Posts

Showing posts from 2019

Slice of advice 2019: What I have learned this year

Image
I've been asked again this year to contribute to Craig Barton's end of year podcast: Slice of advice - what have I learned this year:  http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/slice-of-advice-2019-what-did-you-learn-this-year/ The main thing that I've learned this year is how few teachers are familiar with Richard Skemp's ideas on instrumental versus relational understanding. I meet a lot of teachers in my job and I will often have only one or two teachers in the room who have read it. These ideas have been fundamental to my development as a mathematics educator and I see it as the key concept that is most illuminating when considering ideas about teaching and learning in maths. It is also one of the main reasons why I am so passionate about the use of technology in maths. Instrumental versus relational understanding Skemp published his ideas in the 1970s but they are still available via the ATM website at:  https://www.atm.org.uk/write/MediaUploads/Resources/Richard_Sk

Masters assignment: Using Dynamic Geometry/Graphing software to set students open-ended mathematics investigations

In 2011 I completed an MA in ICT and Education through the University of Leeds. My critical study was on "Using Dynamic Geometry/Graphing software to set students open-ended mathematics investigations". It can be downloaded from:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pgFvIjkuEQRpzUm4uJ_KZ1mnql6UZfJ9/view?usp=sharing

Neverware CloudReady: turning old laptops into Chromebooks

Image
Over the past week I've been exploring CloudReady from Neverware. The idea behind it is that it takes an old laptop and effectively converts it into a Chromebook. I took an old Windows laptop (I'm not sure of the exact age but I think it was about 10 years old). It was running so slowly that it was practically unusable. I replaced it with their operating system, which is based on the Chromium OS, to turn it into a Chromebook. The process was pretty straightforward - it required me to make an installer on a USB stick and then I ran the installation. Overall it took less than an hour but it would be quicker if I were to repeat it. It was a full replacement of the OS, but given that the laptop was destined to be disposed of, this wasn't a problem. I've now got a fully working Chromebook and I'm really impressed with it. It runs really quickly - the browser is at least as fast as my current Windows laptop and I can watch/stream videos on it clearly. You can see a pi