For the past few months, I’ve been enrolled in a number of online classes, mostly in the area of international relations, foreign policy, and diplomacy. I enrolled in the courses mostly because...well, I wasn’t doing much else with the free time that I had. One of the directions that I would like to go with the writing and blogging that I do here at Daily Kos is that I would like to write more about foreign policy issues and I really don’t have any sort of academic background in those areas.
Most of the course materials (online video lectures, course readings, etc.) were free and I initially took the courses on an “audit” status. There’s also the option of paying a reasonable fee to get course certificates upon the completion of the coursework. Upon receiving my emergency relief check courtesy of the American Rescue Plan Act and after paying some bills, I paid for a number of online courses.
I’ve now completed most of the courses that I initially signed up for and, yes, I enjoyed the courses (even though I think that I enrolled in far too many of them at one time).
So now I want to take more courses and I have begun the process of signing up. But this time, I want to take more of a mixture of courses including foreign policy courses, yes, but also stuff that...I would simply enjoy.
So...I signed up for an Introduction to Calculus class, lol.
Yes, I enjoy doing math. I always have. Some people say that I have an aptitude for the subject (which some people find strange since I’m really known as being sort of a “words” guy and reading and writing). Even though I (apparently) have the aptitude for doing math, it hasn’t been necessary for me to take math coursework, save for a statistics class I took in community college 20 years to fulfill requirements.
I did take high school math through pre-calculus but...I mean, it’s been 35 years, I know I’m more than a little rusty.
I looked at the syllabus and noted that the class begins with a pre-calculus sequence that includes material that I still remember, material that I need a bit of refresher, and stuff that I have completely forgotten (like the trigonometric ratios!).
OK, I can do this...so I signed up.
I start looking at the the first video and I see on the topic menu that there’s a practice quiz. My eyes scrolled over the list of topics and the topics were all of the stuff that I’ve retained...so I said, why not...and took the practice quiz.
After I tell you who we are and what we do here at Top Comments...well, you know where this is going, don’t you?
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10 questions, mostly arithmetic, some basic algebra, I was slightly rusty on the algebra but it came back to me quickly.
I was done with the practice quiz in about 7-9 minutes. Saved my answers. Hit “submit.”
30% on the practice quiz.
Da fuq?
I was stuck. I mean, the material was familiar. Yet the only three questions that I got correct were the algebra questions!
Probably the worst score that I have received on any math quiz or test in my life.
I felt so embarrassed and humiliated (and thankful that it was a practice test!).
After taking about 5 minutes to get over the shock, I look over the topic menu again and I see this topic called “significant figures.”
I go back, review that material in the instructor video, which was easy enough to understand.
Went back and retook the practice quiz and got 90% on the second go-around.
Mind you, I was still angry at myself about that 30% score even after retaking and passing the quiz.
And then I thought about it...I could not recall any material in any of my high school mathematics classes from 35-40 years ago that went over this concept of so-called “significant figures.”
Thanks to the GoogleBoomTube, it didn’t take long for me to discover that I was right about that.
Today many introductory textbooks include a standardized set of significant figure rules for addition and multiplication in one of the first chapters of the book.1-6 These significant figure rules, unlike previous formats, are completely uniform. This is most likely due to the standardization of the rules in 1993 by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). This standardization has not only increased the relevance of the significant figure rules, but may have also cemented their place in introductory physics textbooks.
Some years ago (2006), I temped for an education publisher in the math department working on K-6 math texts and auxiliary materials for three different types of math programs that were being tailored to meet different state standards and teaching methodologies (you ain’t gotta to tell me about the Texas textbook issues...I am all too familiar with that issue...but I digress). The department became swamped with the volume of work that needed to be completed and so one of the editors asked if I felt comfortable doing some light edits. Turned out I was pretty good at doing the edits and I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the editing process. It helped me add a credential to my resume.
I learned then that grade-school mathematics is taught in some different ways from what I was taught. Even some of the staff editors, on rare occasions, would be confused by the approach to a topic; a number of the editors (who were former teachers) did not like the way that the math was being taught and preferred older methods.
(And the demands of the various Texas school board entities drove everyone nuts!)
Remembering that experience with textbook publishing allowed me to go from being humiliated to being humbled with regard to the online practice test. I’m sure, most of what I have retained from high school mathematics will serve me well but I also need to remember that in math texts at any level, in some cases, the good ‘ol days and good ‘ol methods are gone.
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