Learning in the 21st Century

  Introduction  As the results of the phase three trials for the first successful vaccines against the coronavirus are released, my mind couldn't help but gravitate towards the mathematical nature of the results revealing process. The idea of designing a trial to test for the efficacy and safety of a vaccine is inherently mathematical in nature. I began to ask myself what are the sort of ways that I could use this situation to teach mathematics to my students and get them more interested in the mathematical content and the theory behind this type of situation. The most obvious tie up is in the area of data and probability and understanding how scientists leverage established knowledge in this area, to design effective vaccine trials. Here are a list of articles I found and some questions I thought of, that may be of use if I was to develop this idea further. Please feel free to add your comments below if you have some ideas for questions you could add, as this was just a quick 20 m

  Overview  These are some recent interesting online resources that I have identified that could be used to create authentic learning experiences for mathematics students and improve their general quantitative literacy. 1) Present Value of Cash Flows   2) Data Grapher: GR3 - GR8 3) Math Apprentice   4) Virtual Manipulatives   5) Investopedia 6) Numbeo - Cost of Living   7) Teaching Mathematics using Tennis   8) Validating Questionnares 9) Tinkercad 10) Maths made Magic  

Image Credit Follow on  In the previous post ( link to part 1 )  I discussed the basic mathematical  ideas to have in mind when thinking about purchasing a car. I had decided I would look at cars in the range of 80 - 100 000 rand and I wanted to buy a used car because of the better value offered. The videos in post 1, suggest cars around the range of 2 - 4 years old, as they offer the best trade off between future maintenance costs and depreciation on the purchase price after you have bought it. I agree with the facts laid out and will probably look for something in the 3 to 4 year old range. However I still need to check to see if the same patterns on maintenance costs and depreciation are also true in the South African context.  This points to our next step in our search. How do we get accurate information relevant to the SA context to see if these ideas mentioned are true and so allow me to get closer to my ultimate goal, buying a car. I am going to start with an internet search to