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An Instrument on which to Play Mathematics

In an interview with Forbes contributor Jordan Shapiro, NPR Math Guy (and MAA blogger) Keith Devlin talks about the educational video game Wuzzit Trouble, newly released by InnerTube Games, which Devlin co-founded.

Devlin discusses why Wuzzit Trouble is built around integer partitions, how teachers might make use of the game, what's next for InnerTube Games, and whether it makes sense to subject all students to symbolic mathematics.

Perhaps most compelling, though, is Devlin's commentary on learning by doing:

Mathematics is an activity. It’s not stuff you know, it’s things you DO (and can do). Natural selection equipped us supremely well to learn actions by actually doing them. In fact, any other way is hopelessly inefficient. e.g. Try learning to ride a bike by sitting in a lecture or reading a book—or even watching a video! It doesn’t work.

Read the interview.

Start Date: 
Tuesday, September 17, 2013