Keen Grasp of the Obvious

Trying to understand by asking questions and thinking aloud

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Vote Him Away (The Liar Tweets Tonight)

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An Experiment in Style: A Short read and A Two-Question Survey

An Experiment in Style: A Short read and A Two-Question Survey

I’m conducting a mini-experiment in writing style.  I need your feedback, and I appreciate it a lot. Which paragraph do you prefer?  As you compare them, consider, first, whether one paragraph conveys information crucial to the core message of the paragraph that the other one omits and, second, which paragraph is easier to read and understand. It is uncontroversial that our conception of the…

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Cognitive Science in Math Class: Implementing what we know

Cognitive Science in Math Class: Implementing what we know

The rubber on the wheels of the learning bus meets the road in the classroom. How can knowing the following six scientific facts (distilled from the twelve listed in my previous post) inform and improve Mathematics learning and teaching? The brain can grow throughout your adult life; whether it grows depends on how you use it. Mistakes and errors stimulate brain growth; successful outcomes do…

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A Different Story for Mathematics

A Different Story for Mathematics

From our parents and teachers, we learn that, when performing a mathematical or arithmetical task, the result is a right answer or a wrong answer to a question posed by an adult. We learn that our answers result from a process and that there is only one process we can use to produce them. We learn that every question has an answer. We are pleased when our work produces a right answer and pleases…

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Three Myths of Mathematics and Mathematics Education

Three Myths of Mathematics and Mathematics Education

To understand current Math teaching practice, IWY (I-do, We-do, You-do), we need to recognize at least three myths about Mathematics and Mathematics education—stories about what it is, whether and how it differs from other fields of inquiry, why we need to learn it, and how we learn it: Myth 1: Mathematics is unique among all fields of inquiry in its structure and practice. Mathematics is…

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Our Brains and Learning: What we’ve learned that has revolutionized our beliefs about the brain and learning

Our Brains and Learning: What we’ve learned that has revolutionized our beliefs about the brain and learning

School teachers in all types of schools, private tutors, tutoring companies, military instructors, coaches, performance arts teachers, and all other types of teacher/instructor use the teaching method known as “I-do, We-do, You-do” (“IWY”): I show you how to do it; we do it together; you do it without my help, whatever “it” might be. We check the outcome of you doing it without my help. If the…

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I-do, You-do, We-do: An essay on teaching mathematics - 1

I-do, You-do, We-do: An essay on teaching mathematics – 1

    In a typical mathematics classroom, the student desks are arranged in proscenium theater fashion. From the front of the room, the teacher presents definitions of new terms, new theorems, proofs of these new theorems, and demonstrations of how to apply them to example situations. The teacher writes a mathematics problem on the board, solves it, and asks for questions from the class. After this…

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The Four E's of Taxation

The Four E’s of Taxation

It’s obvious:  “Federal, State and Local tax law must be reformed.”[1] If, by “reformed” we mean, “improved”, then I agree with this statement.  As it’s a command, it’s not literally true or false, so, we should consider it’s efficacy rather than it’s veracity.  In my previous posts to this blog, I’ve made the case for tax reforms.  To recap, the federal, state and local tax laws are too complex,…

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A Plague of Adverbs?

A Plague of Adverbs?

Adverbs placed in front of verbs irritate me as a reader and someone who writes. I realized that this was the prime source of my irritation as a result of my reflections and research on the admissibility of the split infinitive. Until its 1993 edition, the Chicago Style Manual (“CSM”) forbade using split infinitives categorically (or, “categorically forbade” or “forbade categorically”?). Strunk &…

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Skirmish at Sentence Break

I started on this post a while ago, intending to write a prescriptivist tirade about the integrity of the infinitive forms of verbs and how violation of this integrity is a serious crime. After doing a bit of research and reflecting more about the split infinitive and its properties that might irritate me, I determined that split infinitives, per se, are not the source of my irritation. Indeed,…

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It's obvious, "Those who own the country should run the country." - John Jay, first chief justice of the SCOTUS

It’s obvious, “Those who own the country should run the country.” – John Jay, first chief justice of the SCOTUS

John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) wrote this sentence.  In 1800, this claim was axiomatic to governance in the U. S.  The population of the country was 3,000,000; agriculture was the primary source of income for its citizens and land ownership was the primary store of value (source of wealth).

They understood the meanings of “own”, “run” and…

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WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST HUMAN MEMORY?

Uncertain:  Watching lightning for the first time from my back porch and overcoming my initial fear of it or my dog licking my face while I stood in my bouncy chair on the front lawn of my house.

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It's obvious: "Government should be run like a business."

It’s obvious:  “Government should be run like a business.”

This assertion has a corollary, which has a strong form and a weak form:

Strong form:  “Business leaders should govern.”

Weak form:  “Government officials, elected or otherwise, should have at…

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Scalia Resigns Post as Scoutmaster : The New Yorker - a child in adult clothing

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Econ 101: What is a free market? (it's obvious, isn't it?) - a short quiz

Econ 101: What is a free market? (it’s obvious, isn’t it?) – a short quiz.

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Econ 101: What is a free market? (it's obvious, isn't it?) - a short quiz

We all know free markets when we see them, don’t we?  Lets’ see how reliable our vision is.  Here is a short, fun quiz on the definition and properties of free markets:

What is a “free” market (select all that apply – “all” and “none” are time savers)?

A…

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It’s obvious: “Guns don’t kill people; people kill

It’s obvious:

“Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.”  And

“If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.”

Let me say, first, that both of these claims are slogans.  They are simplistic, conceal assumptions critical to understanding them and…

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