Comments on: On iBooks 2 And iBooks Author

By: Growing Your Textbooks by Thinking Outside The Box | Classroom Aid

Growing Your Textbooks by Thinking Outside The Box | Classroom Aid — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:25:39 +0000

[…] Meyer pointed out inÂ this post:Â On iBooks 2 And iBooks Author:Â “No new technology is so novel we can’t subject it to the question,Â “How does […]

By: Disrupt This: My Challenge to Silicon Valley | Action-Reaction

Disrupt This: My Challenge to Silicon Valley | Action-Reaction — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 03:14:36 +0000

[…] Watters,Â Dan Meyer, andÂ Keith DevlinÂ have been critical of Silicon Valley, edtech startups, andÂ iPadÂ textbooks which hope to “disrupt” education.Â In my opinion, the real stumbling block […]

By: dy/dan » Blog Archive » It’s Called iBooks Author, Not iMathTextbooks Author, And The Trouble That Results

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:28:56 +0000

[…] we parted, I described the depressing character of the McGraw-Hill Algebra iBook. Since then, I've had a chance to review Pearson's offering in the same category and, in every way […]

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:53:34 +0000

Dan, have you heard of makingmath.com? This site is math teacher’s dream come true. The platform runs ‘Hilbert’ Mathematica and it does what it says … . Students make math!
A bit of mathematica programming is necessary . It is still in Beta but it will be ready soon.
Watching videos and interacting on a CDF app is not learning. Creating a video about some concept in math , creating a Mathematica App, programming to solve some of the Euclid project problems …that’s math!

By: Bowen Kerins

Bowen Kerins — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:31:13 +0000

Thanks for making me read the study more carefully.

The studied group was a grand total of TWO classrooms of students: one class for each of two teachers. The data table (page 5) giving the overall information for the school is totally misleading. We never learn the actual number of students involved in the pilot, so who cares that there are 1,072 students in the school or 42,000 students in the district?

It also drastically increases the margin of error for any kind of statistical study.

Also increasing the margin of error is the phrase “Hey kid, here’s a free iPad you can have as long as you keep your grade up in Algebra I” ;)

By: mr bombastic

mr bombastic — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:30:57 +0000

I don’t understand why they wouldn’t use an Algebra test either.

Even worse, the graphic in the report breaks down the 2011 percentages of students proficient or better by goup (tablet vs regular class), but does not seperate out the 2010 percentages.

With only two treatment groups, the authors must realize that having the 2010 percentages broken out is essential for any meaningful analysis. Maybe the tablet groups are better students and tested better in 2010 as well.

There are all kinds of reasons that one class might just have better students than another. Sometimes the music kids have to be scheduled into the same classes, special education students may be more likely to be grouped together, etc. The authors appear to be incompetent or intentionally dishonest.

By: Bowen Kerins

Bowen Kerins — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:49:29 +0000

Elissa: looks like PR, because it is! The detail is available here:

http://www.hmheducation.com/fuse/pdf/hmh-fuse-riverside-whitepaper.pdf

Here’s my question: why would you pilot an Algebra I course, then judge your success on the California Standards Test, which is not an Algebra test?? My understanding is that CST tests 6th and 7th grade standards only. There is a separate California “Algebra I” exam available, but that’s not the one used for comparison.

The overall results from the school are available here (click on “CST Results”).

http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/ca/4454

Note that Harcourt is only saying that it is better than itself, and is not drawing comparison to other curricula, tablet or otherwise. However, the study does prove that the Harcourt textbook is not the best option for students!

By: Carl Malartre

Carl Malartre — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:50:29 +0000

@Elissa

I’m not against this, but this is not independant research. Looks like PR to me!

Carl

By: Elissa

Elissa — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:48:13 +0000

Have you read this article http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-57363113-243/ipads-in-classroom-provide-20-percent-jump-in-math-scores-study-says/ about Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Fuse: Algebra I iPad curriculum improving students scores on the California Standards Test by 20%?

By: Eileen

Eileen — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:19:58 +0000

We are using the Singapore math series, Discovering Mathematics, for our 6th grade through to 10th. The program is integrated and the books present the best sequence of skills/concepts that I have seen for far, though I am not sure that any publisher gives me what I envision. So we supplement quite a bit with our own ideas and Dan, your blog etc has been a significant inspiration in this area. I have used many of your ideas, prompts, videos etc and the students always ask for more of this type of learning. If you know any other additional integrated resources, please share! And thanks!