Avery Pickford. Three reasons.
- He’s a DFW-style expert, the kind of academic whose research is virally accessible to laypeople.
- He composes some relentlessly good rubrics for good math instruction.
- He commutes easily between the two warring math factions. I’m referring both to the evenhandedness of his most recent rubric and also to the grace with which he inserted himself into a debate at a recent math circle meeting concerning calculator use, the sort of debate that usually lures the blustering ideologues out of hiding but which saw the young Pickford articulating a lot of justice and respect between both sides.
5 Comments
Avery
September 20, 2010 - 5:34 pm -Shucks Dan. You made my day (and it had already been a pretty good one).
Jason Buell
September 20, 2010 - 7:57 pm -I second that. Although I still say you’re totally ruining Avery with spreading the word. Now I have to turn on him and talk about how he was “better before he sold out.”
Michael Paul Goldenberg
September 21, 2010 - 4:52 am -If no one has offered to let me sell out, does that mean I’m not all that good to begin with?
PR
September 21, 2010 - 9:58 am -Hi Dan and Avery –
I’m a Masters student in Educational Psychology and am designing a research project that will effectively test whether your hypothesis is true about ‘incomplete information’ and ‘being less helpful’. As a teacher I have used your methods with success but if there are studies done to back it up they could be influential for policy changes.
I’m currently looking at existing studies and research in this area. Has this informed your approach Dan & Avery or have you gained most of your insights from trial and error?
Thanks
Paul
Justin Lanier
September 22, 2010 - 4:15 pm -@Paul
It may be that Dan and Avery have read some existing studies, but I sure haven’t. Could you give references to ones you think are particularly valuable?
@Dan, @Avery,
Hooray!!!!