When students (and parents, and even teachers) hear they have to read Oedipus, the only thing that comes into their mind is, “ewwwwwwww…”. While that is certainly an understandable reaction given what most people know about the story, the fact is that Oedipus Rex is one of the best stories to illustrate one of the … Continue reading What We Learn When We Read Oedipus Rex
Many students hate trigonometry, and for understandable reasons. It is hard for students to figure out what triangles, sines, and cosines have to do with anything else. So we shouldn’t be too surprised when they push back a little bit on learning it. While some trigonometry has real-life usage, the most significant benefit to trig … Continue reading What We Learn When We Learn Trigonometry
Everyone, at some point in their life, will take a leadership position of some sort. Parents lead their homes and children. Rookies eventually become leaders. Even when someone is the low man on the totem pole, understanding leadership can improve their work within an organization. Additionally, many leadership skills are helpful even for managing oneself … Continue reading Leadership Training: Ownership
As humans, we naturally break things up into pieces. We separate work time and playtime. We separate reading from watching movies, and we separate art from science. These separations are good and help us make sense of the world. However, in another sense, these separations are artificial. It is good to find joy in your … Continue reading Teaching the Theological Truths at the Heart of Science
Many students (and parents) cower in fear when thinking about logarithms. However, while there are additional rules for dealing with these mathematical entities, there is nothing fundamentally different about exponentials and logarithms than there is about squaring and square roots. The problem is that most books don’t teach them well. Let’s start by looking at … Continue reading Teaching Logarithms
Nobody can deny the importance of computers in everyday life. However, many think that computer programming is a highly specialized subject that should only be taught as an elective. However, I will make the case that computer programming has a place in the core curriculum, whether or not your student plans on pursuing a technology … Continue reading What We Learn When We Learn Computer Programming
Introduction “But why do I need to learn this?” is a common refrain from students of all ages. It is frequently a struggle to answer. Other people design standard curriculums, and we follow along. This is disheartening for both the teacher and the student. “What we learn when we learn…” is a series of … Continue reading What We Learn When We Learn Chemistry
