Blog Entry #7

Peters, S.A. (2010). Engaging with the art and science of statistics. Mathematics Teacher, 103(7), 496-503.

In the article, "Engaging With the Art and Science of Statistics," Susan A. Peter's main idea was to define what field of study the practice of statistics fit into. In her discussion, and as inferred by the title, she claimed that statistics does not merely use mathematics and science, but that it is an art as well. She mentioned that statistics involves mathematical techniques and theories that help to collect and analyze data. This would be evidence that it is a mathematical science. However, she also talked about how creating graphs and displays for the data that is collected requires an artul touch in order to represent what was found accurately.

Statistics definitely involves both mathematical and artistic techniques, however I do not believe that this singles out statistics from any other math field. All math concepts involve some sort of art procedure whether it be in graphs, pictures, story problems, etc. Therefore, while I agree with her argument that statistics is an artisic, mathematical science, I do not think that makes it unique from the other math fields.

Blog Entry #6

Goodman, Terry. (2010). Shooting free throws, probability, and the golden ratio. Mathematics Teacher,103(7), 482-487.

In Terry Goodman's article, "Shooting Free Throws, Probability, and the Golden Ratio," his main idea is to show the difference it makes in a child's learning when topics of interest are used as object lessons. In this particular situation he chose to teach probability and the golden ratio by explaining through free throws in a basketball game. He started out with a word problem where a certain player had playing statistics that showed she made free throws 60% of the time. If this player was in a situation to shoot a one-and-one free-throw (where if she makes it she gets to shoot again, but if she misses she stops) the instructor asked the students what the most likely outcome would be--scoring 0 points, 1 point, or 2 points. After predicting this through various procedures, the instructor continued to challenge them by switching up the given situation several times. Throughout the article he displayed the different procedures that children were using to solve these problems and expressed that they were soon coming up with their own ways of solving them rather than coming to him for ideas. By displaying the thinking process of the children in his class he showed how children really do have a desire to learn and it can be easily encouraged when topics of interest are intertwined in the concept material.

I feel that Goodman's topic is brought up often when discussing mathematical teaching procedures. Although it is a popular idea, I am not sure that it is practiced as often as it should be. I feel that teaching children mathematics with real world objects and activities that they enjoy and participate in often can really have a deep effect on how they learn the material. A topic of interest is a way for them to break the ice with the new concept and tackle problems in a way where they can use knowledge that they already have acquired. It is also a way for them to visualize the problems, and this is helpful because most children at that age are very visual learners. Although this article didn't bring up any huge issues in the math world, I believe that the author did make a good point in illustrating that "explorations such as this one have the potential to help students further develop their mahtematical understanding, skills, and problem solving."