Ambiguity and Nuance — Even in Mathematics

Mathematics is often seen as the epitome of a study of hard facts: answers are either…

The culture of learning: Excellence without competition

Have you ever noticed that there are different kinds of Labrador retrievers? I don’t mean the black, yellow, and chocolate kinds, I mean differences in attitude. Among the wide variation of the breed, there are some that are smaller…

Turning around question-asking in your class

Can you let the learners, instead of you, drive the questions?

Three years ago I was nervously facing my first experimental class, a class at the end of which I planned to ask the…

TEACHING VIA INQUIRY LEARNING: An easy step?

Inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, and exploratory learning are terms…

How We Teach Problem-Solving, or, A Step-by-Step Guide for Having Questions Lead Your Learning Experience

We live in different time zones and we work on different things. Are we really a team?

High Hedonistic and Low Fatalistic

The importance of optimism and agency in life and in education

Reprinted with permission from Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities: A Collection of Space Futures (2017) Ed. Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich

What do we really need to be better teachers?

Compare and contrast: (1) students leaping out of their seats with blazing eyes and changing their lives in the movie “Dead Poets Society,” and (2) the bored, inward gazes or sleeping heads of students that many of us see in classrooms across the…

The Joy and the Fear of Learning

How to Run an Undergraduate Research Course Using Inquiry

The Human Context in Learning

I am a mathematician and math teacher and I’ve often reflected on the question: What is mathematics? You would think I have a clear and ready answer to that question, but I don’t really. If you asked me that question I would likely give some esoteric answer, the same answer…