We’ve Moved
I have successfully moved this blog so please update your links etc to room3tai.wordpress.com
We Are Moving!
Yesterday I read a post from Lyn Ross, Catch the Wave, announcing that she had moved her blog from edublogs to wordpress. Since then I have noticed some quite unsuitable ads appearing on my students’ blogs so we are also moving!
Year 8s I want to see how many of you can follow Lyn’s advice on how to move your blog and all your posts. I am copying her instruction so that you can follow them. If you don’t have an email account of your own at home you will need to do this at school using your school email.
I am also moving this blog but it won’t happen until the weekend. Can you beat me to set up your new blog? I might even have something for anyone who gets their blog setup before me!
Lyn’s Instructions
Some of us are changing our blogs from Edublogs to WordPress to get more free storage. It’s hard to leave previous posts and comments behind … however, there’s a solution! You can import your previous posts and comments from your Edublogs blog into your new WordPress one!! Follow these steps:
1. In Edublogs, go to your dashboard (in site admin)
2. Click on ‘Manage’ and then ‘Export’
3. Click on ‘Download Export File’. Save the file to your desktop.
4. Set up your WordPress blog (if you haven’t already). http://www.wordpress.com Tip: Use your name for the user name if you’re joining - no surname though!
5. Go to your WordPress dashboard and click on ‘Tools’ on the left navigation.
6. Click ‘Import’
7. Click on the last option – ‘WordPress’
8. Browse for your file (remember, it’s on the desktop!!) and then click ‘Upload file and Import’
9. You will know you’ve been successful when you see a list of your post titles and the words ‘Have Fun!’
10. Unfortunately you can’t import your cluster map (your new blog has a different URL) and you’ll have to make a new one http://www.clustermaps.com
11. Write a final post on your old blog telling your readers about the move and giving them your new blog address and you’re all set. This is important if you people to continue following you.The WordPress format is the same as Edublogs so you’ll easily find the settings you need and the theme you want. Remember to choose a theme with ‘custom header’,so you can put your own photo with your blog title.
Rounding
I am doing something here that you should never do, but I feel that this post about rounding is an important for most of you to read.
Watch this video and then read the post from Good Math, Bad Math below
The overwhelming majority of us were taught how to round decimals back in either elementary or middle school. (I don’t even recall exactly when.) The rule that most of us were taught is:
- If the first digit after the rounding point is 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, then round the previous digit down;
- If the first digit after the rounding point is 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, then round the previous digit up.
Here’s the problem: those rules are wrong.
The problem is that if the first digit after the rounding point is zero, you’re not really rounding - that is, you’re not doing anything that changes the value of the data point. But if the first digit after the rounding point is 5, then it’s exactly halfway in-between; it’s not closer to the either the rounded up value or the rounded down value - it’s exactly between them. Always rounding 5 up will create a bias, because it’s taking the point at the middle, and shifting it as if it were closer towards the upward side.
To demonstrate, let’s try an easy example. Suppose we’ve got the following set of numbers: {0, 0.5. 1, 1.5. 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5}. Let’s compute the mean of those numbers: 22.5/10 = 2.25.
Now, let’s round them off: {0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5}; and then compute the mean: 25/10 = 2.5.
With the standard rounding rule, we’ve biased the numbers upwards enough to create a significant error!
The correct way to round is to randomly round 5s either up or down. The standard rule, used in most scientific settings, is to pick either odd or even as the “preferred” outcome, and to always round 5s towards the preferred outcome. If we try that with our example, using preferred even, the rounding is {0, 0, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4}. Taking the mean of that, we get 22/10 = 2.2 - which is significantly closer to the mean of the original numbers than the mean rounding 5s up. The practice of rounding up adds a systematic bias to the data. It’s a very small systematic bias, but it’s a real one.
Does it matter? Not usually. As the commentary to the video points out, over the space of a couple of years, that systematic error in rounding gas prices amounts to about a dime. For most things in our daily experience, the difference between random rounding and upward rounding for 5s is just not significant. But if you’re doing statistical analysis of large quantities of data, or you’re doing computations that rely on a high degree of precision, then it can introduce enough error to foul your results. If you’re doing statistical analysis, it can do things like make an insignificant result appear to be statistically significant. If you’re doing high precision computations for things like navigation of a space probe through a gravitational slingshot, it can introduce enough error to crash your probe.
Thoughts and comments please!
Spelling
From ICT in English NZ
Savethewords is a great web2.0 site for good spellers. The words call out to you to pick them, and once you ‘adopt’ a word you promise to use that word in conversation. A great way for your top spellers to increase their vocabulary and have fun doing it.
Net Generation
The Net Generation Has Arrived.
Are you ready for it?
Chances are you know a person between the ages of 11 and 30. You’ve seen them doing five things at once: texting friends, downloading music, uploading videos, watching a movie on a two-inch screen, and doing who-knows-what on Facebook or MySpace. They’re the first generation to have literally grown up digital–and they’re part of a global cultural phenomenon that’s here to stay.
Are you part of this? Why or Why not?
Scorched 3D
Scorched 3D incorporates a lively three dimensional landscape that includes animated jets, naval vessels, water, and even birds, in addition to detailed tanks and projectiles.
Download it here
Web 2.0
Another video for you to watch.
Are you familiar with everything mentiones? What is your skill level with each tool? Comments please!
Gadgets
I found this website, Labpixies, which you might like to investigate further - gadgets and bling for your blog!
Let us know if you find anything useful.
The Eyeballing Game
I’ve seen this before but have just been reminded of it again in a post by Mr H at Sargent Park Math Zone
The eyeballing game
The Eyeballing Game is an interactive visual estimation game. In the Eyeballing Game players are presented with a drawing or a line segment, angle, or shape. Players are then given a task like “find the spot equidistant to all sides” or “bisect the angle.” From Mr Bryne at Free Technology for Teachers
No Future Left Behind
What do you think of the ideas in this clip?
When kids at the Suffern Middle School were asked to talk about education and their future, they gave Peggy Sheehy, the SMS media specialist, an earful. Listen and learn the bits of wisdom that can be gleaned from the students, if we only dare to ask them.
