions have always fascinated me. In Curwood’s publication, the author discusses the potential of such fan-fiction communities to “reflect the ways in which… Read more Week 6: Curwood

Breaking the Symbol Barrier?

I found the breaking the symbol barrier to be very interesting but it left me with a number of lingering questions. The first is, the video narrator made a distinction between everyday math and higher order math. I wonder how he drew that distinction? Another question of mine is whether everyday math can translate into… Read more Breaking the Symbol Barrier?