Peter O'Donnell – Medium

Peter O'Donnell

Published in
Age of Awareness

We teach algorithms in lieu of mathematics

Another day, another class. It was only mid-morning, but my pupil was struggling to arouse her synapses. The topic was familiar enough —…

Dec 28, 2023

We teach algorithms in lieu of mathematics

Dec 28, 2023

Published in
Age of Awareness

Why do we teach by rote? And how can we do better?

The morning was unremarkable. Having taken the first ten minutes to settle my eighth-grade physics class and direct their attention to the…

Oct 15, 2023

Why do we teach by rote? And how can we do better?

Oct 15, 2023

Published in
Age of Awareness

What outliers tell us about our school systems

It was eighth-grade mathematics. Our teacher sat at the front corner of the room, an orderly stack of test papers resting on her desk. One…

Oct 15, 2023

What outliers tell us about our school systems

Oct 15, 2023

Published in
Age of Awareness

Beyond PEMDAS: making sense of the arithmetic order of operations

Many of us will have encountered the mnemonic PEMDAS, sometimes Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, or one of its synonyms¹ at some time…

Oct 1, 2023

Beyond PEMDAS: making sense of the arithmetic order of operations

Oct 1, 2023

Published in
Age of Awareness

Separating education from validation

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education,” “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education,” or…

Nov 23, 2022

Separating education from validation

Nov 23, 2022

Published in
Age of Awareness

Rethinking the Body Positive

Self-acceptance is not synonymous with empowerment

Jun 18, 2022

Rethinking the Body Positive

Jun 18, 2022

Published in
Age of Awareness

No, the world is not improving

Preface

Jun 8, 2022

No, the world is not improving

Jun 8, 2022

Understanding the two most important principles of physical training

For most of us, the basic mechanisms behind training and conditioning would seem straightforward: if we train hard and consistently, we…

Nov 27, 2019

Understanding the two most important principles of physical training

Nov 27, 2019

Identifying our own motivations to exercise

Antonia was a new client: exceptionally tall, timid and self-conscious. Over the course of several weeks, I had watched her grow gradually…

Nov 14, 2019

Identifying our own motivations to exercise

Nov 14, 2019

Published in
In Fitness And In Health

The evolution of the gymnasium — from service to product

It was 1994. A skinny, hesitant nineteen-year-old man stepped into the nightclub-like darkness of a popular inner-city Melbourne gymnasium…

Sep 7, 2019

The evolution of the gymnasium — from service to product

Sep 7, 2019

Peter O'Donnell

Peter O'Donnell

School/university teacher, computer scientist (BITS), high-performance coach (ASCA L2), and passionate advocate of social justice

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