Dale's Math Site

This is a personal web site, one that reflects my interests and biases. It is a subjective view of mathematics. I have serious doubts about objective views of mathematics.

Basically it is a form of personal electronic notebook where I jot down whatever I wish. However maybe it will be of some interest to others who are interested in mathematics and mathematics education.

The web is, well, a web.

A few points that are obvious (most of the time) to me:

1. Sites containing links need to be regularly updated because the web is rapidly changing.
2. There are many personal styles for searching and surfing the web. The implication is that there is no one way to organize and present information on a topic.
3. Each individual (student, teacher, parent, interested individual) should build their own system for keeping track of interesting and useful pages. This web site is one such effort. It is an electronic notebook, accessible to all.
4. I envisage a day when most students keep track of the learning by creating similar electronic notebooks.

This web site was originally intended to be a simple presentation for the 1999 MCATA Convention in Jasper (MCATA = Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers' Association). However, after only an hour it had evolved into a web site that may prove of interest to many people, regardless of whether or not they attend the convention.

This web site is an alternative to a "paper" that is distributed at the conference. It provides the viewer with an opportunity to see a presentation evolve in the weeks before the conference, and even more intriguing, to evolve in the weeks after the presentation. The very nature of a "presentation" is now in a state of flux. A presentation may have more of the characteristics of a living organism and fewer of the features of a video clip.

I am hoping for a link from the MCATA site to this site so viewers may watch this grow as I prepare for the convention. "Work in progress" and "under construction" are phrases indicative of life. They represent growth, and learning. A web site also represents sharing and communication.

I have set up three discussion boards, one for teachers, one for students and one for the general public. These may all be viewed at the following site:

http://discus.uleth.ca/discus/

Although this is "my" site, it also permits, indeed encourages, contributions by others. Please feel free to participate in these discussions. We all benefit from a healthy exchange of views and perspectives. In an important sense this is actually "our" site.

Originally created: September 14, 1999
Last modified: September 24, 1999
Dale Burnett  dale.burnett@uleth.ca