The Ivory Tower

Undergrad-Education Questions on Math Educators

4:03 AM

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Q: "Good" and "Bad" student intuitions when teaching and learning mathematics

I'm a college math/science tutor and I'm really interested in STEM education. I'm currently starting work on a project I hope to present in a couple of months at a tutoring conference and I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of useful research. The project is about mathematical ...

K-C

4:36 AM

How does this edit not make the post more accurate?

"Many" is less strict than "most"

By definition, "many" can not be less accurate than "most".

It's a little harsh to call it "completely superfluous", or "actively harming" readability.

K-C

5:18 AM

Wow, this place is harsh.

Meta Academia

5:28 AM

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Q: Is there any qustion about David publishing?

I remember one question about someone submitting to conference and than later was invited to publish in journal. and this publishers was new for him/her, so the question was about is this publisher reliable and credible? now similar happened to my group, we got from davidpublishing call to submit...

discussion localized-questions

user267395

@K-C I agree with your proposal to replace the word "most" with "many". Or another way to edit the question would be to say "most papers that I have read ... don't have a TOC ... "

Massimo Ortolano

9:54 AM

@K-C The rejection message is a boilerplate one from SE, there's no intention on the part of the reviewers to be harsh.

Yordan Yordanov

11:57 AM

Hello, can I ask a question about this site here. I don't know a lot of things about what this place is and how it functions so, please, bare with me if my questions seem too trivial for you. I want to know is this site "just like any other on the net", e.g. a place where people gather to discuss things they want to chat about(but this one happens to be discuss science)or is it a place where true researchers meet?

I have a lot of experience with the first ones and know how dumb people can be, this is why I always go with a lot of caution on the Internet. For example, I have several YouTube accounts suspended because some idiots in the administration told me I was offending people(chaplains who believed in creationism but seemed to have some "connections" here and there on the site)telling them evolution is reality and creationism a lie for dumb people. I also have a lot of other very unpleasant exp

eriences with the "Internet bunch" of people who claimed to be scientists from some "universities for holistic medicine", "alternative science", "advanced research" and other crap, so I grew very weary about the Internet and every time I see a site where someone claims to be a scientist in anything I look at him with suspicion(no offense, please, it is just a habit)-I have been banned on the Internet for "offending someone's feelings"(primarily creationists, but there

are some other crackpots on Internet, too)that when I saw this site I just wanted to see is it "the real thing"(site for scientists)or just another "useful" social media where people who nothing about science can spread their beliefs on the Internet! The truth is I have a research I need evaluated and I seem to have NOBODY to help me in my country any more. It also seems to be so difficult to put on its proper place that I have no reason where to publish. I really need help from someone well-in

Yordan Yordanov

12:30 PM

formed about the current states of the journals(and of the publisher in general)which can tell me where to publish. I can't find its proper place yet and need some world-renowned experts to see it. I tried writing e-mails, but it seems to me nobody wants to even look at my work. I just write letters who no one answers. I need to select a proper journal or I fear I will never succeed at publishing. This is why I need some advice, professional advice, which I can't get now. Can this site help me?

Is the community here trustworthy and(I am very sorry if you feel offended for asking you but I will just in case)are you true scientists or is it just another place where everybody can come and talk whatever crap he or she thinks is correct completely disregarding evidence? I want to know where I am? Is this some kind of Q&A forum where everybody can write anything for any question and people can express personal feeling or beliefs like it happens everywhere on the net or is it

peer-reviewed in some way? I just want to know how many of you here are actual scientists and how many are(no offence intended)"general public"? My experience on the Internet is that when I enter a site claiming to be about something related to science but people can vote on the topics, comment and so on discussed on the site majority wins and people "vote" to discern the most educated and knowledgeable people(happened to me several times-this is why I don't particularly trust voting)around.

This is why I don't trust such sites a lot and want to know how many people here are true scientists and how many are here to simply "spread around" what they think and/or believe. Am I so wrong to ask these questions? I believe the Internet had began to become an enemy of freedom and knowledge these days and is starting to refute the very principles it was founded on, that is why I want to ask my questions. I wonder that may be the majority vote isn't always the answer any more, this is why I

am skeptical of "majority" sites where most of the audience can vote on the answers. My experience is that when the majority starts to win people start believe in what THEY THINK is the truth, not what the actually IS. This is why I fear creationism is actually slowly winning over science and the academia is losing its ground in society in general(well, may be in my country this process isn't so advanced but I see the slow dumbing down of society every they)everywhere in the world.

In the end I just want to know who is here and why and can the site prevent such "majority overflow" by people who know nothing about science but can vote equally to everybody else, or is it just another "social media" and the ones here aren't very "academic" in general. Hope, you don't feel offended I just told you my experience and the reasons why I have the questions I have. Hope somebody answers, if not I just don't know where else can I ask them. Thank you in advance.

Massimo Ortolano

1:31 PM

@YordanYordanov Many if not most of us are true (from head to toe) scientists, but please beware that we don't answer questions about assessing a specific work or about where to publish it. Our community is simply not interested in such kind of questions and deem them off-topic. Take a tour of the already existing questions and please read carefully our help center, especially the following link: academia.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic

Yordan Yordanov

Thank you very much, @Massimo Ortolano. I want to be honest with you people, I have been on so many social media, have been banned so many times because I called people LIKED very much on any of them, liars, that I grew too disrespectful of the Internet and started to think all sites are basically scams to make people visit them so they can earn money out of the banners. It is simply my experience. I am NOT in any way trying to offend you people here. But please, take into account my experience.

If you were me and been to too many places where popularity is much more important, than credentials and where people VOTE(key word here)to what they WANT(another key word)to hear and you come to a site with a voting system and there are some people who claim to be academia(happened before to me on the Internet-not too good experience)would you be as careful as I am and would you behave differently?(I am not making excuses here-I just feel I need to know this place better before trusting it)

Undergrad-Education Questions on Math Educators

1:47 PM

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Q: Student Conjectures without Oracular Professor

One idea for mid-level college math classes (i.e. after calculus, before highly proof based courses) which I've seen people speak very positively of is to have a portion of the course consist of students producing conjectures on their own by coming up with examples and counterexamples until they ...

undergraduate-education inquiry-based-learning

StrongBad

2:58 PM

@YordanYordanov stack exchange is different from other communities. This chat room is really a secondary feature and not used very much. The heart of the system is the questions and answers on the main site where discussion is inappropriate. Voting on questions and answers is an indication of how helpful the question was to users so it has a popularity concept to it, but the system only works if high quality answers are provided and people find them useful.

Yordan Yordanov

3:35 PM

My point is the question is it possible to be flushed out of the community because my views are unorthodox(but NOT proven to be incorrect by experimental evidence)because I am not particularly popular like it can happen on other sites(like social media where most of the users aren't scientists)or there will be SOUND discussion on what I am proposing here. I have some very bad experience with social media and forums where the community had the opportunity to vote and I was defending scientific po

int of view while everyone else-one based on faith. It didn't work out very well for me! This is why I first need to know am I among FRIENDS(e.g. other research scientists here)or among everyday folk just like on any other social media. Sorry, if this question bothers you. I just need to know how is this site structures and who is there I still can't figure out who is reading it-just us "the community" or every single idiot out there(I mean people who claim to be scientists but the moment you

realize what their "research" is about you understand it is someone who wants to SELL you something, not anybody interested in reaching the truth of the universe).on the Internet can come and answer you. This is my point here. I have ALWAYS longed for the firs, but always got the second. Is this the right place for me? Is this some kind of "social media for scientists"(something like researchgate but with questions and answers)or is it THE REAL THING :)

K-C

3:55 PM

@MassimoOrtolano they still chose that message

Massimo Ortolano

@K-C Because the other boilerplate messages would have been more misleading. That is the standard message chosen for very minor edits, which are usually discouraged on the SE network.

K-C

4:30 PM

Another alternative is to have accepted the edit. And, someone at SE had to choose that language. I think they meant it to not be used for helpful edits.

Anyway, doesn't matter. I know what this site is like now.

StrongBad

6:38 PM

@YordanYordanov No, everyone is welcome to participate as long as they respect other users (e.g., ad hominem attacks will get you suspended). If people disagree with your answers they may down vote you, but in general we have been pretty successful in providing high quality answers to people's questions. Take a look at our top questions and the profiles of some of our top users.

Yordan Yordanov

So. it is the right place, then! Oh, I have so many questions I need to ask specialists in many different areas I never got the chance to in my country or using e-mails only! :)

I really want to find a site where I can talk with colleagues only without the "buzz" of people who know nothing but talk a lot!

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