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Week of Inspirational Maths
"When students make a mistake in math their brain grows, synapses fire, and connections are made."
- Jo Boaler, Stanford University
Throughout the week, our class focused on problems that challenged us creatively, as well as mathematically. A series of "You-Cubed" videos from Stanford University helped us to understand what is happening in our brains when we work on maths problems, allowing us to develop strategies for problem solving. I gained confidence to explore the four problems we looked at this week. Most were open ended, and one had never been solved. We shared perspectives, drew visuals, and asked questions. Our class became excited about math by learning that it isn't about calculations, it's about reasoning and elegant proofs for elegant problems.
The Videos
The "You-Cubed" video that I learned the most from was the one regarding visualization. Throughout the week, I became cognizant of the illustrations and diagrams that would help me understand the problem.I was able to practice this skill, as I know it will help me to solve future problems.
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Another video that I found interesting was "Speed". Professor Jo Boaler explained that working under time pressure causes long term memory to be inaccessible, making it difficult to utilize one's knowledge of how to solve the given problem. Knowing this, I will try to relax and focus despite time limits. I am excited to work on developing effective ways to handle this pressure.
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