Marilyn Burns
@mburnsmath.bsky.social
I began as a high school math teacher, moved to middle school, and then to elementary school to learn about how young children make sense of math. I love thinking about how to uncover math for kids. I blog about lessons I teach at www.marilynburnsmath.com.
Reposted by Marilyn Burns
New Blog Post:
Culture & Identity in the Math Classroom
How do elements of the culture students bring into the classroom interact with the classroom culture we create? What does it mean to shift or honor them?
Culture & Identity in the Math Classroom
How do elements of the culture students bring into the classroom interact with the classroom culture we create? What does it mean to shift or honor them?
Culture & Identity in the Math Classroom
How do elements of the culture students bring into the classroom interact with the classroom culture we create? What does it mean to shift or honor them? Earlier this week, I watched the first session in TERC's Forum for Equity in Elementary Mathematics series '25-'26. Dr. Pam Seda spoke about "Culturally Relevant Math Tasks: When What You Teach Connects to Who They Are."
jennalaib.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:20 PM
New Blog Post:
Culture & Identity in the Math Classroom
How do elements of the culture students bring into the classroom interact with the classroom culture we create? What does it mean to shift or honor them?
Culture & Identity in the Math Classroom
How do elements of the culture students bring into the classroom interact with the classroom culture we create? What does it mean to shift or honor them?
I loved this article. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/s...
Where You See a Fancy Fish, Engineers See Alan Turing’s Math
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:14 PM
I loved this article. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/s...
I'm looking forward to being one of the presenters at TERC's Speaker Series and also hearing from the other speakers.
www.terc.edu/mathequityfo...
www.terc.edu/mathequityfo...
Speaker Series 2025–2026
Knowing Our Students: Fostering Equitable Math Learning Communities The 2025-2026 Series focuses on the importance of knowing students as math learners and as learners with diverse backgrounds, exper...
www.terc.edu
November 5, 2025 at 5:19 AM
I'm looking forward to being one of the presenters at TERC's Speaker Series and also hearing from the other speakers.
www.terc.edu/mathequityfo...
www.terc.edu/mathequityfo...
Hah! And here's one a student told me: "Going fishing, got no bait, 6 times 8 is 48." But when I asked him to use that to figure out 6 times 9 (which he didn't know), he wasn't able to do it. I had our work cut out for us.
Hehehe, it goes, "I ate and ate until I was sick on the floor"
8, 8's are sixty-four
Works for the 9-10 year olds who hadn't yet got it to stick 👍
8, 8's are sixty-four
Works for the 9-10 year olds who hadn't yet got it to stick 👍
November 1, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Hah! And here's one a student told me: "Going fishing, got no bait, 6 times 8 is 48." But when I asked him to use that to figure out 6 times 9 (which he didn't know), he wasn't able to do it. I had our work cut out for us.
Math and Art. I love it. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/s...
Every Artist Has a Favorite Subject. For Some, That’s Math.
www.nytimes.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Math and Art. I love it. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/s...
From this morning's NY Times -- Barcelona Is Made of Math www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Barcelona Is Made of Math
A virtual tour of the architecture in a city where mathematics and exploration meet.
www.nytimes.com
September 30, 2025 at 12:48 PM
From this morning's NY Times -- Barcelona Is Made of Math www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Tomorrow is the day for my webinar. 2:30 Pacific time. 5:30 on the east coast. Hope you join.
I'm excited to present a free webinar on September 30. Register here: heinemann.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
September 29, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Tomorrow is the day for my webinar. 2:30 Pacific time. 5:30 on the east coast. Hope you join.
I'm excited to present a free webinar on September 30. Register here: heinemann.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
September 23, 2025 at 10:07 PM
I'm excited to present a free webinar on September 30. Register here: heinemann.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
A screen shot from a new sitcom, The Paper. I wrote Math for Smarty Pants in 1982! How did it get here?
September 10, 2025 at 12:55 PM
A screen shot from a new sitcom, The Paper. I wrote Math for Smarty Pants in 1982! How did it get here?
I never heard before about "highly composite" or "highly abundant" numbers. I learned about them from Cambridge Mathematics. createsend.com/t/y-2916A5BF...
Sip & Snack - Issue 60
createsend.com
August 29, 2025 at 2:02 PM
I never heard before about "highly composite" or "highly abundant" numbers. I learned about them from Cambridge Mathematics. createsend.com/t/y-2916A5BF...
I picked bush beans this morning from our garden. No, I didn't count, but I confess that I was tempted. Will they serve 4 at dinner tonight?
August 25, 2025 at 3:45 PM
I picked bush beans this morning from our garden. No, I didn't count, but I confess that I was tempted. Will they serve 4 at dinner tonight?
Why am I confused by this sign?
August 11, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Why am I confused by this sign?
Reposted by Marilyn Burns
Wrote a post about pedagogy for all the math freaks out there. pershmail.substack.com/p/practice-s...
Practice Software is Struggling
Why whole-group teaching is easier than individual practice
pershmail.substack.com
August 11, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Wrote a post about pedagogy for all the math freaks out there. pershmail.substack.com/p/practice-s...
I was teaching 8th grade math when Tom Lehrer released the album with New Math. I played the song at back-to-school night. (I was required to teach new math with the SMSG materials.)Tom Lehrer was a wonder.
My dad got this album back then. Never realized Lehrer was a Mathematician. So now this makes sense
open.spotify.com/track/2fglPL...
open.spotify.com/track/2fglPL...
New Math
Tom Lehrer · That Was the Year That Was · Song · 1965
open.spotify.com
July 28, 2025 at 10:39 AM
I was teaching 8th grade math when Tom Lehrer released the album with New Math. I played the song at back-to-school night. (I was required to teach new math with the SMSG materials.)Tom Lehrer was a wonder.
I loved this!
I really hope people enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's a retellilng of the battle between Tartaglia and Cardano over the cubic.
pershmail.substack.com/p/who-gets-c...
pershmail.substack.com/p/who-gets-c...
Who Gets Credit For Great Ideas?
A famous mathematical controversy, with notes at the end
pershmail.substack.com
July 23, 2025 at 12:08 PM
I loved this!
I read The Way It Spozed to Be by James Herndon in the 1960s as a beginning teacher and it spoke to me then. I haven't reread it. Then The Having of Wonderful Ideas by Eleanor Duckworth, which I've gifted to new teachers and which I've revisited over the years.
July 23, 2025 at 10:32 AM
I read The Way It Spozed to Be by James Herndon in the 1960s as a beginning teacher and it spoke to me then. I haven't reread it. Then The Having of Wonderful Ideas by Eleanor Duckworth, which I've gifted to new teachers and which I've revisited over the years.
Oooh, I liked this string about squares and rectangles. Some new ideas for me.
If you had to define a quantity to represent how far away from or how close to being square a rectangle was, what would you choose?
July 10, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Oooh, I liked this string about squares and rectangles. Some new ideas for me.
This reminds me of what I learned from my undergraduate advisor Bob Davis. He said that a student's wrong answer is the right answer to a different question. My job is to uncover that other question and move from there.
It's on my mind because a colleage at another uni was moaning the other day about how maths courses have been "dumbed down" over the years. Even if you think this is true, your STUDENTS aren't dumb. The maths you think is dumber is still advanced to them.
June 14, 2025 at 1:02 PM
This reminds me of what I learned from my undergraduate advisor Bob Davis. He said that a student's wrong answer is the right answer to a different question. My job is to uncover that other question and move from there.
Reposted by Marilyn Burns
I really appreciated the openness and civility of this exploration of differing perspectives of the ‘science’ of mathematics. A good listen.
The new episode features my conversations about the #ScienceOfMath with @sarahpowellphd.bsky.social and with @mathematize4all.bsky.social. I'm thankful to both of them for sharing their perspectives.
#MathEd #MathEdResearch
www.podomatic.com/podcasts/mat...
#MathEd #MathEdResearch
www.podomatic.com/podcasts/mat...
Discussing the Science of Math - Sarah Powell and Rachel Lambert
In this episode, Sam is joined by two separate guests. Sarah Powell (University of Texas) describes the origins and aims of the Science of Math efforts, and Rachel Lambert (University of California, S...
www.podomatic.com
May 30, 2025 at 8:56 AM
I really appreciated the openness and civility of this exploration of differing perspectives of the ‘science’ of mathematics. A good listen.
Thanks. Yup, a typo for pronic. I also checked Wikipedia. Sometimes automatic spell check is really annoying.
Pronic (not phonic) - maybe a typo? See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronic_...
Pronic number - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
May 22, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Thanks. Yup, a typo for pronic. I also checked Wikipedia. Sometimes automatic spell check is really annoying.
Zero is a phonic number? I'd never heard of phonics numbers. Cool.
Zero
Zero is an even number as it is divisible by 2 with no remainder.
🔗 blogenigmath.wordpress.com/2025/01/04/z...
#enigmath #math #number
Zero is an even number as it is divisible by 2 with no remainder.
🔗 blogenigmath.wordpress.com/2025/01/04/z...
#enigmath #math #number
May 21, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Zero is a phonic number? I'd never heard of phonics numbers. Cool.
Thanks, @mpershan.bsky.social, for this quote and your blog. And thanks, @larryferlazzo.bsky.social, for hosting and posting.
AI Tutors Can Be Both a Help and a Hindrance in the Classroom, Explain Teachers with @mpershan.bsky.social is new @edweek.bsky.social post www.edweek.org/technology/o...
AI Tutors Can Be Both a Help and a Hindrance in the Classroom, Explain Teachers (Opinion)
Chatbots are no silver bullet, and there's much to caution about them, but they do offer some promise.
www.edweek.org
May 9, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Thanks, @mpershan.bsky.social, for this quote and your blog. And thanks, @larryferlazzo.bsky.social, for hosting and posting.
How did I get this far without ever learning about semiregular tilings? Cool. polytope.miraheze.org/wiki/List_of...
May 5, 2025 at 6:17 PM
How did I get this far without ever learning about semiregular tilings? Cool. polytope.miraheze.org/wiki/List_of...