Thy Enemies Are Marching

Let’s Expose ‘Em!

vkier — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:30:43 +0000

Gary Klass has developed a great website for exploring misleading and down-right dishonest graphs. Skim through last semester’s Section 13.3 lecture notes, then take a hard look at Klass’s “How to Construct Bad Charts and Graphs,” paying particular attention to what it takes to make bad charts and graphs. Professor Klass is currently constructing an updated site, which includes up-to-date, awful graphs. Several of these graphs include recommended revised versions.

Now it’s your turn (, of course!). Find one chart or graph that appears to be misleading or severely slanted. If you find the chart off line, please scan it then insert as a picture. If you find the chart online, provide a link to the site where the chart is located. Why is the graph misleading? If you were to revise the chart to make it appear more honest, what would you do?

Give Two, Take Twenty

vkier — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 21:16:16 +0000

Theoretically… If everyone gives two, and you all end up with twenty, how many of you are there in the class?

Here’s what you’re giving to your classmates:

Make up a question that you could use in a kindergarten or first-grade classroom to graph data. (Remember, according the Burris textbook, bar graphs, tally graphs and pictographs are appropriate for this level).
Make up a question that you could use in a second- or third-grade classroom to graph data. (Again, line plots and line graphs are appropriate at this level, as are some types of circle graphs. Consult your reading for guidelines and examples.)

Your questions should be original and interesting to the level for which they are intended. Feel free to offer constructive feedback to your classmates regarding the questions they compose.

Counting on Me; Counting on You; Counting on Frank

vkier — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:41:10 +0000

Read the cropped-by-the-scanner version of Counting on Frank by Rod Clement (Gareth Stevens Publishing, 1991). (Warning: Due to the nature of this file, it is quite large – just shy of 25 MB.)

In addition to posting your impressions of the book, each of you will post here a true-to-life example which might be added to the text. Although many of the examples in the text are straightforward, proportional thinking exercises, your example should demonstrate an understanding of volume. (For help, see the example below, pages 2-3 of the text, or the peas or jelly bean example.) Justify why your example is appropriate, and explain how you know your example is reasonable.

PLEASE!!! Type the codes before your example and at the end of your example. This will make the text appear bold and italicized (like in my example below). Do NOT include these codes around the explanation portion of your post. Thanks!!!

Shucks! We just missed the opportunity to participate in a videoconference.

vkier — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:25:24 +0000

Motivate: Videoconferences for Schools just hosted a couple of videoconferences for students between the ages of 6 and 8 to discuss The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns.

The Greedy Triangle

Shape up, make up your mind!
It’s the number of sides that you must find.
With sides you will see,
A triangle has 3.
A quadrilateral has 4,
There are no more!
A pentagon has 5,
Good heavens alive!
Shape up, make up your mind!
It’s the number of sides that you must find.

How well does the above poem capture the main idea of the story? In response to your reading(s) of The Greedy Triangle, I’d like each of you now to create your own short (rhyming/non-rhyming) poem, then post it here for others to read and provide feedback.