Blogging
Blog Posts
I write sporadically on my personal blog. Topics mostly focus on mathematics, teaching, and technology, but there are also a few cycling-related posts mixed in. Posts are listed in reverse chronological order.
- Nov 1, 2026: 2025–2026 newsletter from NAU’s Department of Mathematics & Statistics
- Oct 30, 2026: AI and Mathematics: A Weekly Digest and an Advocacy Collection
- Apr 29, 2026: Scott Akin MS Thesis
- Apr 25, 2026: 2025-2026 Undergraduate Research Students
- Apr 21, 2026: Allie Pari MS Thesis
- Apr 1, 2026: 2026 Great Survival Debate
- Mar 31, 2026: Anonymous Warrior
- Nov 5, 2025: Math on Tap!
- Sep 25, 2025: 45th first day of school!
- Jul 1, 2025: Department Chair
- Jul 17, 2023: Westfjords Way Bikepacking Route
- Jun 13, 2023: Enumerating signed permutations by reversal distance (Talk)
- Apr 14, 2023: Morphisms of impartial combinatorial games (Talk)
- Apr 6, 2023: 2023 Stagecoach 400
- Feb 1, 2023: 2023 Combinatorial Game Theory Colloquia
- Sep 6, 2022: Eulogy for my pops
- Jul 20, 2022: A week at ICERM
- Dec 10, 2020: Two quotes by Manu Kapur about learning and productive failure
- Jun 12, 2020: Quote from one of my students on final exam
- Feb 17, 2018: Quote by Yoda in The Last Jedi
- Jan 3, 2018: Quote by Marcus Aurelius
- Dec 31, 2017: Quote Attributed to Bruce Lee
- Nov 24, 2017: Quote by Henri Poincaré
- Jun 20, 2017: My Students' Favorite Problems from Spring 2017
- Feb 12, 2017: Registration for the 2017 SUnMaRC now open
- Jan 4, 2017: My Mathematics Genealogy
- Sep 29, 2016: Fifteen fun problems
- Sep 28, 2016: The 5 groups of order 8
- Sep 27, 2016: A (new) favorite math book
- Sep 26, 2016: How did I become a mathematician?
- Aug 26, 2016: Quote by Paul Wallace
- Dec 20, 2015: Statement of accomplishments for Michael Hastings
- Nov 15, 2015: The Kirkman Schoolgirls Problem (Talk)
- Oct 1, 2015: Exploring prime factorizations with my nine-year-old son
- Sep 25, 2015: Proofs Without Words (Talk)
- Sep 22, 2015: Quote by Stephen McCranie
- Sep 12, 2015: The Friendship Paradox: Your friends, on average, have more friends than you do (Talk)
- Jul 30, 2015: Quote by Paul Halmos
- Jul 30, 2015: Quote by Paul Halmos
- Feb 7, 2015: Quote by Paul Zeitz
- Jan 14, 2015: Setting the Stage
- Nov 6, 2014: Open problems with monetary rewards (Talk)
- Aug 13, 2014: Soup to Nuts: My Approach to IBL (Talk)
- Jul 14, 2014: Impartial achievement and avoidance games for generating finite groups
- Jun 20, 2014: Revised RL Moore quote
- Jun 9, 2014: Poster Session on IBL Best Practices at 2014 MathFest
- May 22, 2014: Student quotes about IBL
- Feb 4, 2014: Undergraduate Research Project for 2014-2015
- Jan 20, 2014: 2014 Joint Mathematics Meetings
- Jan 4, 2014: A summary of 2013
- Dec 28, 2013: Nice socks!
- Dec 23, 2013: An infinite non-cyclic group whose proper subgroups are cyclic
- Dec 3, 2013: Do hard things
- Oct 23, 2013: An Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma (Talk)
- Oct 7, 2013: Euler's Research Rules
- Sep 30, 2013: Proofs without Words (Talk)
- Sep 14, 2013: First day of student presentations in Calculus 1
- Aug 26, 2013: Gamification of Good Behavior
- Aug 24, 2013: An Introduction to Inquiry-Based Learning (Talk)
- Aug 4, 2013: Kirschner's article on minimally guided instruction
- Aug 4, 2013: An Update: Mathematics Education on the arXiv
- Aug 1, 2013: A Twitter conversation about Math Ed on the arXiv
- Jul 25, 2013: Mathematics Education on the arXiv?
- Jul 22, 2013: Editor for Mathblogging.org (or just say "yes")
- Jun 22, 2013: My favorite student comments from Spring 2013
- Jun 16, 2013: Implementing IBL in an Introduction to Proof Course (Talk)
- Jun 11, 2013: Survey on social networking policies of instructors
- Jun 11, 2013: Quote by Michael Atiyah
- May 5, 2013: Teaching Strategies for Improving Student Learning (Talk)
- Apr 30, 2013: Impartial games for generating groups (Talk)
- Apr 30, 2013: Montessori Observations
- Apr 12, 2013: Math Ed Matters is Live!
- Apr 7, 2013: Quote by Alexandra K. Trenfor
- Apr 5, 2013: Quote by Winston Churchill
- Mar 25, 2013: SUnMaRC 2013
- Feb 13, 2013: A diagrammatic representation of the Temperley-Lieb algebra (Talk)
- Feb 2, 2013: The Stargate Switch (Talk)
- Jan 15, 2013: Using IBL as an assessment strategy (Talk)
- Jan 15, 2013: Quote from “The Mentat Handbook”
- Dec 27, 2012: Reflections on my first semester at Northern Arizona University
- Dec 21, 2012: Producing learners
- Dec 20, 2012: Stepping away from Twitter
- Dec 20, 2012: IBL Best Practices session at MathFest 2013
- Nov 23, 2012: The Futurama Theorem and some refinements (Talk)
- Nov 7, 2012: Chinese proverb
- Nov 4, 2012: Euler's characteristic, soccer balls, and golf balls (Talk)
- Oct 28, 2012: Indiana Project NExT Panel Discussion on Inquiry-Based Learning (Talk)
- Oct 23, 2012: Designing Inquiry-Based Learning Experiences (Talk)
- Oct 21, 2012: Using GitHub to Coauthor Papers
- Oct 15, 2012: Inquiry-Based Learning: What, Why, and How? (Talk)
- Oct 3, 2012: Inquiry Based Learning: What, Why, and How? (Talk)
- Sep 16, 2012: An open problem of the symmetric group (Talk)
- Sep 11, 2012: Felt Tip Pens for Self-Annotating Student Work
- Sep 4, 2012: Guest Post at the IBL Blog
- Aug 20, 2012: LaTeX Homework Template
- Aug 11, 2012: What Students Keep for Life: Elements of Effective Thinking
- Jul 10, 2012: Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Jul 8, 2012: Quote by Galileo Galilei
- Jul 8, 2012: Enabling syntax highlighting in vim
- Jul 6, 2012: Quote by John von Neumann
- Dec 30, 2011: AIBL summer grant
- Dec 23, 2011: Quote Attributed to Galileo Galilei
- Dec 7, 2011: The Futurama Theorem (Talk)
- Dec 1, 2011: Combinatorics and graph theory are cool
- Nov 16, 2011: Zen saying, author unknown
- Nov 6, 2011: Alfred and Evernote
- Nov 5, 2011: The Futurama Theorem (Talk)
- Oct 30, 2011: Why use inquiry-based learning (IBL)?
- Oct 30, 2011: Using Mendeley with BibTeX
- Oct 30, 2011: Introduction to group theory by James Grime
- Oct 30, 2011: Double-spacing in LaTeX
- Oct 30, 2011: Quote by Bertrand Russell, Mysticism and Logic
Teaching Tidbits
I used to be a co-editor/author for the online column Teaching Tidbits, which was sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America. Below are some of my posts.
- D.C. Ernst. The Role of Failure and Struggle in the Mathematics Classroom Teaching Tidbits. Fall 2017. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst. Want to Give Your Teaching Style a Makeover This Summer? Here’s How. Teaching Tidbits. Spring 2017. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst. Who generates the examples? Teaching Tidbits. Fall 2016. [Blog Post]
Math Ed Matters
I was also a co-editor/author (joint with Angie Hodge) for Math Ed Matters, which was an online column sponsored by the MAA. The column explores topics and current events related to undergraduate mathematics education. Below is a selection of my posts.
- D.C. Ernst. Setting the Stage. Math Ed Matters. January 2015. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst. The Twin Pillars of IBL. Math Ed Matters. January 2015. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst. Fear is the mind-killer. Math Ed Matters. June 2014. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst. Encouraging Students to Tinker. Math Ed Matters. August 2014. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst, A. Hodge, and T.J. Hitchman. Engaging in Inquiry-Based Learning. Math Ed Matters. February 2014. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst and A. Hodge. Math Ed Mania at the JMM. Math Ed Matters. January 2014. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst and A. Hodge. The JMM: What’s Mathematics Education Got to Do with It? Math Ed Matters. December 2013. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst. Give the Students the Colored Pen. Math Ed Matters. August 2013. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst. Personality Matters? Math Ed Matters. July 2013. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst. Grade School Utopia? Math Ed Matters. July 2013. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst and A. Hodge. Try, Fail, Understand, Win. Math Ed Matters. June 2013. [Blog Post]
- D.C. Ernst. What the Heck Is IBL? Math Ed Matters. May 2013. [Blog Post]
Miscellaneous
Below are a few miscellaneous blogging-related items.
- Teaching Calculus 1 with a Focus on Student Presentations. Discovering the Art of Mathematics. October 2015. [Blog Post]
- 4+1 interview with Dana Ernst. Casting Out Nines by R. Talbert. The Chronicle Blog Network. August 2013. [Blog Post]
- IBL Instructor Perspectives: Professor Dana Ernst. The IBL Blog by S. Yoshinobu. February 2012. [Blog Post]
- I am an editor for Mathblogging.org, which is a site devoted to aggregating the multitude of math-related blogs and news sources across the Internet. My job as editor is to select blog posts to be included in the Editors’ Picks List.
The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.