About this episode

Mike Palmer interviews Ted Dintersmith about the future of math education and the impact of AI on learning.

What if everything we’ve been told about math education is backwards? In this episode of Trending in Education, Mike Palmer is joined by Ted Dintersmith,venture capitalist, filmmaker, and author of the upcoming book Aftermath: The Life-Changing Math That Schools Won't Teach You to discuss why our schools are still teaching low-level math mechanics that phones and AI already do perfectly. You can learn more about Ted's work at What Schools Could Be. Ted shares his journey from the world of high-tech innovation to becoming a "code red" alarmed citizen advocate for radical school change. We dive into how high-stakes exams are inadvertently training students to compete with AI in areas where computers are unbeatable, while ignoring the creative and conceptual math, like probability, decision-making frameworks, and estimation, that actually shapes lives. From Moneyball statistics to the dangers of misinterpreting healthcare data, Ted explains why math should be a tool for empowerment rather than a metric for punishment. We also take a "lightning round" trip through Ted’s prolific career, including his work with the late Sir Ken Robinson and his influential documentaries Most Likely to…

People in this episode

Host: Mike Palmer

Guest: Ted Dintersmith

Topics covered

• math education
• AI in education
• school reform
• creative math
• high-stakes exams
• curriculum development

Keywords

• math education
• AI
• school change
• curriculum
• high-stakes exams

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: What Schools Could Be

Books & works: Aftermath, Most Likely to Succeed, Multiple Choice

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