AIMS Center
Christian (Part 3)
In the August and September installments of my blog, I’ve been telling the story of Christian and our mathematical interactions with him. Christian is a second grader who came to us with mathematical skills that had been taught through his first years of schooling. He was bright, eager to work with us, and considered, by… Continue Reading
1st Grade Fish Stories: “Operations and Algebraic Thinking” Comes to Life
Our learning begins as children when we start to make sense of our world. When we count objects in our world and identify how many of something there are we are actually working on understanding number. Learning about addition is no different. It needs to start in a child’s world. So, in my 1st grade… Continue Reading
Thinking About Children’s Thinking
Over the last month, for the start of the school year, my AIMS Center colleagues and I have had the privilege of working with teachers and observing the interactions of 3- and 4-year-old children, something our team has done for the last two years. As we observe these little ones, we have learned how to… Continue Reading
It’s Here! (Or will be soon)
During the week of October 10th, the efforts of a grassroots organization will come to fruition. Two years of planning, networking, prototyping, seeking support, world traveling, app building, blogging, tweeting, and oh so many other 21st century participles, will culminate in the first-ever Global Math Project. AIMS is both proud and happy to support this… Continue Reading
Are You a Lifelong Learner?
We should always be learning. Are you a self-professed learner for life? I like stories about people’s lifelong learning journeys. We are presented with daily learning opportunities, but it is the how and why of people’s stories that I like the best. People who have a yearning for more information and knowledge are what make… Continue Reading
Is Counting Really So Easy?
I have heard the claim “calculus is easy, algebra is difficult, and arithmetic is impossible,” but if that is true, then what does that make counting? We often hear little ones proudly singing the alphabet song or reciting a string of numbers from 1 to 20. Have you ever asked one of those who now… Continue Reading
Not Another Ball!
I can’t believe it’s been a year since I embarked on this journey as a Research Associate at the AIMS Center for Math and Science Education. It has been an exciting transition for me, having the opportunity to pursue my passion for understanding how children develop their knowledge of mathematics. Over the last year, I… Continue Reading
Be the Reason Someone SMILES Today
As a former kindergarten teacher, I must say I am a big Pinterest fan. When I was looking up ideas for classroom inspirational sayings and quotes, a recurring saying kept coming up, “Be the reason someone smiles today.” What does this look like in a classroom? Why is this important? And how in the world… Continue Reading
What Can We Learn From “The Tree of Knowledge”?
This fall semester, our research learning group at the AIMS Center is starting an interesting book study based on The Tree of Knowledge by Humberto Maturana. Up to this point, our group has read a variety of books by Jean Piaget, the father of constructivism, and concentrated on the related theme of Radical Constructivism as… Continue Reading
Help “ALEXA”
Technology allows us to have and use many different, highly sophisticated tools in our classrooms. Amazon’s Echo is just one such example that is being used in many classrooms. The Echo, which responds to the name “Alexa,” is Amazon’s digital assistant built into the Amazon Echo or Echo Dot, which are wireless speakers with built-in… Continue Reading
