tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post3412427062382642358..comments2024-03-19T07:30:55.288-04:00Comments on Curmudgeon: Help ! I'm confused. My math mojo is deserting me ...Curmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04323026187622872114noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-84498334865438857202009-05-28T14:30:27.897-04:002009-05-28T14:30:27.897-04:00Curmudgeon: I concur with your conclusion. In 199...Curmudgeon: I concur with your conclusion. In 1998, when my daughter was in 5th grade, I sat through a presentation by an elementary school teacher who was describing the new approach to teaching 5th- and 6th-grade math. Emphasis was to be on "higher order thinking skills", rather than rote memorization of facts. I recall the teacher saying that it was unnecessary to remember "facts", such as that "the formula for area is pi times the diameter - or something like that". And it struck me that anybody who actually understood the geometry would not have made that mistake. So, when I have worked with my kids I have taken pains to make sure that they knew the difference between linear measure, area, and volume ... and that the little exponent after the unit really does have meaning!PeggyUnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-52435192849114267592009-05-28T10:31:59.317-04:002009-05-28T10:31:59.317-04:00I'm making fun of the scientifically clueless writ...I'm making fun of the scientifically clueless writer, editor, artist, and webmaster, you moron. At least one of these should have noticed the units error. It got repeated quite a few times but was used properly in the text, but was used incorrectly in the drawing and the caption.<br /><br />"We understand there may be some confusion." Horse manure. You're confused, not me.<br /><br />The thing that I laughed at most was the interesting lack of understanding of numbers. <br />Cafeteria Tray 33,800 <br /> vs "a horrifying 7,440 bacteria per inch!" in the sand box.<br /><br />Probably an elementary school teacher masquerading as NSF.Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04323026187622872114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-61770063192614692092009-05-26T16:01:17.546-04:002009-05-26T16:01:17.546-04:00We understand that there may be some confusion abo...We understand that there may be some confusion about the units used to report the findings of this study. Please visit, http://www.scrubclub.org/info/topten.aspx to see the actual study. NSF International's Microbiologists conducted this study in 2005 and posted the results in Total Aerobic Bacteria per Square Inch (Colony Forming Units (CFU/in2)).NSF Internationalhttp://www.nsf.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-41681928301048796952009-05-22T13:39:16.193-04:002009-05-22T13:39:16.193-04:00You've got it all wrong! In order to count the ge...You've got it all wrong! In order to count the germs, they have to line them up first! ;) That's why it takes so much time and money to conduct these studies, you know.PeggyUnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-42015329016323245942009-05-21T14:43:32.986-04:002009-05-21T14:43:32.986-04:00Sheesh, You hit it on the head. We are so sloppy a...Sheesh, You hit it on the head. We are so sloppy about math, most kids think "what's the use?!" <br />It's not your math mojo that's deserting you, obviously. Maybe the goofballs who wrote the report live in "Flatland."<br />- Brian (a.k.a. Professor Homunculus at MathMojo.com )Brianhttp://mathmojo.com/chroniclesnoreply@blogger.com