cvonrenesse's blog

Blog Posts by Dr. Christine von Renesse

 

IBL Workflow (Guest Blog by Matt Jones)

Matt Jones is sharing some of his technology ideas for the IBL classroom with us: "A few years ago, I got involved in a professional development project for middle school mathematics teachers where all of us were using iPads. Partially as an outgrowth of that project, I started a blog called The Math Switch . In this post, I am going to detail the workflow that emerged in the first year of the project."

 

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Steven Strogatz' Reflection (Part 2)

Steven Strogatz' wrote a blog post about what it was like to be a beginner at teaching through inquiry. This second part contains his experience of teaching a Mathematics Exploration class at Cornell University using ideas from "Discovering the Art of Mathematics":

Last fall, for the first time in my career, I tried a new way of teaching. Instead of lecturing, I gave my students puzzles and questions to explore together in small groups. What happened over the rest of that semester turned out to be the most astonishing, uplifting experience I’ve ever had as a teacher.


 

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Steven Strogatz Teaching

Steven Strogatz' Reflection (Part 1)

Steven Strogatz writes about what it was like to be a beginner at teaching through inquiry. This blog contains his impressions of the "Discovering the Art of Mathematics" workshop held at Cornell University in summer 2014:
"This experience gave me powerful insight into what it must be like for students in an IBL classroom. It made me realize the importance of providing a safe and nurturing space for the math explorers I was about to start working with in just a few days."
 

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A Path to Creating Inquiry Activities

Often people ask me how to write inquiry activities so there must be some tricks that can be communicated. Together with Prof. Mairead Greene from Rockhurst University, I have been thinking about the questions we ask ourselves before, during and after writing tasks. Our intention is that these questions will help to inspire and guide others in creating good IBL activities in any mathematics course.

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multivariable calculus group discussing integration

Curiosity -- A Culture of Asking Questions

In my perfect world students would be self-motivated, want to learn, collaborate with other students, ask lots of questions, pursue mathematics outside of class requirements, etc. What then is needed to make this happen? I believe this independent learning I am looking for relies on student curiosity.

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