Of course, the previous post does not count, so I have to start with something. Here is a list of interesting talks/articles that I’ve seen lately.

Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover

Points out some problems in math education, where doing math becomes just pattern matching. Search for the variables you need and replace them in the formula. The proposal is to make them realize the information needed to solve a problem, as in real life, where it’s rare to get exactly the pieces of information you need.

Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers

The main critique to the math education system is that it focuses in calculation (computation) instead of real math. The proposal is to use computers to do the calculation and allow children to get intuition on it by playing with them, seeing for what the things they learn are useful. An interesting detail I found in this talks is that the presenter’s proposal for teaching the basics of calculation, like multiplicating big numbers, can be accomplished teaching the kids how to program that method instead of making the repeat it $10^6$ times.

Arthur Benjamin’s formula for changing math education

A 3min short opinion-video. The main idea is to include statistics as the main subject. The main argument for this is that most people only need that in their day to day life (plus the basics, I guess).