Theo Jansen - reinventing the wheel - for real

Some time ago I posted a video of a very neat Geometer's Sketchpad sketch simulating Theo Jansen's beach animals. However, I didn't investigate the source of this effort.

Today, I read Barbara McLaughlin's post which embedded the video of Theo Jansen's TED talk, below. Astonishing what problems the human mind turns itself to. As Barbara points out this is the kind of delight that is a reward for maintaining a Personal Learning Network.

Math Coaching in Ontario

The provincial government has announced a large investment in Math Coaches (Grades 7-12).

I have created a wiki page with some support links (please feel free to add to it).

Does anyone have any experience with coaching at this level that they are willing to share?

Mathematical Poetry?

This is not as deep as Kaz's stuff, but comes from Harold and Kumar by way of the College Math Teacher,

I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed

I probably should have saved that for Valentine's Day, but I have something else up my sleeve for that.

Once again mathematical proficiency is associated with embarrassing lameness - sigh.

We are number 1 - oops, we are number 127!

According to a list of the top 200 jobs, Mathematicians have the best job. Teachers, unfortunately, hit the list at 127 - right between Vending Machine Repairer and Buyer.

See the related story, sent on to me by Dr. Doug Franks - maybe he was trying to cheer Dr. Dan Jarvis up on his birthday!

Added an Equation Editor to my Blog

If you scroll to the very bottom of the page you should see an equation editor that I found via the Charlotte Area Math Teacher's Wiki (recommended by Vic in the comments to the previous post).

You can generate mathematical text visually or using Latex and save the resulting image as a .png. The Latex code is also useful in various other equation editors or for embedding mathematical text in blogs or wikis.

How cool is that!

Web 2.0 for Grade 7-12 Mathematics Leaders and Teachers

Jeff, Greg, Frank and I are presenting Web 2.0 to a group of Mathematics Leaders for a full day in February. We have been thinking about how to introduce them to the Web 2.0 world and make connections to their personal learning (easy) and their classroom practice (harder).

Here is a test of the strength of my professional network:

What topics, concepts, exercises, or messages would you see as vital for such a day? What pitfalls should be avoided? What is the elevator pitch for Web 2.0 to Math teachers?

Absolutely Bone Chilling

I have been casually following the case of Julie Amero, a computer-illiterate supply teacher, who fell into the hands of the law after a disturbing run-in with pornographic pop-ups.

Now, from Ars Technica,

"It's over," said Julie Amero. "I feel wonderful."

This is not, to be sure, how most people would react upon being slapped with a $100 fine and having their professional credentials revoked. But after a four-year ordeal, during which the unassuming substitute teacher was decried as "disgusting" in the local press and convicted of felonies carrying a 40-year prison term, the plea agreement she reached with Connecticut prosecutors Friday must have come as a relief—even though a forensic report made public today shows she probably did nothing wrong.

The whole story is worth reading, even if it gives pause to anyone involved with using the internet with children in an ignorant and self-protective bureaucracy.