Comments on: Well-Formed Math Problems /2011/well-formed-math-problems/ less helpful Sun, 03 Jul 2011 15:22:49 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 By: Cason Bang /2011/well-formed-math-problems/#comment-298372 Sun, 03 Jul 2011 15:22:49 +0000 /?p=10864#comment-298372 Mylene:
““We enjoy situations with… unconflicting goals.” Also, “the first act of a good story introduces a conflict.” What’s the relationship? Maybe a good story introduces conflict about the means, but not about the goal?”

These are two slightly different uses of the word conflict. In a story conflict means struggle, controversy… essentially a challenge of some sort.

In game design conflicting goals refer to contradictory or disagreeing goals. An example would be if Mario lost points for finishing a level. When goals conflict the gamer is unable to escape punishment and incapable of doing everything right. That might be true to real life, but it sucks.

Some great games present conflicting goals, such as whether to save BioShock’s “Little Sisters,” but it’s done very carefully. It’s typically a moral decision that drives narrative or branching paths and the game is balanced to be fun no matter which you choose.

]]> By: Brian /2011/well-formed-math-problems/#comment-298168 Sat, 02 Jul 2011 21:14:05 +0000 /?p=10864#comment-298168 I think this is one of the reasons that Modeling Instruction (modeling.asu.edu) is so successful. It’s not just inquiry – it’s structured inquiry. The modeling cycle takes the confusing and intimidating task of investigating the natural world and develops a structured way of asking and answering our own questions. It models the scientific process. This is crucial as most students until this point have only read/heard about science and have not had a chance to do it. Without the structure provided by modeling, they would be thrust into a task with no concept of how to proceed.

]]> By: Mylene /2011/well-formed-math-problems/#comment-298084 Sat, 02 Jul 2011 17:05:05 +0000 /?p=10864#comment-298084 “We enjoy situations with… unconflicting goals.” Also, “the first act of a good story introduces a conflict.” What’s the relationship? Maybe a good story introduces conflict about the means, but not about the goal?

Also, I think it’s true that we enjoy situations with unconflicting goals. And that worries me. I’m stuck on how to help students learn how to constrain a problem themselves. It makes sense to me that this is not your goal with the “perplexity problems” — more likely it’s the goal of your teacher-training workshops. Still, how does it affect students if the problems they encounter are always well-defined?

It seems like it’s related to what Labaree points out in your next post (thanks for that):

“The myopia problem is that you’re looking at something that’s presented to you… in the process of looking at it up close, the whole context disappears.”

Going back to Jo Boaler: “Students come to know this about math class. They know that they are entering a realm in which common sense and real-world knowledge are not needed.” I’m worried that presenting problems fully constrained causes the myopia that Labaree is talking about, and increases the alienation between “school skills” and “rest of life skills”.

]]> By: Nev /2011/well-formed-math-problems/#comment-297687 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 03:02:06 +0000 /?p=10864#comment-297687 Note to self … always check that I’ve included the link!!!
Sorry guys.

http://edtechtoolbox.blogspot.com/2011/06/game-makers-as-educational-tool.html

]]> By: Nev /2011/well-formed-math-problems/#comment-297686 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 03:00:08 +0000 /?p=10864#comment-297686 Sorry to post again – but I just came across this post which lists a variety of sites for game making. Might be useful for anyone who wants to become a producer rather than a consumer… or it simply might be fun.
Cheers

]]> By: Nev /2011/well-formed-math-problems/#comment-297676 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 02:36:15 +0000 /?p=10864#comment-297676 Some good points here — lots to consider from an educational perspective. Whilst I agree that learning should be enjoyable I’m not sure that it needs to be “fun” in the same way that a trip to an amusement park is. However, learning needs to be rewarding and relevant. With some subjects / topics learning also needs to be explicit — game “play” may disguise what actually needs to be made obvious to be effective in the long run. Only well designed games promote higher order thinking – many educational titles only offer low level skill practice. That’s not to say that there isn’t a place for well designed activities — or “games” — as long as the focus is clearly on the learning involved. Anyone who has read anything by Alfie Kohn knows the long term ineffectiveness of tokenizing education (via “rewards” etc).
For another voice on game play I’d suggest a viewing of James Paul Gee interview at …

or another one with similar focus here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU3pwCD-ey0

]]> By: James /2011/well-formed-math-problems/#comment-297663 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:43:51 +0000 /?p=10864#comment-297663 Not just well-formed math problems, but a well-developed classroom or school, I would say. Particularly when thinking about striking the balance between autonomy and rules, the freedom of experimentation in a safe space and the goals towards which you experiment.

Quite an interesting lecture.

]]> By: simon /2011/well-formed-math-problems/#comment-297624 Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:23:13 +0000 /?p=10864#comment-297624 Dan, thanks for the link. Very interesting talk. Thought the bits on feedback, were spot on.

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