Site swap mathematics

The opening this term was altered to focus on laboratories rather than the math stack. 

This allowed me to better juxtapose the uselessness of quadratic equations for my non-science major students with the usefulness in describing acceleration. Mathematics has a use but much of what we teach students has no use in their lives. Not until their own children come home from high school and say, "Mom, I know you went to college. Can you help me with my algebra homework?" If useless mathematics is what is being taught - never mind the contrived "real world" and "application" problems in textbooks - what does it matter which form of useless mathematics is taught? Might as well teach the students site swap notation. Will they ever need to use site swap notation? No. But the same can be said of the quadratic formula, especially for students who are business, elementary education, and social science majors. 


Then I introduced site swap in the abstract. I then ask student was comes next. Students always correctly infer the correct letter, L or R, and the correct color. As a distractor I refer to the colors as the primary colors of light: red, green, and blue. 


Here students have already been queried about what comes next in the pattern. I explain that the "mathematics" in site swap notation is the numbers of sites (the dashes) until a color recurs. The word "swap" refers to switching the order of the colors between two sites. 


Then the concept of swapping was introduced on a third line. Quizzing the students yielded correct answers. Student learning outcomes have been achieved. And no one understands anything. This is the problem with student learning outcomes as a measure of learning: the thing may be a delusion. A self-contained meaningless system. My students can/could factor quadratic equations, but this ability is meaningless to them, in their lives. As is site swap mathematics. Why teach one useless over another? 


Jazzlyn multiplexing four balls. The women of Woleai appear to pass this skill down as only Woleaian women have displayed four ball multiplexing. 

Jasen

Mahea

Mandalee on a 31

Lomalinda, 40 dapadap, Margarette watching.

Brenda throwing a high three

Mesenda with a 31


In the 11:00 session I went ahead and labeled the dashes as "sites" from the get go. I had erased the diagrams from the morning session and started from scratch: seeing the diagram develop seems to me to be important. 



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