Friday, July 3, 2009

Five for Friday: Independence Day Edition

For those wondering, I arrived safely in the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday and have been trying to settle in over the past few days. It's going to take some time to get everything in order. Despite the craziness, I still have five great links for you to check out:
  1. Study: Bigger Class Sizes = Less Motivated Students [via Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day] - I'd like to see a companion study about the effects on teachers.
  2. Math Teachers At Play #10 - The leading question in the latest edition of this blog carnival is one I've been thinking about myself: "What's a math teacher going to do with Wolfram|Alpha?"
  3. Teacher Burnout: 20 Insights From a 17-Year Veteran Teacher on the Brink of Burnout [from So You Want To Teach?] - Joel shares some advice on another topic that's been on my mind recently in response to this earlier post.
  4. Scientists Use Sudoku Logic to Improve DNA Sequencing [from Be Aware Math is Everywhere!] - This reminds me of the important scientific progress being made through the game Foldit, which uses human's superior problem solving skills to make breakthroughs at a pace even the most powerful computers can't keep up with.
  5. Stay Away From The Nigerian Tutoring Scam [from Consumerist] - If you're a teacher or college student looking for summer or part-time work as a tutor, especially on a site like Craigslist, be wary of scams like this one. If you're supicious, you can often type in a phrase or name from the post or email in question into Google with an additional term like scam, ripoff or fraud to see if there are any warnings out there already.
As always, share your thoughts on these five links and any must-reads of your own in the comments.