Fuzzy math, adjunct unions, campus racism, public school creationists, and critical thinking: Your Required Readings!

So many interesting stories out there and so little time to find them all…here are a few interesting education-related articles from the past few days:

The Common Core curriculum has received much attention, both positive and negative. But an Arizona legislator had a rather novel reason for voting against it: “fuzzy math” that sometimes substitutes letters for numbers. Which, last time I checked, included algebra and many other areas of math.

Curious about how universities are reacting to adjunct efforts to unionize? One source has collected official communications about What Universities Tell Adjuncts About Unions.

In case anyone was still thinking the U.S. had reached a post-racial period, frat boys at Ole Miss prove them wrong.

Usually, educators trying to slip creationism in the classroom are aware of the constitutional and legal issues involved and try to be subtle. One Indiana teacher decided to skip the restrained approach and go straight to showing Kent Hovind videos in class. Not surprisingly, the Freedom From Religion Foundation had a few things to say about that.

Teaching critical thinking skills is an vital component of education in a world where anyone can claim anything on the web, in the news, or even within a textbook. Lifehacker provides a great guide to developing your own critical thinking powers, but the skills involved can be passed on to students of all levels in the day-to-day curriculum.

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Required Readings are a list of links that you might find interesting! Look for them to appear every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday morning.

Image credits: Wesleying