Piece-wise Function

My IB students are working on a portfolio project that will requires some piece-wise functions to model. I used the function below as a tongue-in-cheek example of a piece-wise function. Including the idea that changes in function type ideally have a contextual reason or event that changed the system or scenario being modeled.

Oddly enough they all understood what I was talking about...

What Got Me Thinking - June 1st

Mindset - Carol Dweck's book discussing the ideas of "closed vs. growth" mindsets. A very good (and easy) read. If you haven't read it you need to. It was the summer read at my previous school and for my current school.

Grit - Character is a better measure of student success than most anything else. Similar idea but maybe with more resolution than Mindset.

Our Buggy Moral Code - Dan Ariely's TED talk. Not really math/physics related, but pretty interesting research on irrational behavior. He touches on the ideas of pain but mainly focuses on cheating and what influences when and how much we cheat.

Flipped Classroom? - An article on the ever more talked about "flipped classroom." Why does a video lecture seem so much better than asking the kids to go home and read a chapter? I can't help but think that a flipped classroom is just passing the buck...

Building a New Culture of Teaching and Learning - Great commentary on schools and learning. Worth the time investment to listen.

People Stuck on an Escalator - Was used by a former head of math to set the stage for an all faculty discussion on Mindset. He also used it to start his classes each year.