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HN is big on curated lists lately. Is there one for resources to aid in teaching mathematics the way Lockhart would prefer? I've seen this posted so many place

by ashark 12y ago

HN is big on curated lists lately. Is there one for resources to aid in teaching mathematics the way Lockhart would prefer? I've seen this posted so many places so many times that surely there's a market for materials and support for it. Where are they?

nextos 12y ago
For middle school I'm sure Lockhart would love Gelfand's books: http://gcpm.rutgers.edu/books.html http://gcpm.rutgers.edu/books.html At undergrad level, I love Axler but I haven't found a similar calculus book.
- jinfiesto 12y ago
  Spivak? It's an excellent calculus book. Apostol or Courant are good as well.
murbard2 12y ago
"How to solve it" is a good book in this direction, by Polya.
murbard2 12y ago
"How to solve it", by Polya.
murbard2 12y ago
"How to solve it", by Polya.
murbard2 12y ago
Polya's "How to solve it" is pretty good in that respect. I asked this question on math.stackexchange.com a while ago but haven't received many answers yet http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1040232/can-you-recommend-a-book-to-learn-to-teach-math-to-a-child http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1040232/can-you-reco...
GregBuchholz 12y ago
With a quick search, here's the closest thing I could find: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/5074/are-there-elementary-school-curricula-that-capture-the-joy-of-mathematics http://mathoverflow.net/questions/5074/are-there-elementary-... ...but I too would like to see what you are looking for, at an elementary school age level.
- ashark 12y ago
  Now that I've thought about it a bit more, what I'd really love is a directory of sensibly ordered learning resources (free online stuff, videos, links to books on Amazon, whatever), headed by one or two mission-statement type papers (like Lockhart here) for the pedagogical strategy they generally follow, for a whole bunch of topics with several strategies per topic. That way you could pick a topic, read the statements for the various strategies, select one or more that you like and just start working down from the top. ... and I'd also like a pony :-)
edtechdev 12y ago
I would look at actual math education research and research-based materials and lessons and tools, such as at sites like NCTM and MAA. Most educational research is not consistent with Lockhart's views. As an example, here's a summary of research-based best practices for teaching Calculus: https://edtechdev.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/calculus/ https://edtechdev.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/calculus/
- j2kun 12y ago
  > Most educational research is not consistent with Lockhart's views. This sounds suspicious, and I imagine there are differing goals and motivations here. For example, much of math education research also centers around standards and testing.
andystanton 12y ago
It's a game rather than a list, but http://euclidthegame.com/ http://euclidthegame.com/ seems to address some of Lockhart's issues with the teaching of geometry.
j2kun 12y ago
I made a little curated list for my friends who are starting to raise kids of their own and wanted to know about resources. I think most of what's out there is math education phrased as a game (to develop mechanical skills without being boring), and later translates into Lockhart-style exploratory "joy of math" stuff. The latter doesn't have much besides, Lockhart's own work, though, from what I can find. http://mcsforkids.herokuapp.com/ http://mcsforkids.herokuapp.com/
alexbasson 12y ago
As a former high-school math teacher and big proponent of Lockhart's philosophy, I highly recommend Phillips Exeter's math curriculum (http://www.exeter.edu/academics/72_6539.aspx http://www.exeter.edu/academics/72_6539.aspx). It's entirely problem-based; each night the students are assigned a set of about ten problems, and they do the best they can with them. The next day, they meet in groups of twelve with a teacher (more like a facilitator) who leads them in a discussion of how they approached the problems and their solutions. Although the problems themselves are often quite practical, they are designed to illustrate and reveal over time the abstract concepts behind them, and they lead the students towards finding abstractions and generalities as they go. It's free and publicly available; I recommend downloading them and reading through a few problem sets to see what I mean.

by ashark 12y ago

nextos 12y ago

For middle school I'm sure Lockhart would love Gelfand's books: http://gcpm.rutgers.edu/books.html http://gcpm.rutgers.edu/books.html At undergrad level, I love Axler but I haven't found a similar calculus book.

jinfiesto 12y ago
Spivak? It's an excellent calculus book. Apostol or Courant are good as well.

murbard2 12y ago

"How to solve it" is a good book in this direction, by Polya.

murbard2 12y ago

"How to solve it", by Polya.

murbard2 12y ago

"How to solve it", by Polya.

murbard2 12y ago

Polya's "How to solve it" is pretty good in that respect. I asked this question on math.stackexchange.com a while ago but haven't received many answers yet http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1040232/can-you-recommend-a-book-to-learn-to-teach-math-to-a-child http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1040232/can-you-reco...

GregBuchholz 12y ago

With a quick search, here's the closest thing I could find: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/5074/are-there-elementary-school-curricula-that-capture-the-joy-of-mathematics http://mathoverflow.net/questions/5074/are-there-elementary-... ...but I too would like to see what you are looking for, at an elementary school age level.

ashark 12y ago
Now that I've thought about it a bit more, what I'd really love is a directory of sensibly ordered learning resources (free online stuff, videos, links to books on Amazon, whatever), headed by one or two mission-statement type papers (like Lockhart here) for the pedagogical strategy they generally follow, for a whole bunch of topics with several strategies per topic. That way you could pick a topic, read the statements for the various strategies, select one or more that you like and just start working down from the top. ... and I'd also like a pony :-)

edtechdev 12y ago

I would look at actual math education research and research-based materials and lessons and tools, such as at sites like NCTM and MAA. Most educational research is not consistent with Lockhart's views. As an example, here's a summary of research-based best practices for teaching Calculus: https://edtechdev.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/calculus/ https://edtechdev.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/calculus/

j2kun 12y ago
> Most educational research is not consistent with Lockhart's views. This sounds suspicious, and I imagine there are differing goals and motivations here. For example, much of math education research also centers around standards and testing.

andystanton 12y ago

It's a game rather than a list, but http://euclidthegame.com/ http://euclidthegame.com/ seems to address some of Lockhart's issues with the teaching of geometry.

j2kun 12y ago

I made a little curated list for my friends who are starting to raise kids of their own and wanted to know about resources. I think most of what's out there is math education phrased as a game (to develop mechanical skills without being boring), and later translates into Lockhart-style exploratory "joy of math" stuff. The latter doesn't have much besides, Lockhart's own work, though, from what I can find. http://mcsforkids.herokuapp.com/ http://mcsforkids.herokuapp.com/

alexbasson 12y ago

As a former high-school math teacher and big proponent of Lockhart's philosophy, I highly recommend Phillips Exeter's math curriculum (http://www.exeter.edu/academics/72_6539.aspx http://www.exeter.edu/academics/72_6539.aspx). It's entirely problem-based; each night the students are assigned a set of about ten problems, and they do the best they can with them. The next day, they meet in groups of twelve with a teacher (more like a facilitator) who leads them in a discussion of how they approached the problems and their solutions. Although the problems themselves are often quite practical, they are designed to illustrate and reveal over time the abstract concepts behind them, and they lead the students towards finding abstractions and generalities as they go. It's free and publicly available; I recommend downloading them and reading through a few problem sets to see what I mean.