Site created January 2015.
As of August 2022, this site is not being updated.
Author: Jim Olsen (James R. Olsen)
Brief author description: I teach at Western Illinois University & have a great wife and 3 great children. I consider myself a Christian, family member, teacher, athlete, and scholar. I taught HS math in the public schools for 10 years. I have been a teacher educator in the Mathematics Department at Western Illinois University since 1994. More Info on Dr. O here
Site Title: “When Will It Pay For Itself” – I chose this as the title for the site because I really like the problem where you buy something more efficient (examples: hot water heater, efficient windows, higher mpg car, cattle watering system, new refrigerator) and you want to how long it will take to pay for itself. This can be solved nicely by creating two functions (one for the cost of operating the old system and one for the new system) and finding the intersection of the graphs.
Purpose of this Site: The purpose of this site is to help people understand grade 5 through 9 algebra. Middle school algebra up through, and including Algebra I. I always seek to make mathematics meaningful (make connections) and make it enjoyable.
Intent: My intent is to create a website that is highly organized, based on solid mathematics and the CCSSM (Common Core State Standards for Mathematics), and useful for teachers and their students. The Internet is easily overwhelming. My intent is to curate resources and materials to illuminate mathematics.
I’m not-throwing-stuff-at-the-wall Disclaimer: This website will grow gradually and may never be comprehensive. This is to be carefully curated. (For a wall with stuff on it look at my Pinterest or some of the sites at the bottom.)
Intended Audience: This site is first created for my Math 502 class (Algebraic Mathematical Modeling for Middle School Teachers, which I’m teaching at WIU-Quad Cities, spring 2015). I intend for many of the resources to also be useful for grade 5-9 math teachers and students.
Initiation Date and Aspiration: This site was created Jan. 3, 2015. I have been making web pages since 1999 (see other webpages below). I expect (as of January 2015) to maintain this website for at least the next 8 years.
Some of My Beliefs: In 2014 the NCTM published a book, titled Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All. I believe (support) the 8 Mathematics Teaching Practices and the 5 Guiding Principles for School Mathematics. These (best) teaching practices and guiding principles can be seen in the Executive Summary.
More Information and Sites: This is a subdomain of drjimo.net. Find more information and other subdomains there.
Feedback/Comments: I do welcome feedback from students and readers of this site. Please call me or email me. [I have disabled the comment feature on the website itself.]
Social Media: I use (in somewhat decreasing order of significance)
Some of my other webpages and projects:
Common Core Math Standards: Information, Links, and Resources – I created this page (and continue to maintain it) to provide an easy way for teachers (and myself) to find CCSSM (and PARCC/Smarter Balanced) information, links, and resources.
Course Specific Mental Math Curriculum – This is a curriculum I’ve been creating for a number of years. The Grade 8 and Algebra I curricula are done. Seventh grade and Geometry are in the works.- Jim Olsen’s Home Page – this remains as my ‘front’ page. Lists current projects and pages and links to most everything else you see here.
- Teaching Resources – this is a very extensive list of resources for teaching.
- A Few Things I’ve Created list – a list of some of my other webpages (smaller projects)
- Online Math Games, Demonstration/Exploration Tools, and Puzzles – created a number of years ago. This site is not currently being maintained.
- PFD Boot Camp – PFD = Percents, Fractions, and Decimals
- Math Education Research and a Plethora of Committee and Government Reports
- Brain-Based Learning and Learning Theories