Category: Uncategorized

3 November 2011

November 3rd, 2011

Dear Surveyors,

The biggest question we ask as thinkers and problem solvers is how can we be sure of what we know about the world? What we know is only as good as the method we used to discover it.

One method we’re going to try out today is called a survey. A survey is a collection of data from a sample of the population that we use as a model for the entire population. With a survey, we try to get a sense of the big picture by looking at lots of tiny pictures. For our big picture to be accurate, we have to follow certain rules about what we ask, who we ask, how we ask, and what we do with the answers to our questions.

As we’re making our survey, asking the questions, and analyzing our data, ask yourself how well you think you did at making the big picture.

Sincerely,

Mr. H
2 November 2011

November 2nd, 2011

Dear Chemists,

Lately, we’ve been talking about chemical reactions. We’ve learned that chemical reactions form new substances. Today we’ll talk about what must always stay the same in any chemical reaction: the amount of matter. This is the law of the conservation of mass. Scientific laws are different than societal laws because they can never be broken.

Scientists have long known about this law. The ancient Greeks knew that “nothing comes from nothing,” but it took many centuries before scientists were able to use the law of conservation of mass to create the field of chemistry. Through experiments, close investigations, and communication of their results with others, scientists in the 1600 and 1700s uncovered entirely new insights about the transformation of substances after chemical reactions.

Isn’t it comforting to know that despite all the changes and transformations going on, there’s at least one thing that stays the same? It sure makes the world a whole lot easier to study and understand.

Sincerely,

Mr. H
1 November 2011

November 1st, 2011

Dear Polygon Creators,

The difference between knowledge and a hunch is how well it’s explained. Often, we look at things and know what it is, but what we’re really doing is quickly recognizing the properties that make it what it is. Learning isn’t about knowing what a thing is. Learning is about observing, investigating, and explaining the properties that make it that thing.

So before you call something a square, stand on a little better authority and say, “It’s a square because it has 4 equidistant sides that all meet at 90 degree angles.” A square isn’t something that we draw on paper: it’s the idea of those properties. And ideas lead us to imagine things that were previously unimaginable.

Sincerely,

Mr. H
31 October 2011

October 31st, 2011

Dear Pumpkin Carvers,

Today we’ll use all of our thinking skills to find ways we can know about a pumpkin. Where did the pumpkin come from? Why does it look the way it does? What other things is it like? What things is it totally unlike? Pumpkin farmers are always trying to grow the biggest pumpkin (The current world record holder is over 1800 pounds). What is it about the pumpkin that allows it to grow so big?

By posing these questions, we learn not only about pumpkins, but we learn about the world that the pumpkin is woven into. There’s nothing really all that special about the pumpkin. It’s just an orange gourd that happened to spring from the bush of life in North American a few thousand years ago. While there’s nothing universally true about the answers we get about the pumpkin, there is something universally true about the questions we ask.

How do we know about the pumpkin? What properties and information can we discover about the pumpkin that allows us to communicate its essence to other human beings? These are the questions that last, and these are the questions we use to discover everything we know about the world and our place in it.

Sincerely,

Mr. H
4 October 2011

October 4th, 2011

Dear Calculators,

Before we had electronic calculators and computers, human beings created ingenious methods for calculating large numbers. Only recently have electronic calculators become cheap enough that anyone can have one. Before that, humans used mechanical calculators or simple devices to help them calculate. The abacus is one example that you’ve all seen. Today, we’ll create another calculating device called Napier’s Bones. You will notice that Napier’s Bones look a lot like the lattice method of multiplication. That’s because Napier borrowed that algorithm from people in the Middle East who had been using it for hundreds of years.

If you’re patient in the construction and use of Napier’s Bones, they will not only help you calculate multiplication problems, but they will also help you better understand what exactly multiplication is and what it does.

Sincerely,

Mr. H
3 October 2011

October 3rd, 2011

Dear Rectangle Makers,

This week we’ll learn a few different algorithms for multiplication. While these step-by-step processes might look a lot different, they’re really all just the same. When we multiply, we’re making rectangles. One factor is the base. The other factor is the height. The product is the area. The different algorithms are just different methods for counting up the pieces of that rectangle.

The algorithms we’ll learn are the methods that people throughout history have devised to solve problems. We learn all of the algorithms because there’s never only one right way to solve a problem. Also, it’s a lot of fun to play with numbers.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Category: Uncategorized

3 November 2011

2 November 2011

1 November 2011

31 October 2011

4 October 2011

3 October 2011