Alice in Wonderland and Math(?!)

I came across a book called "The Universe in a Handkerchief" the other day. This book is about the works of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, whom it turns out was a math instructor and loved math puzzles including logic paradoxes and word play among other things. (Where have I been?) I am fascinated so far at all the layers of humor and complexity included in the Alice in Wonderland books. There is much more there than the casual reader may realize. Many teachers have used the Alice stories to teach language arts, but it appears there's plenty there to teach some critical thinking, logic, and possibly even some math. Can't wait to read some more.

Memorizing Stuff

With all of the talk about getting away from rote learning, one might get the idea it's bad for students, though it does have its place. Rote is boring, does not engage, and doesn't teach students how to use the information or why they need to know it. That's just part of the story. Knowing one's multiplication tables (math facts, automaticity, . . .) is very important to getting basic math problems solved quickly. In checkout lines at stores I ask my children to figure out how much change we should get before it comes up on the cash register. I may be dating myself but I remember when cashiers were expected to figure out correct change in their heads. Just because a computer figures out your change, doesn't mean it will be counted correctly or was even entered correctly in the register (one reason I only use bills when paying cash). How does one learn math facts without dying of boredom? Play games that require mental math. Time yourself when using flash cards, maybe make it a competition between friends or family, try to best your previous times – this way you're only using the cards for a few minutes at a time. Use play, or real, money to practice making change, experimenting with the relationship between percentages and fractions (why is a quarter called a quarter?). Spelling, one of my least favorite things when I was in school became less burdensome when I started pronouncing words phonetically. For example I had the hardest time remembering how to spell friend until I started saying fry-end in my head. It's can be fun for some people to make up poems or songs to remember things. If you have any poems or songs that have helped you remember something, let me know.