Monday, November 23, 2009

A New Quadrivium

Calling it that ("a new quadrivium") is somewhat cheeky, which could backfire, however, be that as it may, I do have this cool new "math tetrahedron" developing along four inter-related tracks:
None of these are especially new themes with me. What's new is getting a fused package committed to Wikieducator.

In combination, this four-fold approach might be adjudged to contain sufficient discrete math content as to qualify as a four year track through some arbitrary high school, and/or might be notched up for college, refresher courses for working pros.

Given the high technology angle, these could likewise become comfortably familiar vehicles for introducing new skill sets around the latest cool new tool suites, many of them free and open source.

Today's web framework may not be quite like tomorrow's, yet "supermarket math" will likely remain a viable delineation of connected topics, likewise the other three.

Having one of the modules be named Casino Math is a PR risk, and the teacher notes are full of caveats and disclaimers. Martian Math is probably less controversial.

In both cases (Casino and Martian), we aim to avoid being too prosaic and dull, an important feature where math is concerned, considered a dreary subject by many a world weary student.