Impressions after completing the ‘How to Learn Math’ class

The title of my blog entry for June 2, 2013 was “Can parents be better math teachers for their kids?“, referring to the online ‘How to Learn Math‘ class given by Prof.  Jo Boaler.  I had a few motivations for enrolling in this class, but the primary one was to get in touch with the latest methods and research in teaching mathematics. Even though I’m not a mathematics teacher by profession, I thought I could use the information and know-how I could gain for my son in the near future. I also had older kids in my extended family whom I tried to help in areas such as mathematics and programming.

This word cloud was generated on August 12th and is based on 5087 responses to the question “why do students often feel so bad about mistakes”?

Now that the class is over and I have completed it successfully, I can say that I’m satisfied with it more or less. One of the facts that Prof. Boaler admitted is that this was her first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) experience, and I think next time she gives a similar class it will be better. I think some of the videos could be shorter, less repetitive, whereas some of the exercises could be a little more challenging, and structured, with more opportunities for valuable feedback. These points aside, it was very valuable to see the challenges faced by actual teachers, and listening to the experiences of students from diverse backgrounds were also helpful in developing a perspective. On top of that, some of my academic heroes, such as Sebastian Thrun, were there, providing me with very valuable insights with their interviews.

Once again I have seen that having a background in mathematics, engineering and cognitive science is not enough by itself to realize the better methods of teaching, and that is reason enough for me to be thankful to Jo Boaler for her continued efforts. I hope one day I will be good guide to my son and other kids in their journey to the wonderful world of sophisticated abstractions and surprising ideas with some unexpected connections 🙂

 

 

Visiting horses in the neighborhood: one year later

I have decided to visit the horses in the neighborhood when I took my son outside for a short walk today. The horses live a few hundred meters from our house and it’s been almost a year since we’ve seen them; I thought he would be surprised and excited to see those beautiful animals again. It turned out to be that I made the right decision, his excitement was worth seeing.

I wish I can also show him those horses in action. I have myself seen a few kids riding them in the neighborhood, creating a fantastic view, those amazing animals taking their time slowly along cars and buses while people (at least I and a few others) admire them. It almost feels like time travel and changes your perception of time for a while.

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Space Expo at Noordwijk, Netherlands: A wonderful space center for children

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the ESA center at Noordwijk. The biggest ESA site, namely ESTEC , is also very close to Space Expo, a great place where families can take their children to introduce them many interesting and exciting aspects of space research. My colleagues were kind enough to show me some parts of it and I was surprised by the things I have learned.

I definitely plan to take my son there, but I think I’ll have to wait a few years more.

If you are interested about similar activities for your children you should check out these, too:

• Want to continue the space adventure with your kids? Time for a visit to Cosmodrome @ Genk
• Ready for the adventure with your kids? Time for a Space Odyssey at Belgium!
• What to do with your kids on a weekend? Visit the European Astronaut Centre on German Aerospace Day

A visit to Efteling

I know it sounds cliché, but kids these days are lucky, or at least they have been since 1952, the year Efteling was opened. Yesterday we paid a short visit to this huge and wonderful theme park, which is about 90 km from Antwerp and takes 1 hour drive at most, and I was surprised to hear that it was such an old place with about 2 million m^2.

I’m not sure who had the most fun, we adults, or our 2-year-old son but one thing is certain: I want to visit Efteling again when our son will be more aware of fairy tales that are spectacularly presented there.

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