Comments on: Visual Math Instruction: Premium Grade

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:45:36 +0000

Elert’s work is amazing. This guy could probably take over the internet during his prep if he wasn’t busy meeting with his students every moment. He’s got a detailed bike journey across the country with all sorts of number crunching. Clips of jackass for physics: raw.

By: Kate

Kate — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:02:25 +0000

“some pyramid which has yet to be named” –

After seeing I think a link in your comments, I ordered one of the problem pictures CD’s. Can’t wait to check it out.

By: Jason Dyer

Jason Dyer — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:39:25 +0000

@Dan: I was actually thinking of how emulators have an option for a precise framerate display.

Now, in terms of practical reality of what teachers would have the tech-savvy to handle, video is certainly the better option.

@kevin: Yeah, these sorts of assignments can be a classroom management nightmare.

By: MrTeach

MrTeach — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:40:05 +0000

Then your smart kids could try to figure out just what the hell was special about Princess in Mario 2, why could she fly? Would her dress really help her that much? At all?

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:23:23 +0000

I dunno, Jason. Much of this work depends on frame-precision measurement, which seems easier to acquire with QuickTime playback, rather than with real-time. I'll have to think on it.

By: kevin

kevin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:52:55 +0000

Having the actual game will mainly encourage kids to experiment with “how much playing can I get away with as pretending to do something meaningful?”

By: Jason Dyer

Jason Dyer — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:44:08 +0000

I was thinking the same thing when I saw the lesson. A frame counter would also be helpful.

In truth, the best thing would be to have the actual game there, not just a video to analyze. Then students could experiment and bring up questions like — what if Mario hits something on the way up? what about the underwater levels? Is there a terminal velocity?