The “Art” of Teaching Mathematics

There is not a single word in Dan Meyer’s article “Missing the Promise of Mathematical Modeling” (MT April 2015, vol. 108, no. 8, pp. 578–83) with which I disagree. Meyer always has something interesting and valuable to say, and this article is no exception. That MT saw fit to place this piece as its lead article in the April 2015 issue solidifies the journal’s commitment to the importance of modeling in the secondary school curriculum. As a past editor of this journal, I always tried to place articles on mathematical modeling prominently, often on the cover. Some of my favorites from years past—all eminently usable in the classroom—included modeling a solar eclipse (Dec. 2005/Jan. 2006); the warming of New York City’s Central Park (May 2006); growing garlic (August 2010); making ganache (February 2011); measuring stream flow (May 2012); and analyzing fly balls hit at Fenway Park’s “Green Monster” (April 2013), to name just a few.