Comments on: Madison, IN

By: Tim Erickson

Tim Erickson — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:58:56 +0000

I once did an inservicey thing in Beaverton, OR in which I assigned teachers to go out to stoplights with a partner, a watch, and a notepad. they were to observe and collect data about the vague question, “How do you tell if a light is timed well?” (Or something like that; at any rate, the timing of lights is something I had churned about for years without actually taking data, so I thought, Â¿que oportunidad?)

Before the debriefing the next day, besides taking data of my own, I thought I’d call up a traffic engineer. It took a while to figure out what they were called, but (as you suggest) when I got hold of Portland’s chief guy, he was thrilled to talk to someone, anyone! who cared about what he had devoted his life to.

And a big takeaway: is there a control room where they can control the lights? Yes, for downtown only. Under what circumstances so they alter the timing? Answer: for emergency vehicles. Not for traffic. Their experience was (at that time) that any attempt to do that in real time just made things worse.

By: gasstationwithoutpumps

gasstationwithoutpumps — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:03:23 +0000

“Formulas” is a perfectly acceptable plural in English, but the students should be told (at least once) about the plurals that they may encounter in other courses.

The one I see students having the most problem with is “vertex” and “vertices”. Many students in college end up doing the back formation “vertice”, which makes them look embarrassingly uneducated.

By: Matthew Handy

Matthew Handy — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:21:19 +0000

I agree. I try to use as little Greek in my classes as possible. I think Greek letters can be very off-putting and they’re often unnecessary. What’s wrong with sin(A+B) rather than sin(alpha+beta)?

Similarly, I don’t like Latin plurals. Is it so wrong to say “formulas” rather than “formulae”?

Check out my blog :P

By: Karim

Karim — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:06:30 +0000

Congrats on what was certainly a cool session. Hope you’re enjoying the tuna, and that you’ve got some good driving tunes. “Free Bird” cassette, anyone?

By: Terri

Terri — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:03:07 +0000

I have forwarded several of your posts to a friend, and she just sent me a message asking if you have (or plan to create) a book of these concrete, real-world examples.

Based on the comments I see here, you could ask for examples from your readers and put them together as a collection.

Terri

By: Derrick Bowman

Derrick Bowman — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 17:47:27 +0000

@Mike Mathews

I’m in the same predicament. I found out about his presentation on the 12th. What’s worse is that it was a presentation for all math faculty at Ivy Tech, the university where I’m employed.

What’s worse is that I’m missing Bill Nye on the 25th because i elected to go to the 25th conference instead of the 11th. Two of my best friends got to meet Dan. I’m jealous!

@Kara

Which campus do you teach?

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:53:48 +0000

What’s exciting about this post+comments is the enthusiasm for real-world application of things that cause most high school (and junior high) students to roll their eyes. It’s not just telling or showing them how they COULD use it, but allowing them to interact with people who DO

We have, for example, a rather (actually, it’s very) steep driveway that needs to be paved. In my research on road construction techniques (once a student, always a student), I found clear explanations, wonderful diagrams, and (wait for it…) the same geometric equations my high school sophomore is doing for homework. Instant Teaching Moment…

By: Mike Mathews

Mike Mathews — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:34:07 +0000

I have to say I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t know you were in Indiana until you weren’t. This probably wasn’t an open session, but I would have tried to crash the party. Thanks for what you do, keep blogging about it.

By: Kara

Kara — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:12:19 +0000

Dan – the time you spent with us here in Indiana was awesome – faculty are still buzzing about the day! Thanks so much.

By: Gilbert Bernstein

Gilbert Bernstein — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 09:01:43 +0000

I’m right there with you on #2. I’ve been having a very similar experience with my research (not education related). Just going and talking to people who use the ideas/technology I work on improving has been tremendously useful. I wish more people would emphasize this point.