I wanted to take a moment and share a little bit about an individual who has been a HUGE inspiration for me on my journey to teaching a more interactive math class that includes technology and making learning fun for students (and teachers!).
(These ‘images’ of Maria are taken from her blog)
Her name is Maria H. Anderson and she writes a wonderful blog called Teaching College Math.
I met her in person last year when she came to my college to give an all day Saturday workshop. It was incredible! She inspired me to start writing a blog to share my own resources and ideas.
Maria is a college math instructor at Muskegon Community College (in Michigan). and wears many other hats as well, including CEO of Andersen Algebra Consulting LLC, an educational consulting business, through which she does consulting work for textbook companies, educational software companies, and speaking engagements at conferences and workshops.
She recently wrote Algebra Activities, a 1000-page Instructor resource binder of activities and teaching guides for algebra :
As if she wasn’t REALLY busy already, did I mention she is working on her Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership ?! Truly an amazing and inspirational woman and math professor!
I want to share one of her recent blog posts on WolframAlpha because I really thought it was exceptional:
Shifting Assessment in a World with WolframAlpha
I love using Wolfram Alpha not only for math, but any type of search engine (there is even some humor involved – type in “what is the meaning of life?”).
The next generation is growing up in a world where information is available at the touch of button on their computer, their iPad, and even their smartphone! There are websites out there that can do anything they need, and answer any math problem they can think of (or that we give them!). Her article has some great ideas about ways to change the focus of what we want our students to learn in this new technology, and information-rich environment.
Try out WolframAlpha (after reading her article) and see how amazing it is for yourself!
