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DavidSChandler

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  • Website URL
    http://www.mathwithoutborders.com
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    DavidSChandler48
  • Biography
    Have taught Physics/Math for 30+ years; BS Physics, MA Education, MS Mathematics
  • Location
    Portland, OR
  • Interests
    Astronomy, Writing
  • Occupation
    Retired from teaching; President of Math Without Borders, Inc.

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  1. (This is David Chandler of Math Without Borders speaking.) 1. Major additions to the Geometry course. :001_smile: --I have done a complete rewrite of the geometry demonstrations, which were previously constructed using The Geometer's Sketchpad, and converted them to Geogebra. Geogebra is a newer, international, collaborative programming effort that nicely integrates geometric and algebraic approaches to mathematics. When you construct a circle in the geometry view you see the equation of the circle in the algebra view, and vice versa. This allows you to analyze your geometry and visualize your algebra. It is a powerful computational tool and, significantly, Geogebra is FREE. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux machines. For a nice sampling of projects other people have done with Geogebra check out geogebratube.org. --I have added an activity sheet with each Geogebra demonstration or cluster of demonstrations to help students get more out of the experience and to coach them in using Geogebra for themselves. --I have added a video introduction to each chapter and I have new videos solving all of the Review section problems, using Geogebra as a calculation / graphing / construction tool, where apropriate. --All of the videos are now in mp4 format so they will play on any media player, including Quicktime (which was a problem before with the avi format files). 2. Videos for all courses (Algebra 1 & 2, Geometry, Precalculus, [Calculus]) have been converted to mp4 format and all Windows-specific elements have been removed, so the same package of files will work on any machine. 3. All courses will now be distributed on 8 GB flash drives rather than DVD ROM. This is good news for people with computers that no longer have CD/DVD players. Furthermore, by allowing me to clone copies in small batches, rather than committing to a massive ROM printing run, changes will be easier to implement as the need arises. Bug fixes and incremental improvements will be easier to implement in a timely manner. Plus, you get a reusable 8 GB flash drive as a bonus when you order! 4. I am starting work on the Calculus course using Foerster's Calculus text. I will have a few chapters' head start by fall, and I am inviting a limited number of students to follow along starting in September as a beta test group. There are still a few openings. If you are interested, please contact me at David@MathWithoutBorders.com. This group will be able to download lessons as they are produced, and I will be asking for feedback as we go along.
  2. By the way, I am not alone in my opinions expressed in my previous post. Here is a quote from Michel Paul in the MathFuture forum, a gathering of some very creative, innovative teachers: "Yes, I actually believe that the standardization of the TI-83 held math education back tremendously. In the guise of being 'technological' and about the future, an old understanding of both math and technology got perpetuated and cutting edge ideas got dismissed. And it only got worse as the political pressure increased regarding high stakes tests. It enforced the view that the math is 'actually' on a piece of paper and that the technology was merely a tool on the side to aid one in getting the mathematics onto the paper. Wrong. The right technology is both the canvas and the computational tool." I agree with Michel. --David Chandler
  3. [Full disclosure: I am the author of Math Without Borders] I don't advocate graphing calculators. The larger display and full keyboard and excellent (often free) software available make computers much more suitable. Calculators should facilitate straightforward, simple calculation, not try to be something they are not. For augmented matrix solutions of systems of equations (in the chapter referred to in the quote) I show the students how to use a spreadsheet. By the time the students have learned to implement the steps of the process in a spreadsheet they will know the algorithm as well or better than having done repeated numerical examples. --David Chandler
  4. Several people in this thread seem to be asking how many problems to assign. My answers for MWB Algebra I and Algebra II are different. The Algebra I videos consist of a lecture for each section in the book. The problems have lots of repetition for practice, which is appropriate at that level. There are a lot of problems in the text. I would recommend thinning them out a little, in general. See how long it takes to do "all the odds." If that is too much for a homework session, cut back a little. The end of chapter word problem sections should take several days. Don't assign more than about two or possibly three such problems in a day. The Algebra II videos consist of a lecture and a problem solving session per section of the text. One way to assign problems is to choose the same problems that are worked out on the videos. The problems tend to be more involved than at the Algebra I level. If you feel there is need for more practice, add a few more of the odd-numbered problems which have answers in the back of the book. I have (in response to this thread) posted the list of problems worked out in the videos on my web site. Check out mathwithoutborders.com/Algebra-II and look at the Teaching Tips section near the bottom of the page. The bottom line is the problem assignments should be tailored to the student. This is harder in a classroom setting, but it should be easier to do with a one-on-one situation. I hope this helps.
  5. Hi All, This is David Chandler from Math Without Borders. Laura alerted me to this thread and thought it would be good to post answers to some of the questions. First of all, the dogs. My "studio" is a little room added onto the back of the garage so Carolyn doesn't have to walk around on tiptoes in the house all day. We have neighbors with noisy dogs. I try to avoid times when they are particularly aroused, and they are somewhat muffled by the closed door. There is also an annoying ice cream truck that clutters the noise space and neighbors who do loud dance parties at the end of the block that cut into my recording time. I don't know if I have successfully eliminated all of those noises. Overall I think it's a reasonably quiet teaching environment. I don't do graphing calculators. My personal feeling is there are different technologies appropriate for different problems. I see pocket calculators as ideal for on-the-fly problem solving with a small input pad and small readout...preferably something one wouldn't mind carrying around in one's pocket. Problems that involve graphing work better with a large screen and more fluent input modes. That's why I use a simple calculator on-screen and other tools for other purposes. So far, I've managed to do all the required programming on a spreadsheet. My real-world programming tool of choice is Python. It's pretty easy to learn, but I haven't introduced it in my math lessons, at least not yet. That said, I realize your kids may run into other courses down the line that assume they have a graphing calculator. In a classroom environment I would bite the bullet and go along to get along, but home schoolers can do it in whatever way makes the most sense. Ultimately I would recommend getting fluent on a graphing calculator just to increase one's skill set, but I don't use them in my own teaching. (There is a lot of how-to literature on the subject of graphing calculators.) That may be a cop-out, but I think you have to admit it is a well rationalized cop-out. By the way, if you want to see some nice applications of trig, and a few other math skills, check out my web page for a new sideline I'm starting up: HomeStarEngineering.com. (I really do use math outside the classroom!) I came up with this design because our own house has a North-South roofline and I wanted to put solar panels on in such a way that they qualified for the full rebate and produced the maximum power. (I did it without a graphing calculator!!!)
  6. I'm not trying to quibble but I'm not sure what part of my conclusion you're disagreeing with. I want to elaborate on the positive side of my experience with the Dolciani texts: They are very competent, thorough, and systematic in their approach to the subject matter. The problems are carefully graded in difficulty. If a student responds well to the text, I have no doubt that he/she will get a thorough grounding in the material. Like I said, I studied out of the original version of Dolciani's pre-calculus text in high school in 1965-66 and actually liked it. What motivated my post was not that Dolciani is bad, but it seemed incongruous to put it up beside Foerster and Jacobs. They are poles apart stylistically. Dolciani texts are quite literally written by committees. Foerster and Jacobs are both single-author works where their personalities come through in the writing. I haven't worked with the Jacobs books, but I have loved working with the Foerster books. I'm sure part of the affinity is that Foerster and I both come from applied math backgrounds: engineering in his case and physics and applied math in my case. (I have a BS in Physics from Harvey Mudd College, and a MS in Applied Mathematics from California Polytechnic University.) I've been teaching for ~30 years and have seen it all! (...so to speak.) As for your repeating yourself, I am a relatively new visitor on the WTM forums and I haven't seen your previous posts. I'll search out a few. It sounds like this discussion has gone around the block a few times.
  7. I am interested that Dolciani is even mentioned in the same breath as Foerster and Jacobs. Dolciani is at the heart of the '60s "New Math" establishment. It is solid, mathematically, but it suffers from the excesses of the period. (Read "Why Johnny Can't Add." I'm not saying users of Dolciani can't add, but this excellent book by mathematician Morris Kline gives an insightful analysis of the movement.) I graduated from high school in 1966 and used Dolciani's pre-calculus text myself, as a student. I also taught out of Dolciani's geometry text. It's definitely one way to go, but it's a prime example of "textbook by committee." I find it reliable, but sterile. Both Foerster and Jacobs, on the other hand, bring a sense of personal authorship to their work. Studying (or teaching) these texts feels like you are interacting with a (mathematically competent) human being with a personal style, a sense of purpose, and the ability to convey some of the joy of discovery and invention that are part of the mathematical enterprise. As a teacher, I was absolutely amazed when I happened upon my first Foerster textbook, quite a few years ago. You won't find a better collection of application problems at this level anywhere...period! I diverge from the author on a few points, but I've also learned from him on others. My answer to the question posed is answered by my choice of texts. Each of my video lesson projects is an investment of 1-2 years of work. I chose the Foerster texts because I saw them as the best there was. If a student is free to choose, why not choose the best? I've seen Foerster described as "honors" level texts. I'm sure that is because of the huge number of application problems. But that's what it's all about, isn't it? Isn't the goal of Algebra to be able to use it fluently as a tool? Foerster's explanations are exceedingly clear, which is a plus for students of any ability level. He also shows good sense about the kinds of difficulties real students will encounter, because he put it through its paces with real students. I just finished recording the Algebra II lessons for Foerster a couple weeks ago and I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms! He (as he comes through his text) is a great colleague to work with!
  8. The sample videos are actual lessons from the Alg I or Alg II courses for a section of the Foerster texts. (Please note that the video quality is terrible on Google Video for material of this kind. The downloadable introduction is indicative of the video quality.) The Algebra I series does not have separate problem solution videos. In the Algebra II series I do a separate video with complete, worked out problems for a representative sample of the problem set, sometimes as many as 8 or 10 problems, usually including the hardest ones at the end. In the case of some of the word problem sets at the ends of the chapters I break them up into multiple videos. I try to demonstrate all of the major problem types represented in the problem set. This is not just drill problems. These are full discussions of how to solve the problems. The lectures are typically 15-20 minutes and the problem solving sessions are typically just as long, sometimes longer. If the parent feels they need more, solution manuals are available from the publisher.
  9. Hi, I'm the author of the Math Without Borders videos for Foerster Alg I and Alg II/Trig. The word problems are the best collection anywhere! (These are the only kind of math problems you will find in real life.) I handle the programming aspects of the text using a simple spreadsheet. You can use Excel, but it costs. I use Open Office which has a spreadsheet generally compatible with Excel, and it's free. --David Chandler MathWithoutBorders.com
  10. Hi, I'm David Chandler, author of the Math Without Borders materials. The videos are played on a CD. When you run the program it gives you a menu. You select the chapter and section and it runs the video. It has its own built-in media player. These are "screen capture videos." I work on a graphics tablet and speak into a microphone. Everything done on the screen is captured as a video file. It has the appearance of a whiteboard with colored pens. Other applications (an on-screen calculator, a graphing program, a spreadsheet, and Geometer's Sketchpad demonstrations) can also be displayed as needed. There is a Google Video sample on my web site, but the video quality is very poor. It does, however, give you a taste of the concept and style. The actual videos are 800x600 pixels and very crisp video. --David Chandler
  11. They range generally from 10-20 minutes. The Google Video samples are very poor quality video. The real think is 800x600 pixels and very crisp. --David Chandler
  12. One point of clarification: I wouldn't characterize my videos as a video text. They are the "lecture" component of the course. The textbook is the text. The videos are not intended to stand on their own. The student reads the text, listens to the lecture, and works from the text. I don't know if this still clashes with your philosophy, but I wouldn't want you to misperceive it. --David Chandler
  13. Foerster starts with Algebra proper. If you children need review of other topics alongside, you should turn to other supplementary sources. --For a checklist of skills typically covered in Pre Algebra, look at the California State Math Standards for 7th grade: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/index.asp --For a better overview of mathematics education viewed developmentally, see the NCTM standards: http://standards.nctm.org/document/index.htm --I have made my own arithmetic skills checklist posted at http://erclc.org/ArithmeticReview/ArithmeticCheckList.pdf . (I teach at Eleanor Roosevelt Community Learning Center (http://www.erclc.org), a charter school that works with homeschool families. I also do their web site. You might also be interested in the resource page on that site: http://erclc.org/subpages/resources.htm) --I am not sure what you are referring to when you say "there are no support materials." Foerster? My videos are support for Foerster. David Chandler
  14. I have never considered "Pre Algebra" to be a legitimate block of subject material in its own right. What I have seen of it is a review of arithmetic topics and dabbling with algebra topics that are covered more systematically and coherently in a regular algebra course. If you child needs review, you might want to find supplementary materials to build earlier skills, but otherwise Foerster's development of algebra stands on its own. For example, one topic often included in pre algebra is scientific notation. Foerster gets to scientific notation in dealing with positive and negative exponents, which is conceptually where it belongs. True, pre algebra students can learn to use positive and negative powers of 10 as an independent concept, but whether or not they are exposed to it in pre algebra, they will get a full presentation with potential for real understanding in algebra.
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