Concept-Based Grading

I'm trying a new (to me) grading scheme in all of my classes this semester. Concept-based grading. The short summary of the scheme is this: traditional grading schemes have grades given per item turned in, and each item may cover 1-to-several concepts. Then the items are categorized, and each category is given some weight. For example, a typical grading breakdown for my courses in the past might look something like

10% Quizzes

10% Homework

60% Exams (4 exams at 15% each)

20% Final Exam

Concept-based grading, on the other hand, has the entire course content broken into individual concepts that need to be mastered. Each concept is tested, frequently, and new scores replace old scores rather than averaging in. Here's Dan Meyer's blog post about it, for more extensive reference.

Brain Plasticity and Mindset in College Math Education

The world of math education is, these days, exciting, vibrant, and varied. I’m constantly finding wonderful new materials to use, new research to share, and new discussions to engage in.

One of my (many) struggles is this: so much of the research, and so many of the materials, are centered around K-12 students. I teach community college. My students are adults, some of them are well beyond their 20’s, and I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that none of them appreciate being treated as if they are 12. However, most of the materials and the research around K-12 math education (including some from middle school, and even elementary school) are relevant to these adult students, so I use them in my classroom. I spend a lot of time re-creating materials, not only to adapt them to my personal styles and curriculum, but often just to remove age branding. This week I’ve been using materials from the youcubed.org Week of iMath, and I didn’t have time to recreate all of the materials, so I used a pencil to scratch out “Grades 5-9” from the logo before making copies. 

An Analysis of Insulated Mugs

Note: This is not a math teacher post.

I love good design. 

While I don't obsess about everything, every once in a while I will obsess about the design of certain objects. In the past few years I have become (only mildly) preoccupied by the design of insulated mugs. In my mind, a perfect insulated mug will

• be a good size to hold and drink from when full
• be leak-proof
• have a top latch that is operable with one hand
• be easy to clean
• keep liquids at their original temperature for a long long time

I've analyzed four insulated mugs in order to compare them. These are pretty much the only insulated mugs I've used, chosen based on good Amazon reviews, availability in local stores, and in one case, being on an Amazon flash sale while also looking suspiciously like my favorite mug. See if you can guess which is which.