Jim Darby

@TheMathsBazaar I'm of the opinion that a calculator is useful for the basics (think the ones usable for GCSE). Anything more and it's time for jupyter-lab, numpy, scipy, sympy and their friends. In the real world who uses such a calculator?

@AdeleBatesZ @Dorastar1 @EyesShutTeacher I actually admire the style. Yes, I know we're not *supposed* to, but underneath it all there is a tacit acknowledgement of respect and, dare I say it, *trust*.

@PeterOnion The pressure gauges are especially useful.

Does the inside of your disk drive look like this ?

@thepetitioner @Sue_Cowley Strongly agree! I got my second degree in (mostly) maths and its learning. Turns out that at degree level they don't ask you what 6×7 is! That's what I have a laptop for. For professional work I have access to a mahooosive data centre.

I have an odd thing where I can see most times tables instantly in my mind yet some are a blank that I can't overcome. 7x9 is the main one. Does anyone else get this? I'm pondering the cause.

@Sue_Cowley I volunteer in a school but work in the high-tech industry. In industry when things don't work out we talk about “root cause analysis” a formal way of saying “fix the problem, not the symptoms”. This takes time but pays off in the long term. See, e.g., en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_whys

Has anyone done any research into *why* families are deciding not to attend school? It seems to me like we need to think about causes before we can think about solutions. Punitive measures are clearly not working to reverse the trend.

@AdeleBatesZ #insultoftheweek One student to another: “You're not a real person, you're an AI bot with no personality programmed to annoy”.

@jonty It was amazing! Thank you and the many others who helped create it.

Reading the feedback is always hard, but this year that's because its all so lovely I keep getting emotional.

@emfcamp Looks like all the tee-shirts are sold out (I only just spotted this). Any chance of a second batch being released?

Two weeks until Electromagnetic Field 2024! blog.emfcamp.org/2024/05/16/tic…

@joneringram It was great to watch him work. We also had an interesting discussion as to why we need to get rid of subtraction and division as well as another about fractional roots. Good times!

#jointconf24 my second favourite thing was watching my son's progress as he systematically worked through building all the Archemedian solids with pentagons in them

@DrBradJohnson I didn't realise this was specific to teaching and thought it applied to all management roles. Turns out it does!

5 tips to reduce stress of staff. 1) if asking to meet with them, let them know why. 2) Don't address an issue you have with one person with the whole staff. 3) praise a lot more than you critique 4) Minimize meetings 5) continual encouragement and support

@AdeleBatesZ Yeap, had that one today. May I add a good night's sleep as well?

@CityJuiceBar Now, the *real* geeks amongst us will recognise that this *isn't* 8 hole ASCII but something far more exciting. What is it and what does it say?

@CityJuiceBar @CantabKitty Much envy!

@IamHappyToast After careful consideration I've decided that I will not be part of that ad revenue. Furthermore, I will no longer be part of their Prime revenue either.

@alexellisuk OK, that's a serious beast system. My guess is that it'd cost a fair amount but deliver handsomely.

Here's the output from "sensors" on a mostly idle system, including very low CPU power draw of 8W at a ~ 29C (liquid-cooled)

Mystery package was dropped off by FedEx last night. Looks space-age. What could it be?

@BenRogersEdu @OpenUniversity “You can't hold it in your head until you've held it in your hand.” We can talk about concrete and manipulatives but it's how the learned interacts with them that's the key thing. Me? I can't keep from playing with things!

@MathsWithJim @OpenUniversity That sounds very plausible. Thanks Jim

I'd add that visual aids are good, but physical experience is better. When teaching the word 'light' get pupils to physically experience various light sources (and non light sources). This bit about creativity isn't in the EEF report... I think it's just opinion?

@PeterOnion It would be running in 1900 emulation mode then.

@MathsWithJim I'm not the expert, but it makes the "orange terminal" think it's connected to the 2966 running George 3.

theregister.com/2024/01/16/ret… 😀

@greg_ashman @BenRogersEdu Aren't we heading towards Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development here? Or should I say “struggling towards”? 😁

Struggle is not productive. Intentionally causing novices to struggle with solving mathematics problems is unethical, given the predictable frustration it will cause and the likely negative effect on mathematical self-concept.