Altmann, Gert, Board Mathematics Characters Count 10/2/2015, via Pixabay Public Domain Distribution License
Where: The first source I chose was Wikipedia. Wikipedia is famous for being the most shaky website when it comes to credibility (after all, I can edit any article on Wikipedia to say whatever I want it to say).
Who: The main problem with Wikipedia is that the authors of the piece are unknown. Sure there are hyperlinks showing the sources of information (most of which are credible), but the credibility of the entire article is still unknown. Because of this, instead of using it as a direct source of information, I used Wikipedia as a Table of Contents for the complete issue of the Math Wars. Looking at the main events and people that Wikipedia points out, I look for information on said items of interest on different websites
When: The article is updated as soon as people change it. So, it lack of a better term, the article is always "up to date"(although, as stated above, some of the parts are not credible).
What: As stated in the Who section, the Wikipedia article is more of a table of contents more than anything. Wikipedia is an overview of the issue as a whole; more detail on the details of what the article shows can be found elsewhere from credible sources. The "what" that Wikipedia shows isn't credible, but the overview is extremely helpful in finding the majority of helpful information that media can provide.
1989 Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics
(hyperlink not available. Book is not available online, but the school library)
Where: The book is written by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Considering that the council is the reason why the Math Wars sparked in the 1990s, and this book is the reason for such a fire makes it a very credible source.
Who: The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics are directly involved in supporting teachers nationwide with different styles of teaching and statistics that organizations and teachers alike can use to improve their students' overall performance. Considering how involved the council is with the entirety of mathematics in the United States as a whole, this makes them a credible source.
When: The book was written in 1989. This may seem like a long time ago, but this is the official start to the Math Wars, making it a very important date for this controversy in particular.
What: The book described various ways in which the nation's educational system needed to improve their system as a whole in respect to teaching mathematics. The book describes six main principles that any classroom should follow and five standards that any sort of education should use. Furthermore, the books is littered with various statistics that show the reason decline of effectiveness of New Math across the nation.
Education World
Where: This article is found on Education World, an online news service whose purpose is to inform its audience about the national and worldwide happenings of education. Furthermore, in addition to being a newspaper, it also is used as a way to connect teachers across the world to create new lesson plans and ideas. Combine Facebook and the arts section of the local newspaper, an the result is Education World
Who: The author of this article is Linda Starr, a writer for Education World newspaper. She doesn't seem to have any connections to the subject of math education, but she is a very accomplished editor for the website, so it's safe to say that this is a credible source.
When: The only problem with the article is that it is rather old, 2002 in fact. As stated in one of my older blog posts, the Math Wars have been raging on for nearly half a century, which makes this time period reasonable, but its not too helpful in analyzing the recent controversies that have stirred up. Nevertheless, the article's time period makes it helpful for understanding the backstory of the Math Wars.
What: The article shows some of the statistics shown in Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics and introduces one of the key stakeholders in the Math Wars : the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The opinions and perspectives of the council are shown on the article, with quotes to support the claims made by the article. Another smaller stakeholder is the U.S. Secretary of Education, Richard W. Riley. Riley is no longer the Secretary of Education today, but his opinions are shown in the article as well. Lastly, the article shows the issues still at hand in 2002. This is great to show the recent progress of the Math Wars by comparing these issues to the remaining issues today.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Where: This is the main website of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, one of the larger stakeholders of the Math Wars. The main website itself isn't that impressive, but it holds every single journal which contains every single claim that the council has made in regards to math education in public schools. A good portion of the information is cited as well, making the source very credible.
Who: Considering that the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics created and wrote this website, its safe to say that this source is credible since they are directly involved in the inception of the Math Wars. Although they aren't directly affected by the outcome of the Math Wars, they still hold quite an important role and influence over the whole fight.
When: The website's journals are published on a quasi-monthly basis, with new information and studies about math education in public school being released to the public for a limited amount of time. The information spans from all the way back to the council inception in the early 20th century to now.
What: The journals located on the website contain various claims, interviews, studies, and statistics about math education in public schools. The council shapes its opinion around these facts depending on their results, and usually cites back on previous studies from their older journal in their more recent entries. These are first-hand responses to the Math Wars from a big stakeholder in the whole situation, so this website is not only credible, but really convenient.
Inside Higher Education
Where: This is an article posted on Inside Higher Education, an online newspaper that posts stories about happenings in education. Because this is an official newspaper with actual qualified editors who know what they're doing, this article can be seen as a credible source.
Who: The author of this article is one of the three founding editors of Inside Higher Education: Scott Jaschik. In his biography, Jaschik has previously been an editor for the New York Times and has written articles for the Boston Globe, Washington Post, and other high-end newspapers. Jaschik previous experiences and his standing as chief editor of the website give him more than enough credibility.
When: The article was written near the end of 2012, which is quite recent considering the span of time that the Math Wars has taken up. This is a great time, since the difference between the issues shown in Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics and today can be compared and contrasted. The date itself isn't so special as the year it was posted, even more since the article talks about a specific event that occurred.
What: The article describes a specific event that occurred in 2012, regarding a Stanford professor: Jo Boaler. Boaler is one of the advocates for changing the common core curriculum nationwide, and has even published several works describing possible ways that education in math could be improved (her works are hyperlinked in the article itself). She makes herself a stakeholder as she posted an account of "attacks" that have been occurring for the past decade or so between her and two other scholars: James Milgram and Wayne Bishop. These two are part of the group of critics of the reform. The details of these attacks, which include verbal abuse and the specfics of how Boaler's works were intentionally withheld from the public by these two scholars, show the degree of conflict in which the Math Wars has come to.
Official Statistics Report
Where: The following is part of an article of the website Notices; a website in which official reports of happenings of the math world are published by various professors across the nation, hosted by the American Math Society. Considering that Notices is technically a news source written by experts in the subject, which make it the perfect source for credibility.
Who: The specific author of this article is Allyn Jackson. As stated above, Jackson is a college math professor and part of the American Math Society, so its easy to say with his background that this source has a considerable amount of credibility.
When: The unfortunate part about this report is that despite its incredible detail of California's efforts to change the math education, it's fro 1997. As stated before, the year 1997 isn't too much of an issue since the Math Wars are an controversy that have roots in the 1960s and events starting in the late 80s, but with the specific project topic of describing a recent controversy.
What: The article describes events pre-1997 that occurred specifically in California in regards to math education for public schools. The first part of the article describes the statistics found in standardized tests that show comprehension in math areas from the K-12 level. Some of the tests used were Interactive Mathematics Program (IMP), MathLand ,and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research evaluation. Furthermore, the US Department of Education s shown as a large stakeholder in issue as well, being the government that not only implemented a good amount of these programs to show change or not, but are the group most likely to be affected both reputation wise and money wise if education in math remains to be poor.
Better Explained
Where: Better Explained is a website with various articles that are meant to help understand the fundamentals of mathematics better. The website itself isn't an official newspaper or anything; its instead a pseudo-blog that is meant to help students understand concepts and math education as whole. Since this website isn't official, its hard to give a website like this any credibility, but the author clears that up pretty quickly.
Who: The author is a writer by the name Kalid Azad: sole member and founder of Better Explained. He's a math teacher for fun, and he gives his lessons through written tutorials on his website. The common core curriculum changes being discussed by the Math Wars don't affect him at all, but they do peak his interest. His perspective as an acclaimed online teacher makes his opinions on how math is taught in public schools today merit.
When: This specific article was written in 2012, so the time is perfect for the topic of recent controversy. The one thing interesting about this time was the growing popularity of online resources and tutorials such as WolframAlpha and Khan Academy. Khan Academy in particular has been growing in influence as of recent years, especially since it's a free resource. This time period perfectly captures the comparison between these online resources and the standardized teachings used in public schools.
What: The article explains the author's personal experiences with not only public school math but college level mathematics. To keep it short, the author went from math being all about memorization, formulas, and sometimes even songs to being slammed in the face his freshman year at his university. Azad is definitely an advocate for change, and he describes the problems that schools today are experiencing from his first-hand experiences.
Beyond the Math Wars
Where: The following is an article from Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Publications (MRSI Publications). MSRI is a book series meant to inform its audience about the happenings and discoveries in mathematics and sciences; this article in particular is meant to inform people about the happenings of the Math Wars. MSRI are all written by editors that are part of Cambridge University Press. Considering where this information is coming from, its safe to say that this source is credible.
Who: The author of this particular piece is a math professor from the University of Kansas. Considering her credentials, its safe to assume that this source is credible.
When: The article is from 1999; the piece is considerably old. The time period is unimportant however, since the content of the piece is what's important since it brings up the reasons why the Math Wars haven't been solved yet. The date may have some impact on whether or not certain issues are existing today, but some of the patterns seen in this piece are still existent today.
What: The article explains why the Math Wars are such a controversial topic; the two sides are both beyond confused on what they need to do. For example, the second and third pages of the piece list several quotes from both advocates and critics of reform. These quotes are mostly asking questions on how the education system can be fixed, but they basically all have the same context. Both sides acknowledge that the current system is not the best, but none of the quotes show any recognition of another way to improve on the current situation. Basically, the article shows how the two sides are complaining about the current situation and the opposing side, but failing to create anything of substance to improve the situation.
WG Quirk
Where: The following is a blog post by math professor Bill Quirk. The blog isn't any official website, which bring up a questionable credibility, but the credentials of the author more than make up for this shortcoming.
Who: The author of this post is math professor Bill Quirk. Considering his credentials, he has more than enough experience and knowledge on this subject to be credible on this subject.
When: The article was written in 2011, which quite a recent post considering the dates of the majority of reports on the Math Wars. This post talks about the issues that are still present today in respect to the Math Wars. This is amazing, since these issues can be used to compare and contrast the issues of previous years to show the progress of the Math Wars.
What: The blog posts show an report of the state of the Math Wars in 2011. The most important thing that Quirk brings up are his potential solutions for the problems that he brings up. This is the first and only source that I've found that seeks to find closure to the Math Wars as soon as possible, All other sources seek to report what is going on in the controversy; Quirk reports a possible way to stop it.
Getting Smart
Where: Getting Smart is a online newspaper that reports on the advances of technology. Although this newspaper seems a little bit of an odd fit for something like math education, the article in question talks about the implications of online teaching and resources and how they match up against the common core currently in place. In regards to this topic, this newspaper is more than credible.
Who: The author of this piece is Marie Bjerde: founder of technological company e-Mergents and journalist of Getting Smart. Because of her credentials, we can say that the author is credible.
When: This article was written in 2012, around the same time as the rising popularity of online resources and courses. This makes the date a perfect fit for the topic of comparing the effectiveness common core to online websites.
What: The article explains how websites like Khan Academy help children learn the basic concepts in math better than traditional "rote-learning". Furthermore, the debate between reform of common core curriculum now has a new factor: online learning. The potential of improving the standard education of math might be found from the success of websites like Khan Academy.
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