One for Halloween, could be useful for Biology,Maths or media analysis in English. It might even be an example of using maths across the curriculum. My Principles group struggled to find examples of how English teachers could model positive maths behaviour.
A researcher has come up with some simple math that sucks the life out of the vampire myth, proving that these highly popular creatures can't exist.http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20061025/sc_space/vampiresamathematicalimpossibilityscientistsays
I intend to record my reflections on teaching experience when i get back to school next week. In the mean time i'm playing with blogging to see what can be done. I like the idea of a class blog or website for each of my classes, so absent students could find out what they've missed, the kids could showcase their work and insert links to useful sites for homework. We could even put the class rules and consequences on it. Parents and other teachers could see what the kids are up to in English. Do you think his is impossibly idealistic? Many of them won't have a computer at home but they can access them in the library or at school. Is it a realistic idea? I'm going to have to become a lot more computer literate to stand a chance of making this happen in school.
A researcher has come up with some simple math that sucks the life out of the vampire myth, proving that these highly popular creatures can't exist.http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20061025/sc_space/vampiresamathematicalimpossibilityscientistsays
I intend to record my reflections on teaching experience when i get back to school next week. In the mean time i'm playing with blogging to see what can be done. I like the idea of a class blog or website for each of my classes, so absent students could find out what they've missed, the kids could showcase their work and insert links to useful sites for homework. We could even put the class rules and consequences on it. Parents and other teachers could see what the kids are up to in English. Do you think his is impossibly idealistic? Many of them won't have a computer at home but they can access them in the library or at school. Is it a realistic idea? I'm going to have to become a lot more computer literate to stand a chance of making this happen in school.
posted by willieloman at 7:44 pm
3 Comments:
TallulaFred allerted me to this. I don't know why it annoyed me - it just did.
We all know that Vampires don't exist but that's no reason to dole out a load of shoddy mathematical calculations based on even shoddier logical leaps to prove the point.
It may be worth pointing out from the outset that I am not a mathematician but even I can see some problems with the assumption on which the vampire equations are based.
Firstly, legends about Vampires - widespread thoughthey are - reach no consensus about victims turning into a Vampire once bitten.
Secondly, i'd really like to know how an accurate census of the world's population in 1600 is available when the USA can't even provide an accurate census of it's population in 2006.
Thirdly (neatly sidestepping - as the report does - the issue of exactly how the first Vampire came into existence), who's to say that a Vampire bites one person a day and that they have a 100% infection/conversion rate. To establish these 'facts', one would have to have access to a real life Vampire to study. That would tend to damage the whole 'Vampires are a mathematical impossibilty' arguement, wouldn't it?
Lastly - this is hardly new research and variations on this 'finite vampire food supply' story has, in fact, been around since at least the early 1990s and tends to be trotted out every halloween.
Taking all of these factors into account doesn't prove vampires are an impossibility - it just proves that blind faith in poorly applied number-crunching is almost as dangerous (and psuedoscientific) as the superstitions that the story seems intent on eradicating.
Arrrrghhhh...imagine how annoyed I would be if this was about anything that actually mattered...
hello,
Georgeous Geek,
Thought that would get you!Could use your arguments to show pupils that just because information is in a "scientific" publication it doesn't mean it can't be disputed so long as one gives a questions and refutes. This could make a great subject for group discussion-we were learning about that yesteday.Can I use your posting as well as the article to as a model for the kids?
So-called gorgeous geek here:
Ah - it seems that I fell into your Vampire-scented honey trap!
You're very welcome to use my posting in any way you wish (Please put on your English Teaching hat in order to correct my appalling syntax and spelling first).
Fame at last!
I realise that it will be kind of fame that may lead people to avoid me in the street but my therapist tells me this is the best I can hope for anyway.
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