Computer-Based Math Education Summit

Conrad Wolfram's TED Talk brought world wide attention to the growing frustration towards skill based math curriculum. We have technology that can do calculation far faster and more accurately than we can and yet we are still teaching students as if the best tools we had were paper and pencil.

There are big questions out there and to solve them, we need students who are able to understand what tools they have at their disposal. For those who are shocked that much of their curriculum would be removed, Wolfram's talk reminded us that math != calculating (programming syntax for not equal to) but that math > calculating (greater than).

I once gave a professional development where I asked teachers, what would you do if all of your students magically knew how to do everything in a math textbook. Some teachers expressed silence while others fear that they would be irrelevant. Far from it! If we can restart our thinking with the premise that calculating is a tool we use to do math, then if we can teach computers to do the calculations we can focus on those attributes of math that human excel at. Teachers can give students the tools to DO math and science instead of just watching others and hearing how they will use it "one day" or in the "real world".

The Computer-Based Math Education Summit (Nov 10-11) will give this movement resources and further guidance towards the goal of transforming math education for the modern age. Humans previously had no choice but to have math dominated by calculation but this does not have to be the case any more.

During the 2 day summit in London, attendees will hear from a wide variety of speakers on how math is greater than calculation and how we can use the tools we have available right now to provide amazing learning opportunities for our students today!

Notable speakers include:

• Marcus du Sautoy, Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, University of Oxford 
• Ralph Lucas, UK House of Lords 
• Paul Wilmott, Founder of Wilmott Magazine 
• Gary Bitter, Past president of ISTE 
• Caroline Meeks, Past project manager for Sugar on a Stick 
• Charles Fadel, Founder of Center for Curriculum Redesign 
• Hylke Koers, Content Innovation Manager for Elsevier 
• Maria Droujkova, Director of Natural Math 
• Scott Gray, O'Reilly Media – Director of Make: Mathematics (I can't wait to see this) 
• Joerg Sixt, Publishing Editor, Mathematics for Springer-Verlag London

We are learning so much, so quickly that students are forced to learn much too quickly in college how to use these tools and thought processes just to understand their intended disciplines. We as K-12 educators can help by starting with our students now rather than waiting until they get to the university. Google's Computational Thinking Lessons are one way you can start using technology for more than just calculating and after this summit, I am sure we will have even more resources for reforming our math curriculum.

Paradigm shifts are always frustrating and it is completely normal to be afraid of the unknown. Use that energy to create and innovate. We don't have to let the benefits of technology be limited to smartphones and video games. Let's raise the bar for what math education looks like!

I have heard of quite a few educators who are making the trip to the summit. Be sure to share with us when you get back what you saw, heard, and discussed.

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Wolfram Alpha for Powerful Science, Math, and Humanities Research

Data is everywhere, it doesn't matter what you teach, you need data and researching the web is a fast and great way to do it. Sometimes, we don't always get what we want.

If you have not tried it, enter 5 pounds to grams in Google. The effect is even cooler because of Google Instant. Or try entering 60/2.5. For all that Google can do, it is also a great calculator or conversion tool. In fact Google is able to do all kinds of helpful things besides just searching for websites (link)

Yet, try entering y=2x+5 and you will receive websites that may help you understand linear equations or maybe eventually show you the graph but this isn't exactly what you meant. What if you are researching different countries and comparing demographics? England and China, England vs China, no matter what you try, you will still need to root through search results.

Now I love Google, this would happen if you were using Yahoo, Bing, or any other search engine because that is what they do, find and return web pages that match your search terms. This all changed last year when WolframAlpha.com emerged on the scene. Developed by Stephen Wolfram and his colleagues, it touts itself as a "Computational Knowledge Engine". For those of you familiar with Stephen Wolfram's previous work with Mathematica, the website is powered by the same algorithims.

Try it out or look at some of the examples. I honestly, could spend a lot of time going through each one. They are just so beautiful and helpful. Going to our original examples, go to WolframAlpha.com and type in y=2x+5 and hit enter. There is the graph you were looking for. WolframAlpha.com is a full fledged graphing calculator.

Now try England vs China. This will not pull up sports scores or obscure websites with those keywords. You are presented with a useful side by side comparison of the two countries' demographics, landmass, etc.

I enjoy typing in my name as it will tell me how many others of me there are in the world. The examples are certainly worth your time. Click around and see the possibilities of seeing data in a way that is truly useful.  This isn't surprising from Stephen Wolfram who has spend a great deal of time and energy trying to make the world's knowledge not only searchable but computational. Data is worthless if we cannot work with it and that is exactly what Mathematica and Wolframalpha.com were intended to do. You can see more of Mr. Wolfram's philosophy in this TED talk where he draws from his research and writings in A New Kind of Science.

In an effort to make Wolfram Alpha more accessible, others have implemented this in Firefox, and Chrome, (free) and now Android, iPhone, and iPad (for $1.99).

Two other free options for educators are Wolfram Alpha Demonstrations, and Widgets. Demonstrations are similar to the examples, but with a large amount of interactivity. Show your students a physics or math principle, art and color, sports examples, optical illusions, and more. Widgets are an option for you or your students to create your own mini Wolfram Alpha program. It is easy to create one to add to your website or for your classroom, there is also a gallery of premade widgets.

Whether you teach the humanities or sciences, WolframAlpha has the power to make data managable and useful. If you haven't already go over to the site and browse you will find it hard to leave.

Must Have Firefox and Chrome Downloads (Extensions and Addons)

Computers and Software are designed by people who may have very different intentions or expectations than you. Far too often users are frustrated with the inflexibility of their tools. This is one of the major advantages that Open Source has over Proprietary. The community has been able to create "addons" or modifications to the software to adapt technology to a wider group of people.

Many have begun to call the Internet a human right and most of us connect to that Internet through Browsers like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and others. Firefox and Chrome have become widespread for both their speed, security, and ability to extend their usefulness. I would like to suggest some extensions/addons that I have found useful. Since there are such varied tastes I have limited the list to those that I think would be useful to most. I will update this list as more are developed.

If the link is broken, simply search for your browser and the name of the extension as these links tend to change. There are other browsers out there but Chrome and Firefox have the largest base of users so I wanted to keep it simple.

• 3DTin - Modeling within the browser, export to your 3D Printer or other modeling/CAD software. (all browsers)
• Add This - There just never seemed to be a handy way to share the site or article with your network until Add This. Simply click and choose the method of sharing (Twitter, FB, Stumbleupon, etc) and you are done (all browsers)
• Advanced Periodic Table - Just what it says. (Chrome)
• After the Deadline - Automatically checks Spelling, Style and Grammar in your emails or wherever else you might type in your browser. (Chrome, Firefox)
• Autopager - When looking through Google or a blog with numerous posts, it can be tedious to click the next page. Autopager automatically moves to the next page just by scrolling down. (Chrome, Firefox)
• Better Gmail - Gmail has a lot of great options and features, but it could get cluttered. This provides options to customize what you see and do not see in Gmail. Also, you can set Gmail to be your default email browser so clicking on an email link will send you to Gmail and not Outlook. (Chrome, Firefox) 
• Chromed Bird - See your Twitter timelines without having to leave the page you are on. It is also highly convenient as you can click one button and tweet the page you are on (automatically shortened). (Chrome)
• Chrome Remote Desktop - Access your computer from the browser or troubleshoot your students/family members computers. (Chrome) 
• Cloud Save - With a right click, you can save an image, file or anything else in your browser to Dropbox, Google Docs and more. (Chrome)
• Desmos - Has many of the features of Geogebra and CAS. Does not require Javascript. (all browsers)
• DownThemAll - Imagine your luck, you stumble upon an entire page full of resources, but unfortunately, getting all of them will require you to save each one individually. Not with this extension. Use the DownThemAll toolbar and interface to select all or some of the links on a page. Then the addon will automatically do all of the hard work for you. Such a time/sanity saver. Although I primarily use Chrome, this extension alone is enough to keep Firefox installed on my computer. It is that helpful. (Firefox)
• Google Quick Scroll - When looking through search results, you are seeking the closest match to your need. Yet when you open the page, sometimes that snippet can be buried in other information. This extension will allow you to jump to that specific section immediately. (Chrome)
• Python - I have seen this kind of thing before but when I installed it, there it was, the Python interpreter! I was able to import the math module and loop which I have not seen in other versions. If you are using Python in the classroom you will definitely want to check this out. (Chrome)
• Read It Later - Useful for saving pages to read for another time. (All browsers)
• Translation - This is the World Wide Web which means that not all helpful pages will be in your language. The ability to translate for you or your students makes the world that much smaller. Note that any translation device or service is good at best and should not be solely relied upon for important information. (Google Translate - Chrome, Foxlingo - Firefox, Translator - Firefox, GTranslate - Firefox)
• WiseStamp - If you have multiple job titles, social networking accounts, or information that you want to share with various people. WiseStamp will automatically insert your signature with links to your Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, IM, Website, and more. Highly customizable and very easy to use. (Chrome, Firefox)
• WolframAlpha - This computational search engine is now available as an extension and add-on. No matter what you teach, you can find a use for this in your class. (All browsers +mobile)
• Xmarks - Educators have lots of great bookmarks and usually multiple computers (work, cellphone, home, etc). This will sync up those bookmarks and store them for you. (Note: If you are using Google Chrome you can set it up to do this as well in the settings. (All browsers)
• YouTube Downloader - Does just what it says, useful if your school does not allow student access to YouTube. Or to share offline. Download the file in a small file size like .flv and email or share. (Chrome, Firefox)

If you are interested in more or others here are the links:

Google Chrome Extensions

Mozilla Firefox Addons

Keep in mind that the more addons/extensions you add to your browser, the slower your browser startup could be. It also depends on what it does. Some are small and you can have numerous, others do very involved tasks and might take up a lot of memory. Experiment with what your computer can handle and your needs.

If you have any others that you think might appeal to a large group of educators, feel free to leave a comment, email, Facebook, or Tweet. Until next time.