Asilomar Conference Recap(s) 2012

Spent last weekend at the California Math Council North conference (#cmcmath) in Pacific Grove, CA. 'Tis a beautiful spot, even though it was raining the whole weekend this year. The one upside to rain, though, is that it made for an excuse to splurge on the quite pricy entrance fee to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

At the CMC-South (the Palm Springs equivalent) conference in November, Dan Meyer and I lamented the fact that it was impossible to see every good workshop and talked about creating a site to recap sessions (it was actually all Dan's idea but I take credit for my supportive listening). No surprise, Dan had a site up within a week: mathrecap.com. 

The number of session recaps are growing, and I especially recommend Dan's recap of the Friday keynote speaker, Kyndall Brown.

So far, I've written one recap of my own.

[Amy Ellis] Laying a Foundation for Learning to Prove

By Avery Pickford | Published December 7, 2012

It’s hard not to enjoy sessions when you’re already drinking the kool-aid. That said, Amy Ellis did a fantastic job of balancing research and practice around laying a foundation for proof well before Geometry class (on a side note, I still hope to lead a session called “Proof Doesn’t Start in Geometry” at some point in the future). She gave a convincing argument for the importance of introducing the idea of proof in early elementary school, and more importantly discussed structures and cultures that promote proof at any age. [Read the entire recap here]

My big take away: don’t fall into the trap that proof must require algebra, two columns, and/or a less eloquent rehash of Euclid.

Henri Picciotto was also kind enough to write not just one, but two recaps of my session on student posed problems. Part one is more of a recap, while part two addresses (or at least states) some of the challenges of implementation.