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Lirik We Will Not Go Down (Song for Gaza)

Lirik We Will Not Go Down (Song for Gaza)
WE WILL NOT GO DOWN (Song for Gaza)
(Composed by Michael Heart)
Copyright 2009

A blinding flash of white light
Lit up the sky over Gaza tonight
People running for cover
Not knowing whether they’re dead or alive

They came with their tanks and their planes
With ravaging fiery flames
And nothing remains
Just a voice rising up in the smoky haze

We will not go down
In the night, without a fight
You can burn up our mosques and our homes and our schools
But our spirit will never die
We will not go down
In Gaza tonight

Women and children alike
Murdered and massacred night after night
While the so-called leaders of countries afar
Debated on who’s wrong or right

But their powerless words were in vain
And the bombs fell down like acid rain
But through the tears and the blood and the pain
You can still hear that voice through the smoky haze

We will not go down
In the night, without a fight
You can burn up our mosques and our homes and our schools
But our spirit will never die
We will not go down
In Gaza tonight

SISTEMATIKA LAPORAN PENELITIAN EKSPERIMEN

BAGIAN AWAL

1. Halaman judul
2.  Halaman Pengesahan
3. Abstrak
4. Kata Pengantar
5. Daftar Isi dan lampiran-lampiran

BAGIAN ISI:
BAB I :     PENDAHULUAN

A. Latar Belakang  berisi uraian tentang kondisi lapangan  disertai diskripsi masalahnya, dengan dukungan data awal yang memperjelas adanya masalah. Untuk memecahkan masalah diperlukan tindakan/treatment dengan metode baru yang akan diujicobakan. Di samping itu  ditunjukkan kebiasaan bahwa metode yang dilakukan dalam proses pembelajaran kurang berhasil . Diyakini bahwa dengan metode baru itu berpengaruh positif terhadap hasil belajar siswa.

B. Rumusan Masalah (diharapkan kalimat Tanya): Misalnya: (1) Adakah perbedaan kemampuan matematika antara siswa yang diajar dengan metode pemecahan soal dibanding dengan yang diajar dengan metode pemahaman konsep.(2) Adakah hubungan antara sikap terhadap metode dengan kemampuan matematika?

C. Tujuan Penelitian; (sesuaikan dengan rumusan masalah)

D. Manfaat Penelitian; (sesuaikan dengan apa yang direncanakan pada proposal, namun peneliti dapat mengembangkan)

BAB II :    LANDASAN TEORI

Kemukakan teori dan pustaka yang relevan dengan variabel independent (bebas jaitu variabel tindakan) dan variabel dependent (terikat, tergantung), dan menjelaskan kaitan antara kedua variabel itu. Diperlukan adanya usaha  membangun argumentasi teoritis yang menunjukkan bahwa dengan tindakan yang diberikan dimungkinkan dapat berpengaruh positif terhadap hasil/mutu proses pembelajaran pada mata ajaran tertentu. Untuk itu perlu diuraikan secara rinci keterkaitan antara variabel yang dijadikan sasaran penelitian secara jelas, baik variabel dependen maupun independennya. Kemukakan kerangka berpikir/alur yang logis shingga mampu memberikan gambaran bahwa perlakuan dengan metode/teknik/cara baru yang akan dilakukan dapat menghasilkan dampak yang lebih baik dari pada metode/teknik/cara lain atau yang selama ini digunakan. Pada bagian akhir perlu dikemukakan hipotesis yang akan diuji melalui penelitian eksperimen ini.

BAB III :  METODE PENELITIAN

Deskripsikan desain/pola eksperimen/perlakuan dalam rangka penelitian yang memuat: Subyek penelitian,  langkah-langkah atau prosedur penelitian dimulai dari perencanaan untuk menentukan kelompok eksperimen dan kelompok kontrol, menentukan pelaksanaan tindakan/treatment, materi dan metode yang  akan dikenakan pada kedua  kelompok tersebut, cara mengatasi kesesatan, sehingga tidak akan mempengaruhi hasil, waktu pelaksanaan eksperimen. Jenis instrumen penelitian yang akan digunakan dan syarat validitas dan reliabilitasnya, serta teknik analisis datanya. Eksperimen yang dilakukan harus  bersifat rasional, dan feasible.

BAB IV : HASIL PENELITIAN DAN PEMBAHASAN

Berikan gambaran tentang subyek penelitian dengan disertai kondisi riil dari setiap kelompok (eksperimen dan kontrol) selama eksprimen berlangsung. Kemukakan adanya perubahan yang terjadi pada diri siswa, lingkungan kelas, guru sendiri, motivasi/minat belajar, dan hasil belajar atas perlakuan yang dikenakan pada kelompok eksperimen Data dapat disajikan dalam bentuk narasi/uraian, tabel atau bagan Sajikan data hasil penelitian untuk setiap kelompok sebagai dasar analisis dengan beberapa keterangan yang relevan. Kemukakan hasil pengolahan atau analisis data hasil eksperimen.. Tunjukkan adanya perbedaan antara hasil tindakan pada kelompok eksperimen (dengan metode A) dengan kelompok kontrol (dengan metode B). Pada kesimpulan hasil analisis bila  secara statistik bila telah membuktikan adanya perbedaan hasil antara keduanya, berarti hasil metode yang satu  lebih baik daripada metode lainnya. Pada pembahasan berikan kejelasan yang memperkuat dari hasil analisisnya, dengan memberikan berbagai argumentasi logis yang mendukung.

BAB V :  SIMPULAN DAN SARAN

Sajikan simpulan hasil penelitian sesuai dengan  tujuan/masalah penelitian yang telah disampaikan sebelumnya serta dengan mendasarkan hasil analisis yang diperoleh.pada bab IV

Berikan saran dan tindak lanjut berdasarkan simpulan yang diperoleh baik yang menyangkut segi positif maupun negatifnya.

DAFTAR PUSTAKA

Memuat semua sumber pustaka yang digunakan dalam penelitian dengan menggunakan sistem yang telah dibakukan secara konsisten.

Lampiran-lampiran:

Lampiran berisi semua   instrumen yang digunakan  (pedoman wawancara, pedoman observasi, angket, test hasil belajar dll),  contoh hasil kerja siswa, data hasil penelitian,  print-out analisis, daftar hadir, ijin penelitian, serta bukti lain yang dipandang perlu

SISTEMATIKA LAPORAN PENELITIAN DESKRIPTIF

BAGIAN AWAL
1.      Halaman judul
2.      Halaman Pengesahan
3.      Abstrak
4.      Kata Pengantar
5.      Daftar Isi dan lampiran-lampiran

BAGIAN ISI:
BAB I :     PENDAHULUAN

A.     Latar Belakang:  berisi uraian tentang kondisi lapangan disertai deskripsi masalahnya, dengan dukungan data awal yang memperjelas adanya masalah. Untuk memecahkan masalah diperlukan tindakan tertentu yang diharapkan dapat meningkatkan mutu pembelajaran atau memecahkan masalah yang dihadapi.

B.     Rumusan Masalah (sebaiknya kalimat tanya): misalnya: (1) Bagaimanakah sikap/penerimaan siswa terhadap  penggunaan metode pembelajaran Diskoveri; (2) Sejauh mana peningkatan keaktifan siswa setelah dilakukan pembagian kelompok belajar di kelasnya?; (3) Sejauh mana hubungan antara sikap/penerimaan siswa terhadap  penggunaan metode pembelajaran Diskoveri dengan peningkatan prestasi hasil belajar.

C.     Tujuan Penelitian: (sesuaikan dengan rumusan masalah)

D.     Manfaat Penelitian: (sesuaikan dengan apa yang direncanakan pada proposal, namun peneliti dapat mengembangkan)

BAB II :    LANDASAN TEORI

Kemukakan teori dan pustaka yang relevan dengan permasalahan dan pemecahan masalah/tindakan yang dilakukan. Dengan demikian diperlukan teori yang mendukung argumentasi teoritis yang menunjukkan bahwa dengan pemecahan masalah/tindakan yang diberikan dimungkinkan dapat berpengaruh positif terhadap hasil/mutu proses pembelajaran pada mata ajaran tertentu. Bila diperlukan pada akhir bab 2 ini dapat dikemukakan hipotesis yang akan diuji melalui penelitian ini.

BAB III :  METODE PENELITIAN

Deskripsikan upaya pemecahan masalah atau tindakan yang yang telah dilakukan untuk meningkatkan mutu pembelajaran dalam rangka penelitian, yang memuat: Subyek penelitian,  langkah-langkah atau prosedur penelitian, metode pengumpulan data dan jenis instrumen penelitian yang akan digunakan dan syarat validitas dan reliabilitasnya, serta teknik analisis datanya. Untuk penelitian deskriptif yang dikaitkan dengan tingkat hubungan antar variabel maka juga harus disesuaikan teknik pengujian hipotesis dan analisis datanya.

BAB IV : HASIL PENELITIAN DAN PEMBAHASAN

Berikan gambaran tentang subyek penelitian dengan disertai kondisi nyata pada kelas tempat penelitian berlangsung. Kemukakan adanya perubahan yang terjadi pada diri siswa, lingkungan kelas, guru sendiri, motivasi/minat belajar, dan hasil belajar atas tindakan atau upaya yang dilakukan untuk memecahkan masalah atau meningkatkan mutu pembelajaran. Data dapat disajikan dalam bentuk narasi/uraian, tabel atau bagan Sajikan data hasil penelitian untuk setiap kelompok sebagai dasar analisis dengan beberapa keterangan yang relevan. Kemukakan hasil pengolahan atau analisis data hasil penelitian. Tunjukkan bahwa dengan upaya pemecahan masalah atau tindakan tersebut terjadi perubahan yang diharapkan. Pada kesimpulan untuk análisis yang dilakukan secara statistik,  apabila telah membuktikan kebenaran hipotesis atau adanya hubungan maka dilanjutkan dengan pemaknaan atas hasil yang diperoleh tersebut. Pada pembahasan berikan kejelasan yang memperkuat dari hasil analisisnya, dengan memberikan berbagai argumentasi logis yang mendukung..

BAB V :  KESIMPULAN DAN SARAN

Sajikan kesimpulan hasil penelitian sesuai dengan  tujuan/masalah penelitian yang telah disampaikan sebelumnya serta dengan mendasarkan hasil analisis yang diperoleh.pada bab IV. Berikan saran dan tindak lanjut berdasarkan kesimpulan yang diperoleh baik yang menyangkut segi positif maupun negatifnya.

DAFTAR PUSTAKA

Memuat semua sumber pustaka yang digunakan dalam penelitian dengan menggunakan sistem yang telah dibakukan secara konsisten.

Lampiran-lampiran :

Lampiran berisi semua instrumen yang digunakan (pedoman wawancara, pedoman observasi, angket, test hasil belajar dll),  contoh hasil kerja siswa, data hasil penelitian,  print-out analisis, daftar hadir, ijin penelitian, serta bukti lain yang dipandang perlu. 

SISTEMATIKA LAPORAN PENELITIAN TINDAKAN KELAS(CLASSROOM ACTION RESEARCH)

BAGIAN AWAL
1.      Halaman judul
2.      Halaman Pengesahan

Minimal yang harus mengesahkan karya tulis ilmiah hasil penelitian ini adalah kepala sekolah dan kepala bagian perpustakaan sekolah yang bersangkutan.

3.      Abstrak
Pada bagian ini dituliskan dengan ringkas dan jelas hal-hal pokok tentang:
     (a) permasalahan khususnya rumusan masalah,
     (b) tujuan penelitian,
     (c) prosedur pelaksanaan PTK
     (d) hasil penelitian .
4.      Kata Pengantar
5.      Daftar Isi dan lampiran-lampiran

BAGIAN ISI:
BAB I :     PENDAHULUAN

A.      Latar Belakang (diskripsi masalah, data awal yang mendukung adanya masalah dan akar timbulnya masalah dengan menunjukkan pada lokasi penelitian dan waktu serta penjelasan pentingnya masalah itu dipecahkan;

B.      Rumusan Masalah (diharapkan kalimat Tanya);
C.     Tujuan Penelitian; (sesuaikan dengan rumusan masalah)
D. Manfaat Penelitian; (sesuaikan dengan apa yang direncanakan pada proposal, namun peneliti dapat mengembangkan)

BAB II :    LANDASAN TEORI

Kemukakan teori dan pustaka yang relevan, dan  memberi arah serta petunjuk pada pelaksanaan PTK. Diperlukan adanya usaha untuk membangun argumentasi teoritis yang menunjukkan bahwa tindakan yang diberikan dimungkinkan dapat meningkatkan mutu proses pembelajaran di klas. Pada akhir bab ini dapat ikemukakan hipotesis tindakan. Uraian pada bab ini harus lebih lengkap dan rinci dibanding dengan uraian yang ada pada bab yang sama di usulan penelitian.

BAB III :  METODE PENELITIAN

Deskripsikan tiap siklus penelitian yang memuat: rencana, pelaksanaan/tindakan, pemantauan dan evaluasi beserta jenis instrument yang digunakan, dan cara refleksi. (perlu dibedakan pada usulan, isi apa yang akan dilaksanakan, sedang pada laporan berisi apa yang sudah dilaksanakan). Pada tiap siklus harus dikemukakan tindakan secara jelas, serta semua  jenis instrumen yang digunakan untuk pengumpulan data. Tindakan yang dilakukan bersifat rasional, feasible serta collaborative.

BAB IV : HASIL PENELITIAN DAN PEMBAHASAN

Menyajikan uraian masing-masing siklus dengan data lengkap, menyangkut berbagai aspek yang terjadi akibat tindakan yang dilakukan. Tunjukkan adanya perbedaan tindakan dengan kegiatan pelajaran yang biasa atau sering dilakukan. Pada refleksi diakhir setiap siklus berisi penjelasan tentang aspek keberhasilan grafik, dan kelemahan yang terjadi. Kemukakan ada perubahan/ kemajuan/ perbaikan yang terjadi pada diri siswa, lingkungan kelas, guru sendiri, motivasi/minat belajar, dan hasil belajar. Kemukakan hasil dari keseluruhan siklus ke dalam ringkasan untuk bahan dasar analisis dan pembahasan. Bahan/data tersebut ditulis dalam bentuk tabel atau bagan sehingga akan memperjelas adanya perubahan yang terjadi disertai pembahasan secara sistematik dan jelas.

BAB V :  KESIMPULAN DAN SARAN

Sajikan simpulan hasil penelitian (potret kemajuan) sesuai dengan tujuan/masalah penelitian yang telah disampaikan sebelumnya. Berikan saran tindak lanjut berdasarkan simpulan yang diperoleh baik yang menyengkut segi positif maupun negatifnya.

DAFTAR PUSTAKA

Memuat semua sumber pustaka yang digunakan dalam penelitian dengan menggunakan system yang telah dibakukan secara konsisten.

Lampiran-lampiran:

Berisi rancangan materi/bahan ajar, semua instrument penelitian, sampel jawaban siswa, dokumen/foto kegiatan, ijin penelitian, serta bukti lain yang dipandang perlu.

Math Graphing Tools

Teknologi informasi dapat dimanfaatkan dalam pembelajaran matematika. Pemanfaatan teknologi informasi dapat memudahkan hal-hal yang sebelumnya sulit dilakukan. Salah satu pemanfaatan TT khususnya menggunakan software untuk visualisasi grafis matematika. Penggunaan software matematika ini dapat menunjukkan visualisasi fungsi matematika dengan mudah. Ada beberapa software untuk plotting grafis matematika ini. Berikut beberapa contohnya.

1. Winplot.

Winplot adalah utilitas grafis matematika dibuat oleh Richard Parris, pendidik di Phillips Exeter Academy Exeter, New Hampshire.Software ini dapat didownloaded dari Website Parris di

http://math.exeter.edu/rparris/winplot.html
Tutorial penggunaan dapat diakses di

http://faculty.matcmadison.edu/alehnen/winptut/winpltut.htm

2. GraphCalc.
GraphCalc adalah software untuk plotting grafis matematika yang dikembangkan oleh Mike Arrison dan Brendan Fields dari Bucknell University.


GraphCal Screen shots:

http://graphcalc.com/screen_shots.shtml
Untuk download GraphCalc dapat didownload di:

http://graphcalc.com/index.shtml
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/gcalc/GraphCalc4.0.1.zip?download
3. GraphSight Junior

Software plotting grafis ini nampaknya ditujukan untuk anak-anak

Download Paket Fasilitasi KKG MGP Matematika

Download Paket Fasilitasi KKG MGP Matematika
Paket Fasilitasi KKG/MGMP Matematika sudah dapat didownload melalui website. Dari 40 judul paket yang telah selesai ditulis kesemuanya akan di-upload secara bertahap. Paket lengkap dapat diakses di http://p4tkmatematika.org/fasilitasi

Sumber Informasi Untuk Membuat RPP Matematika

Salah satu kegiatan penting dari seorang guru dalam pembelajaran di sekolah adalah membuat Rencana Program Pengajaran (RPP). Pekerjaan ini sangat penting dan karenanya dibutuhkan banyak wawasan maupun referensi. Dalam pembelajaran matematika kita dapat mencari sumber informasi mengenai RPP atau lesson plan dari banyak tempat dan bahkan dari luar negeri.

Berikut ini beberapa situs yang dapat dijadikan referensi maupun sumber


http://www.lessonplanspage.com/Math.htm

http://lessonplancentral.com/lessons/Math/

http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/

Cooperatif Learning

Cooperative learning was proposed in response to traditional curriculum-driven education. In cooperative learning environments, students interact in purposely structured heterogeneous groups to support the learning of oneself and others in the same group.

In online education, cooperative learning focuses on opportunities to encourage both individual flexibility and affinity to a learning community (Paulsen 2003). Cooperative learning seeks to foster some benefits from the freedom of individual learning and other benefits from collaborative learning. Cooperative learning thrives in virtual learning environments that emphasize individual freedom within online learning communities.
Cooperative learning explicitly builds cooperation skills by assigning roles to team members and establishing norms for conflict resolution via arbitration. Cooperative learning should also provide the means for group reflection and individual self-assessment.

"Cooperative learning (CL) is an instructional paradigm in which teams of students work on structured tasks (e.g., homework assignments, laboratory experiments, or design projects) under conditions that meet five criteria: positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face interaction, appropriate use of collaborative skills, and regular self-assessment of team functioning. Many studies have shown that when correctly implemented, cooperative learning improves information acquisition and retention, higher-level thinking skills, interpersonal and communication skills, and self-confidence (Johnson, Johnson, and Smith, 1998)."
--Deborah B. Kaufman, Richard M. Felder, Department of Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University
--Hugh Fuller, College of Engineering, North Carolina State University


The use of active learning strategies, such as cooperative learning, is growing at a remarkable rate. Professors are incorporating cooperative learning to increase students' achievement, create positive relationships among students, and promote students' healthy psychological adjustment to school. This monograph is about how college faculty can ensure that students actively create their knowledge rather than passively listening to the professor's. It is about structuring learning situations cooperatively at the college level so that students work together to achieve shared goals.

What is Cooperative Learning?
Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning. Considerable research demonstrates that cooperative learning produces higher achievement, more positive relationships among students, and healthier psychological adjustment than do competitive or individualistic experiences. These effects, however, do not automatically appear when students are placed in groups. For cooperative learning to occur, the professor must carefully structure learning groups. Further, cooperative learning can be structured in many different ways. Three broad categories of cooperative learning strategies are formal cooperative learning groups, informal cooperative learning groups, and cooperative base groups. Finally, cooperation can be just as powerful among faculty as it is among students. To increase faculty members' effectiveness, the existing competitive/individualistic college structure must be restructured to a cooperative, team-based college structure.

The conceptual approach to cooperative learning described in this monograph involves training professors to apply an overall system to build cooperative activities, lessons, and strategies. This conceptual approach is based on a theoretical framework that provides general principles on how to structure cooperative learning activities in a teacher's specific subject area, curriculum, students, and setting. Using these principles, teachers can analyze their current curricula, students, and instructional goals, and design appropriate cooperative lessons. The advantage of conceptual principles is that they can be used in any classroom, from preschool to graduate school. The particulars can be adapted for differences in students' age, ability, and background.

The appeal of a conceptual approach is that it provides a foundation upon which faculty can build. Rather than slavishly following a specific approach, faculty can branch out and try things on their own, using the procedures as models rather than as prescriptives. Many educators who believe that they are using cooperative learning are, in fact, missing its essence. A crucial difference exists between simply putting students in groups to learn and in structuring cooperation among students. Cooperation is not having students sit side by side at the same table to talk with each other as they do their individual assignments. It is not assigning a report to a group of students where one student does all the work and the others put their names on the product as well. It is not having students do a task individually with instructions that the ones who finish first are to help the slower students.

Cooperation is much more than being physically near other students, discussing material with them, helping them, or sharing material among students, although each is important in cooperative learning. To be cooperative, a group must have clear positive interdependence, members must promote each other's learning and success face to face, hold each other personally and individually accountable to do his or her fair share of the work, use appropriately the interpersonal and small-group skills needed for cooperative efforts to be successful, and process as a group how effectively members are working together. These five essential components must be present for small-group learning to be truly cooperative.

What are some ways to implement Cooperative Learning?
Cooperative learning groups can be used to teach specific content and problem- solving skills (formal learning groups), ensure active cognitive processing during a lecture (informal learning groups), and provide long-term support and assistance for academic progress (base groups). When used in combination, these learning groups provide an overall structure with variety for students.

Formal cooperative learning groups might last for one class period to several weeks to complete a specific task or assignment. In a cooperative learning group, students work together to accomplish shared goals. They have two responsibilities: to maximize their own learning and to maximize the learning of all the members of the group. First, students receive instructions and objectives from their instructor. Second, the instructor assigns each student to a learning group, provides needed materials, arranges the room, and perhaps gives each student a specific role to fulfill in the group. Third, the instructor explains the task and the cooperative structure. Fourth, the instructor monitors the functioning of each learning group and intervenes to teach cooperative skills and assist in academic learning when needed. Finally, the instructor evaluates the quality and quantity of each student's learning and ensures that each group processes how effectively members are working together.

Students who need help in completing the assignment are instructed to ask their peers for assistance first and to request help from the instructor only if needed. Students are expected to interact with members of their group, share ideas and materials, support and encourage each other's academic achievement, orally explain and elaborate the concepts and strategies being learned, and hold each other accountable for completing the assignment, using a criterion-referenced evaluation.

Informal cooperative learning groups are temporary, ad hoc groups that last for only one discussion or one class period. Their purposes are to focus students' attention on the material to be learned, set a mood conducive to learning, help organize in advance the material to be covered in a class session, ensure that students cognitively process the material being taught, and provide closure to an instructional session. They can be used at any time but are especially useful during a lecture or direct teaching before the students' eyes begin to glaze over (some estimate the length of time that people can attend to a lecture to be about 12 to 15 minutes; students then need to process what they are learning or their minds drift away).

During direct teaching, the instructional challenge for the teacher is to ensure that students do the intellectual work of organizing material, explaining it, summarizing it, and integrating it into existing conceptual networks, which can be achieved by having students do the advance organizing, cognitively process what they are learning, and summarize their learning. Breaking up lectures with short cooperative processing times gives the instructor slightly less lecture time but enhances what is learned and builds relationships among students. It helps counter what is proclaimed as the main problem of lectures: The information passes from the notes of the professor to the notes of the student without passing through the mind of either one.

Base groups are long-term, heterogeneous cooperative learning groups with stable membership whose primary responsibility is to provide each student the support, encouragement, and assistance needed to progress academically. Base groups personalize the work required and the learning experiences in the course. They consist of three or four participants who stay together during the entire course, perhaps exchanging phone numbers and information about schedules so they can meet outside class.

Why bother using Cooperative Learning?
Over 600 studies have been conducted during the past 90 years comparing the effectiveness of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts. These studies have been conducted by a wide variety of researchers in different decades with subjects of different ages, in different subject areas, and in different settings. More is known about the efficacy of cooperative learning than about lecturing, departmentalization, the use of instructional technology, or almost any other aspect of education. The more one works in cooperative learning groups, the more that person learns, the better he understands what he is learning, the easier it is to remember what he learns, and the better he feels about himself, the class, and his classmates.

Cooperative learning, although not the easiest way to teach, can revitalize students and faculty by providing a structured environment for sharing some of the responsibility for learning. Through working together to learn complex conceptual information and master knowledge and skills, students learn more, have more fun, and develop many other skills, such as learning how to work with one another. Faculty, meanwhile, must provide the foundation and learning structures to guide their students in this new learning experience.




References
Johnson, David W., and Roger T. Johnson. 1989. "Cooperation and Competition: Theory and Research." Edina, Minn.: Interaction Book Co.

McKeachie, Wilbert, Paul Pintrich, Lin Yi-Guang, and David Smith. 1986. "Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom: A Review of the Research Literature." Ann Arbor: Regents of the Univ. of Michigan.

Whitman, Neal A. 1988. "Peer Teaching: To Teach Is to Learn Twice." ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 4. Washington, D.C.: Association for the Study of Higher Education. ED 305 016. 103 pp. MF-01; PC-05.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_learning

Mathematics education

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_education
Mathematics education is the practice of teaching and learning mathematics, as well as the field of scholarly research on this practice. Researchers in math education are in the first instance concerned with the tools, methods and approaches that facilitate practice or the study of practice. However mathematics education research, known on the continent of Europe as the didactics of mathematics, has developed into a fully fledged field of study, with its own characteristic concepts, theories, methods, national and international organisations, conferences and literature. This article describes some of the history, influences and recent controversies concerning math education as a practice.

HISTORY
Elementary mathematics was part of the education system in most ancient civilisations, including Ancient Greece, the Roman empire, Vedic society and ancient Egypt. In most cases, a formal education was only available to male children with a sufficiently high status, wealth or caste.

In Plato's division of the liberal arts into the trivium and the quadrivium, the quadrivium included the mathematical fields of arithmetic and geometry. This structure was continued in the structure of classical education that was developed in medieval Europe. Teaching of geometry was almost universally based on Euclid's Elements. Apprentices to trades such as masons, merchants and money-lenders could expect to learn such practical mathematics as was relevant to their profession.

The first mathematics textbooks to be written in English and French were published by Robert Recorde, beginning with The Grounde of Artes in 1540.

In the Renaissance the academic status of mathematics declined, because it was strongly associated with trade and commerce. Although it continued to be taught in European universities, it was seen as subservient to the study of Natural, Metaphysical and Moral Philosophy.

This trend was somewhat reversed in the seventeenth century, with the University of Aberdeen creating a Mathematics Chair in 1613, followed by the Chair in Geometry set up in University of Oxford in 1619 and the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics, established by the University of Cambridge in 1662. However, it was uncommon for mathematics to be taught outside of the universities. Isaac Newton, for example, received no formal mathematics teaching until he joined Trinity College, Cambridge in 1661.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the industrial revolution led to an enormous increase in urban populations. Basic numeracy skills, such as the ability to tell the time, count money and carry out simple arithmetic, became essential in this new urban lifestyle. Within the new public education systems, mathematics became a central part of the curriculum from an early age.

By the twentieth century mathematics was part of the core curriculum in all developed countries.

During the twentieth century mathematics education was established as an independent field of research. Here are some of the main events in this development:

In 1893 a Chair in mathematics education was created at the University of Göttingen, under the administration of Felix Klein
The International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI) was founded in 1908, and Felix Klein became the first president of the organization
A new interest in mathematics education emerged in the 1960s, and the commission was revitalized
In 1968, the Shell Centre for Mathematical Education was established in Nottingham
The first International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME) was held in Lyon in 1969. The second congress was in Exeter in 1972, and after that it has been held every four years
In the 20th century, the cultural impact of the "electric age" (McLuhan) was also taken up by educational theory and the teaching of mathematics. While previous approach focused on "working with specialized 'problems' in arithmetic", the emerging structural approach to knowledge had "small children meditating about number theory and 'sets'."[1

Absolute Retract (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/AbsoluteRetract.html)

Let be a class of topological spaces that is closed under homeomorphism, and let be a topological space. If and for every such that , is a retract of , then is an absolute retract for the class .

These notions can be generalized to category theory, and because there are category-theoretic versions, there are also other more specific versions, as in universal algebra and modern algebra.

This entry contributed by Matt Insall (author's link)



REFERENCES:
Borsuk, K. Theory of Retracts. Warszawa, Poland: PWN, 1967.

Charatonik, J. J. and Prajs, J. R. "On Local Connectedness of Absolute Retracts." Pacific J. Math. 201, 83-88, 2001.

Hu, S. T. Theory of Retracts. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1965.

Kuratowski, K. Topology, 2. New York: Academic Press, 1968.

Alphametic

(http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/)
A cryptarithmetic in which the letters used to represent distinct digits are derived from related words or meaningful phrases. The term was coined by Hunter in 1955 (Madachy 1979, p. 178).



REFERENCES:
Brooke, M. One Hundred & Fifty Puzzles in Crypt-Arithmetic. New York: Dover, 1963.

Hunter, J. A. H. and Madachy, J. S. "Alphametics and the Like." Ch. 9 in Mathematical Diversions. New York: Dover, pp. 90-95, 1975.

Madachy, J. S. "Alphametics." Ch. 7 in Madachy's Mathematical Recreations. New York: Dover, pp. 178-200, 1979.