Happy New Year!

2011 is prime number since the only numbers divisible by 2011 are one and itself.  So 2011 will be a prime year!   My husband and I have come up with 10 goals for ourselves to ensure our precious time this year is used wisely.  Of course, weekly blog posts made my list! 

When was the last prime year?   When is the next prime year?  Were these years prime for you?  Just because a year may be prime, what would you like to achieve to make it prime?  Reach for the stars!!  A Happy New Year to you and yours!

Mathematics Education TED Talk

I'll be teaching Calculus I at Emory University this fall, so I found this TED talk to be particularly interesting and useful. TED is a small nonprofit devoted to ideas worth spreading. In this TED talk, Dan Meyer, a Math educator, proposes a Mathematics curriculum makeover in America. He breaks down Mathematics into two categories: computation and math reasoning.

He claims while computational methods may be easily forgotten, as educators, we should focus on math reasoning. He outlines successful procedures to promote mathematical intuition and discussion in the classroom to foster math reasoning. This, in turn, will help students get involved in the formulation of the problem, a useful skill for students who continue to study math, and those who don't.

Can't wait to incorporate his suggestions in my classroom! Have a look and get inspired:

Chinese Abacus as Home Decor?

We've lived in our condo for a year now, and somehow our walls remain white and bare. As I was surfing online to find some wall art inspiration, I was intrigued by the abacus wall art available at Pottery Barn and CB2. I thought this would be THE perfect souvenir for two math fans to bring home from China. While other travelers may be searching for jade, porcelain, and magic carpets, thus started my endless search for a giant abacus on our holiday to the Orient.

The Chinese invented the abacus in 2nd century B.C. as a counting instrument. To my surprise, the abacus is very much in use by store clerks and accountants even today. In fact, I learned that the suanpan, the Chinese name for abacus, can be used for multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, square root, and cube root calculations as well. According to Feng Shui, the abacus placed on desk or cashier will multiply profits and enhance business dealings. For those seeking for knowledge in fields of such as mathematics, accountancy, science and engineering, placing an abacus on the study table can enhance learning.

Although my dreams of finding an ginormous abacus in China did not come true (yet!), I brought home functional abacuses (or is it abaci?) to place on our study table. Looking forward to many GREAT academic years ahead!