Welcome
This site is designed to gather feedback regarding Mathematics.
Please be sure to show the courtesy and respect that you would expect in any conversation.
This BLOG is being established on May 6, 2006, on a bright Saturday morning.
Today we have 21 young people writing round 2 of the Canadian Computer Competition
in preparation for the selection of our Canadian Olympiad Computer Team. These students are the top finalists in our Canadian Computer Competition (more information is available at the University of Waterloo Math Faculty site). Seeing this kind of activity reminds me of the incredible intellectual potential stored in the minds of our young people, and the moral obligation we have as educators to provide pupils with the opportunity to unleash and focus that energy for the good of Canada and all people, everywhere!
Without much to do right now.(.... these kids are on autopilot as they solve 3 difficult computer problems over the next 3 hours...), I am taking this opportunity to get this site up and running... a chore I have been meaning to do for quite a while.
In the last few months, my colleagues and I have been engaged in an effort to have the Ontario Ministry of Education reconsider a plan to remove Calculus from the Ontario Mathematics Curriculum. We were pleased with then-Minister Gerrard Kennedy's decision to delay implementation of the grade 12 courses for one year, and, at the same time, establish the first-ever Mathematics Curriculum Council to look at the Calculus question. My colleague Gord Nicholls was able to gather over 300 signatures over a 10 day window in January 2006 in a petition asking the Ministry to pause for sober thought, and keep the Calculus. Gord and I were interviewed by the council and ,as of this writing, we are waiting to see the report.
I put a formal "freedom of information" request for release of the report into the mail this past week. We continue to hope that there will be a transparent exchange of information and discussion around this issue. By the end of May, we should have received copies of the new grade 11 curriculum. Our group has proposed several significant changes including a re-examination of the teaching of Mathematics from grade 1 to 12. I personally feel that we need to decide where students should be at graduation, hopefully at the leading edge of what we do in Mathematics, and then plan back from there. I continue to be perplexed by the notion that the Math we teach is many centuries old, while current Mathematics, and even the Calculus are ignored. Perhaps, we need a math-focussed computer science course as well in the secondary school offerings.
As we head into a time of intense curriculum re-examination, and serious competition from abroad, it is appropriate to re-think how we prepare out students to work at the technological leading edge. I hope that it will not take a "sputnik-like" realization to revitalize and modernize Ontario mathematics education.
I may be able to post some of the white paper material our group has generated in the last few months. I hope you will take the time to share your thoughts and insights with others. This BLOG may be the only forum at this time to exchange ideas.
Please be sure to show the courtesy and respect that you would expect in any conversation.
This BLOG is being established on May 6, 2006, on a bright Saturday morning.
Today we have 21 young people writing round 2 of the Canadian Computer Competition
in preparation for the selection of our Canadian Olympiad Computer Team. These students are the top finalists in our Canadian Computer Competition (more information is available at the University of Waterloo Math Faculty site). Seeing this kind of activity reminds me of the incredible intellectual potential stored in the minds of our young people, and the moral obligation we have as educators to provide pupils with the opportunity to unleash and focus that energy for the good of Canada and all people, everywhere!
Without much to do right now.(.... these kids are on autopilot as they solve 3 difficult computer problems over the next 3 hours...), I am taking this opportunity to get this site up and running... a chore I have been meaning to do for quite a while.
In the last few months, my colleagues and I have been engaged in an effort to have the Ontario Ministry of Education reconsider a plan to remove Calculus from the Ontario Mathematics Curriculum. We were pleased with then-Minister Gerrard Kennedy's decision to delay implementation of the grade 12 courses for one year, and, at the same time, establish the first-ever Mathematics Curriculum Council to look at the Calculus question. My colleague Gord Nicholls was able to gather over 300 signatures over a 10 day window in January 2006 in a petition asking the Ministry to pause for sober thought, and keep the Calculus. Gord and I were interviewed by the council and ,as of this writing, we are waiting to see the report.
I put a formal "freedom of information" request for release of the report into the mail this past week. We continue to hope that there will be a transparent exchange of information and discussion around this issue. By the end of May, we should have received copies of the new grade 11 curriculum. Our group has proposed several significant changes including a re-examination of the teaching of Mathematics from grade 1 to 12. I personally feel that we need to decide where students should be at graduation, hopefully at the leading edge of what we do in Mathematics, and then plan back from there. I continue to be perplexed by the notion that the Math we teach is many centuries old, while current Mathematics, and even the Calculus are ignored. Perhaps, we need a math-focussed computer science course as well in the secondary school offerings.
As we head into a time of intense curriculum re-examination, and serious competition from abroad, it is appropriate to re-think how we prepare out students to work at the technological leading edge. I hope that it will not take a "sputnik-like" realization to revitalize and modernize Ontario mathematics education.
I may be able to post some of the white paper material our group has generated in the last few months. I hope you will take the time to share your thoughts and insights with others. This BLOG may be the only forum at this time to exchange ideas.
posted by Richard Clausi | 9:50 AM
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