Sign-Up

Anyone can follow a course on P2PU. Participating is the next level of engagement. The sign-up is a space where interested individuals can express their interest and background in the topic and commit to working with the rest of the participants. Please answer the following set(s) of questions if you want to become a participant or organizer.

Standard Set

This set of signup questions is common to all study groups, courses, ... in P2PU. The answers to these questions will be public once you get accepted.

Public Custom Set

This set of signup questions is particular to this course. The answers to these questions will be public once you get accepted.

Answers

• 
  Sebastian Panakal   Jan. 18, 2012, 5:54 a.m.

  Bio:

  Learn how to help learners understand mathematical logic through game based learning

  Location: India

  Standard Set Answer:

  I love Mathematics. I have been promoting Vedic Mathematics for the last 10 plus years.

  Hope to learn better and effective methods of learning Mathematical logic and abstraction.

  Yes. I am interested in helping with the course organization. I may need guidelines.

  Public Set Answer:

   

  • Number sense - Assuming we went to Mars where people had different number of fingers on their hand, they will have invented arithmetic based on the number of fingers on their hand. Humans started counting on base 10 as we have 10 fingers - Understand and educate the history behind all of this
  • Pattern Spotting - The ability to spot patterns in nature and every day things
  • Use Vedic Mathematics and Spreadsheet together to effectively use patterning system of Maths while helping learners use computers for the dogs work.
• 
  SandyG   Jan. 17, 2012, 12:13 p.m.

  Bio:

  I am working toward my master's and certification in special education. I would say that math is not one of my strengths, but I realize the importance of learning how to help my students. 

  Location: East Petersburg, PA

  Standard Set Answer:

  A requirement for my program is an elementary education math course. The idea of teaching math fluency across the curriculum is something I find interesting. 

  I would hope to achieve tools and methods that will help me assist struggeling students who have learning differences.

  I would make myself available to help in any way I can.

  Public Set Answer:

  1. “Number Sense”- Like phonemic awareness in reading, the innate fluidity and flexibility with numbers is important for a student to become “fluent” in math.  I would like to learn how to facilitate a student’s ability to take math out of the classroom and apply the concepts outside of the classroom.
  2. Teaching math in a way that is exciting and not intimidating. 
  3. I know a student who lacks the basic understanding of numbers and has no 1:1 correspondence.  That is, they can rote count to 30, but cannot count 5 blocks that are laid in front of them without simply continuing on 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 and so on. I’d like to learn how to help this student and others like her.  In other words, how do you bridge this gap between knowing the word "four" and understanding its meaning.
• 
  David Wees   Jan. 17, 2012, 11:44 a.m.

  Bio:

  Father. Activist. Canadian. Educational technology consultant. IB & MYP Math & Science teacher. Geek & Skeptic. Passionate about education.

  Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

  Standard Set Answer:

  I'm interested in this topic as I will be starting some reform of how we teach mathematics at my school. I'm looking to gather resources particularly in early years inquiry and problem based mathematics. I'm too busy to help with organizing the course, but I'm happy to be a full participant.

  Public Set Answer:

   

  David is currently the learning specialist for technology at Stratford Hall in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has worked as a mathematics and science teacher in NYC, London, Bangkok and Vancouver. David has his Bachelor of Science (Mathematics), Bachelor of Education (Secondary Mathematics), and Master of Educational Technology, all from the University of British Columbia.
  
  He has been published in the Bangkok Post, Dialogue Online, Educational Technology Solutions, Leading and Learning, Software Developer’s Journal, and Edutopia and has also been consulted for stories in the Globe and Mail, the CBC, the Vancouver Sun, and the Tyee. David has been a guest on CBC’s On the Coast and CKNW’s the Bill Good show, and has presented at workshops on such topics as Interactivity & Multimedia in Mathematics, Computer Based Math, Social Media, The Effect of Changing Communication Tools on Education, and other topics related to the use of technology in education. He blogs regularly at http://davidwees.com/discuss and can be found on Twitter at @davidwees.

   

  Themes:

  • Math without words - I'm interested in how much of early mathematics can be taught without overly relying on mathematical symbols. Do we introduce the notation too early?
  • Measurement based along side discrete - I'd like more mathematics based on measurement (a way of looking at the world from a continuous perspective) balanced with an approach to mathematics based on discrete numbers.
  • Learning math through play - Young kids learn so much about mathematics through play. How much mathematics could we teach young kids through play?
• 
  Anonym   Jan. 17, 2012, 9:53 a.m.

  Bio:

  Social Software Enthusiast with a strong interest in edtech

  Location: Bangalore

  Standard Set Answer:

  • What made you interested in this topic?

  I have been experimenting with alternative learning techniques for quite some time and my current interest is to explore new ways of introducing math concepts to my 3.5 year old. I hope to create an alternative learning system some day and I think this topic fits in well with my short term and long term plans

  • What do you hope to achieve by participating?

  I hope to gain a basic understanding needed to design activities that may help kids see the beauty in math - Math is something I hated as a kid and have fallen in love with as an adult - I would love to help kids appreciate math - I believe this course will help me achieve this

  • Are you interested in helping with the course organization?

  I might not be able to given my time constraints

  Public Set Answer:

  Im a knowledge strategist working for ThoughtWorks and a parent - I'm deeply interested in alternative education techniques, specifically role-play based methods. I blog here :

  CollabWare

  My Twitter stream : http://twitter.com/dineshtantri

  Three themes that are of interest to me:

  • Number sense - understand how humans started counting and different bases - Understand and appreciate the history behind all of this
  • Pattern Spotting - The ability to spot patterns in nature and every day things
  • Not quite sure of a third theme

   

• 
  Bon Crowder   Jan. 17, 2012, 9:25 a.m.

  Bio:

  Math mom, co-developer of www.ThatsMath.com, writer and publisher of www.MathFour.com.

  Location: Houston, Texas

  Standard Set Answer:

  What made you interested in this topic?

  I have a toddler and we work with math concepts a great deal.

  What do you hope to achieve by participating?

  Some nifty tools to use when working with her and math. Also, I'd like to contribute to the knowledge of others.

  Are you interested in helping with the course organization?

  I'm interested, but have no time for it. Instead I'll be a cheerleader for the course organizers.

  Public Set Answer:

  1. Join the Google Group

  Done. I'm Bon Crowder on it. 

  2. About me

  I have taught and tutored math to over 15,000 adults in living rooms, classrooms and conferences. I publish Math Is Not a Four Letter Word that includes over 150 YouTube videos to help parents confidently and creatively support their children in math. I have appeared on Great Day Houston, CreateChatter.tv, and Women in Business Radio and have hosted numerous webinars and emceed large conferences. I am the author of the Mom & Me Mathseries and Guided Creativity for the Busy Thinker. I teach Family Numeracy at Literacy Advance Houston, developmental math classes at Lone Star College and travel the world leading Whole Brain Strategic Thinking seminars.

  Connect with me at bon@mathfour.com or Twitter @mathfour.

  3. Three themes

  Counting & numbers - cardinals, ordinals, one-to-one correspondence, counting by skips/primes, shapes of numerals and spelled out number words

  Patterns - shapes, colors, objects, sequences

  Shapes - concave, convex, regular, irregular, the ease at which a toddler can tell the difference in number of sides

  Size - big vs. little and what the natural ability is to understand volume sizes, 2D sizes and even 1D sizes

  (okay, that's four, but who's counting...? :D)