Jon Oaks

Category: Uncategorized

  • What I Learned at #BloggyCon13

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    Jon Oaks
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    This weekend I attended my first blogging conference ever: Bloggy Conference 2013. My intent for attending was as follows: I wanted to get tips for becoming a better blogger myself. I am considering having my students write blogs themselves (similar to this idea), as I truly believe that if my students write about what they…

  • Resources for Teaching Integers

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    Jon Oaks
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    I was recently contacted about whether or not I had any resources for teaching about Integers.  Of course, my answer was a resounding, “yes!”  But I was actually a little embarrassed when I had to admit to the person that I had never taken the time to organize them all into one easy-to-find place on…

  • The Mathematics of Weight Loss

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    The picture below was taken in college when I was around my heaviest weight ever of 314 lbs.  I’ve always been a big person and I there is a lot that goes into why this is the case as well.  Was it the way I was raised?  Was it genetics?  Was it just me eating…

  • Chi-Square Goodness-of-Fit Test Using TI-84+

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    Jon Oaks
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    There was some recent confusion about a problem in MyMathLab. http://content.screencast.com/users/Mallwalker52/folders/Jing/media/b6e4b7ce-ad65-424f-adae-163680259876/jingswfplayer.swf

  • Golden Ratio Calculations using TI-34Multiview

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    Jon Oaks
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    Even with a nice calculator like the TI-34Multiview, some expressions can still be tricky to enter into the calculator. http://content.screencast.com/users/Mallwalker52/folders/Jing/media/b17851b3-4550-497d-a4b7-808f14946576/jingswfplayer.swf

  • Upcoming Conferences for 2013

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    Jon Oaks
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    I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately from people about what conferences and events I’ll be attending soon. Here is a list of them for 2013 and I’ll try to update it if I know I will be attending any other events: Michigan MAA Annual Meeting Friday, May 3 – Saturday, May 4 Sault Ste.…

  • I’m Not a Lazy Teacher!

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    I recently read a blog post by a student named Justin Strudler that has me really fired up!  In his post he explains that he thinks most students would rather be sick than go to school because they hate it so much; he then implies that many people discredit this attitude as laziness on the…

  • Free PDF Conversion Online

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    Jon Oaks
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    Recently, I learned about a relatively new website that allows for free PDF Conversion Online, www.pdfconverter.com. You can convert any file to a PDF or you can convert PDF to Word, PDF to Excel, or PDF to PowerPoint. As a math instructor, I have learned to take everything with a grain of salt when it…

  • New Factor Pair Spoons Game

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    Jon Oaks
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    The Factor Pair Spoons Game is a new game that was inspired by participants in the Professional Development Series that I’m conducting every month this semester at my college.  Last month’s topic was ‘Playing Games to Learn Math’ and I asked the participants to come up with a game for a topic that they felt was a…

  • New Logarithm Mania Game

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    Jon Oaks
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    Logarithm Mania is a new game for students to practice solving logarithmic equations when the base, the argument, or the value is missing.  I have always struggled with teaching this concept because although the basic equations included in this game are easy to solve, if they are not mastered, then solving more complex logarithmic equations becomes extremely…