Fail Forward: Students' Mistakes as Teachable Moments

Mistakes, misguided moments, and manslaughter.

Snapshot: Logo Vignettes: Early Teachable Moments

In this snapshot, Wally Feurzeig, one of the originators of Logo, and an innovative designer of mathematics education learning environments, recalls some compelling vignettes from the early history of Logo (including activities with the first Logo-controlled wireless turtle), with children ranging in age from pre-schoolers to fifth-graders. Wally passed away this past year. Wally was a long-tim...

The Anywhere Museum : Genres of Teachable Moments

A great teacher perceives and utilizes teachable moments in the classroom, that is, moments in which classroom activities, attention, and conversation come together to create an opportunity for conceptual change. The Anywhere Museum implements the teachable moment in the environment as an instrument that provokes and yet has the proper content to support inquiry. We enumerate the socio-technica...

Why students fail calculus

Received doctrine that permeates the literature and practice of K-12 mathematics education, if implemented uncritically, will obstruct the development of skills that are critical for the study of calculus. Two false dichotomies are of principle concern : • Blind rote is always bad and leads to error, whereas thinking about what you are doing is always good and leads to success • Solving problem...

College Students, Piracy, and Ethics: Is there a Teachable Moment?

This study explores the nature of piracy prevention tools used by IT departments in the Florida State University System to determine their relative effectiveness. The study also examines the opinions of the Information Security Officer in terms of alternative piracy prevention techniques that do not involve legal action and monitoring. It was found that most institutions do not use a formal pie...