Alayne Armstrong
@armstrg.bsky.social
She/her. Associate professor, Mathematics Education, University of Regina, Canada. I enjoy a good cookie. Posts = interesting.
Reposted by Alayne Armstrong
The name "Popular Science" doesn't mean we shift our coverage depending on public opinion. It means we cover relevant subjects that are rigorously researched, reliable, and grounded in reality.
And trans lives are grounded in reality.
We see y'all. No matter what.
www.popsci.com/science/tran...
And trans lives are grounded in reality.
We see y'all. No matter what.
www.popsci.com/science/tran...
First-of-a-kind study shows encouraging data for trans kids who socially transition
Ninety-four percent of participants in a new study stood firm in their trans identity after five years, and "detransitioning" is rare.
www.popsci.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:16 PM
The name "Popular Science" doesn't mean we shift our coverage depending on public opinion. It means we cover relevant subjects that are rigorously researched, reliable, and grounded in reality.
And trans lives are grounded in reality.
We see y'all. No matter what.
www.popsci.com/science/tran...
And trans lives are grounded in reality.
We see y'all. No matter what.
www.popsci.com/science/tran...
Reposted by Alayne Armstrong
January 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Alayne Armstrong
There's a great article out about how Indigenous students often struggle in STEM/STEMM spaces due to a lack of available mentoring and institutional barriers:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
“We constantly have to navigate”: Indigenous students’ and professionals’ strategies for navigating ethical conflicts in STEMM - Cultural Studies of Science Education
This paper reports on a research project that explored ethical, cultural, and/or spiritual conflicts and the various strategies used to navigate the conflicts among over 400 Indigenous students and pr...
link.springer.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:47 PM
There's a great article out about how Indigenous students often struggle in STEM/STEMM spaces due to a lack of available mentoring and institutional barriers:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Alayne Armstrong
The mathematician David Bessis believes that mathematical skill is not innate, but learned. “Genius is not an essence. It’s a state. It’s a state that you build by doing a certain job.”
Mathematical Thinking Isn’t What You Think It Is | Quanta Magazine
The mathematician David Bessis claims that everyone is capable of, and can benefit greatly from, mathematical thinking.
www.quantamagazine.org
November 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
The mathematician David Bessis believes that mathematical skill is not innate, but learned. “Genius is not an essence. It’s a state. It’s a state that you build by doing a certain job.”
Reposted by Alayne Armstrong
Yes kids, there used to be giant teaching slide rules in classrooms, mounted above the chalkboard or on walls. They hung on for awhile as relicts, like pull-down wall maps, then overhead projectors, and eventually the chalkboards themselves. Midcentury megafauna.
November 22, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Yes kids, there used to be giant teaching slide rules in classrooms, mounted above the chalkboard or on walls. They hung on for awhile as relicts, like pull-down wall maps, then overhead projectors, and eventually the chalkboards themselves. Midcentury megafauna.
STEM math night -
UH Mānoa math students spark STEM excitement at Pearl City Elementary | University of Hawaiʻi System News
The activities were designed to make math and science concepts approachable and fun for keiki and their ʻohana.
www.hawaii.edu
October 22, 2025 at 5:53 PM
STEM math night -
When applied math helps elephants -
How a UTC mathematician is helping elephants find their way home | UTC News
Dr. Lakmali Weerasena, an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, spent her professional development leave designing elephant corridors in…
blog.utc.edu
October 20, 2025 at 5:53 PM
When applied math helps elephants -
Take care of your voice. theconversation.com/how-voice-tr...
How voice training can help teachers improve wellbeing in the classroom
Teachers can create supportive, optimal learning environments through a nuanced use of voice in the classroom.
theconversation.com
October 19, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Take care of your voice. theconversation.com/how-voice-tr...
Reposted by Alayne Armstrong
Today is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and so in the blog I join forces with my colleague Mark Solomon to talk about how universities and colleges are doing with respect to TRC. It's a mixed picture.
Truth and Reconciliation, Ten Years On | HESA
Today is September 30th, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. It has been just over ten … Continued
higheredstrategy.com
September 30, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Today is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and so in the blog I join forces with my colleague Mark Solomon to talk about how universities and colleges are doing with respect to TRC. It's a mixed picture.
Reposted by Alayne Armstrong
A TRC Day listicle for CBC. Enough books here to keep you going through the winter.
"These books helped me understand the willfulness of that not knowing and peoples' willingness to believe other stories about those schools."
www.cbc.ca/books/patty-...
"These books helped me understand the willfulness of that not knowing and peoples' willingness to believe other stories about those schools."
www.cbc.ca/books/patty-...
Patty Krawec's 'must-read' books to reflect on the Indigenous experience in North America | CBC Books
Sept. 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. The Anishinaabe Ukrainian author and activist recommends 18 titles to read today and beyond.
www.cbc.ca
September 30, 2025 at 12:14 PM
A TRC Day listicle for CBC. Enough books here to keep you going through the winter.
"These books helped me understand the willfulness of that not knowing and peoples' willingness to believe other stories about those schools."
www.cbc.ca/books/patty-...
"These books helped me understand the willfulness of that not knowing and peoples' willingness to believe other stories about those schools."
www.cbc.ca/books/patty-...
Reposted by Alayne Armstrong
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
September 8, 2025 at 9:06 PM
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
Grounding Math Lessons in Picture Books
Grounding Math Lessons in Picture Books
Starting lessons with a read-aloud can boost engagement and inspire students to make personal connections to math concepts.
www.edutopia.org
September 1, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Grounding Math Lessons in Picture Books
Busy beaver numbers -
Busy Beaver Hunters Reach Numbers That Overwhelm Ordinary Math | Quanta Magazine
The quest to find the longest-running simple computer program has identified a new champion. It’s physically impossible to write out the numbers involved using standard mathematical notation.
www.quantamagazine.org
August 30, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Busy beaver numbers -
Aha moments for mathematicians -
Maths ‘aha!’ moments can be predicted before they happen
Researchers developed a model that predicts when mathematicians are on the cusp of a breakthrough, something not even they are capable of.
cosmosmagazine.com
August 29, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Aha moments for mathematicians -
The poetry of ancient math - www.msn.com/en-us/news/w...
August 28, 2025 at 8:33 PM
The poetry of ancient math - www.msn.com/en-us/news/w...
How should we teach math?
How Should We Teach Math? General and Special Ed. Researchers Don't Agree
The divide makes it less likely that students who struggle will get access to proven strategies, researchers argue in a new study.
www.edweek.org
August 27, 2025 at 8:33 PM
How should we teach math?
Apparently Venus Fly Traps can count -
This mutant Venus flytrap mysteriously lost its ability to “count”
The mutant can no longer decode calcium signature that causes trap to shut quickly.
arstechnica.com
August 26, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Apparently Venus Fly Traps can count -
The mathematics of “are we there yet?”
The mathematics of “are we there yet?”
Will the Marvel Cinematic Universe outlast human civilization? Unlikely, but not impossible.
mathwithbaddrawings.com
August 25, 2025 at 8:33 PM
The mathematics of “are we there yet?”
A 3-dimensional doodle with lego -
In 'Lost Tablets,' Jan van Schaik Constructs Deteriorating Architectural Sculptures with LEGO
“The first one I made, I made by accident, like a three-dimensional doodle,” says Melbourne-based architect and artist Jan van Schaik about the sculpture that founded his Lost Tablets series. Now…
www.thisiscolossal.com
August 24, 2025 at 8:33 PM
A 3-dimensional doodle with lego -
The Racial Justice in Early Math project [Image of child's arm and some red and white counters on a desktop]
Racial bias affects early math education. Researchers are trying to stop that
Researchers say more resources, teacher awareness needed to combat racial bias in math lessons.
hechingerreport.org
August 23, 2025 at 5:53 PM
The Racial Justice in Early Math project [Image of child's arm and some red and white counters on a desktop]
Even ancient Babylonians had math homework - [Image - a woman, a cat and a really really old clay tablet]
The World’s Oldest Homework: A Look at Babylonian Math Homework from 4,000 Years Ago
Homework has lately become unfashionable, at least according to what I've heard from teachers in certain parts of the United States. That may complicate various fairly long-standing educational…
www.openculture.com
August 22, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Even ancient Babylonians had math homework - [Image - a woman, a cat and a really really old clay tablet]
Math Fellowship Rooted in Racial Justice Supports Early Educators [Image of child and teacher using Rekenrek manipulative]
Math Fellowship Rooted in Racial Justice Supports Early Educators
The Racial Justice in Early Math Teaching Fellowship is helping early educators make math accessible and engaging for young children.
www.the74million.org
August 22, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Math Fellowship Rooted in Racial Justice Supports Early Educators [Image of child and teacher using Rekenrek manipulative]
Look! It's a bird! At a stop light [seriously, that's what the image is] [courtesy of Clive Thompson's Linkfest - and I'll post that link in a comment below]
A Hawk in New Jersey Figured Out Traffic Signals and Used Them to Hunt
An urban raptor learns to hunt with help from traffic signals and a mental map.
www.zmescience.com
August 20, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Look! It's a bird! At a stop light [seriously, that's what the image is] [courtesy of Clive Thompson's Linkfest - and I'll post that link in a comment below]
Reposted by Alayne Armstrong
Children build math skills on a “cognitive bridge” between space & number. But where does it come from? Our new study finds monkeys transfer learning and abstractions across geometry & numerosity, revealing the evolutionary roots of basic math development. 🧪🧠
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Cognitive bridge between geometric and numerical learning in monkeys | PNAS
Educational research highlights strong developmental links between numerical and spatial
cognition in humans, often shaped by cultural tools like t...
www.pnas.org
August 20, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Children build math skills on a “cognitive bridge” between space & number. But where does it come from? Our new study finds monkeys transfer learning and abstractions across geometry & numerosity, revealing the evolutionary roots of basic math development. 🧪🧠
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
The importance of mingling math and play - [Image - two young children sitting on the floor playing with block-like toys]
Could Play Boost Students’ Math Performance? - EdSurge News
Research has linked long term development of math skills with certain kinds of play. For some researchers, it’s clear that American students don’t ...
www.edsurge.com
August 15, 2025 at 8:33 PM
The importance of mingling math and play - [Image - two young children sitting on the floor playing with block-like toys]