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Full-Text Articles in Education
Collaboration And Creativity In Southern Califonia: An Offering, Gizem Karaali, Ami Radunskaya
Collaboration And Creativity In Southern Califonia: An Offering, Gizem Karaali, Ami Radunskaya
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
WiMSoCal (Women in Math in Southern California) is a regional conference in its ninth incarnation. The conference is the result of the efforts of Professor Cymra Haskell (USC) to create a supportive local community for women mathematicians. At our first meeting in 2007, a confluence of Ami’s EDGE regional cluster and Cymra’s WISE group at USC, we socialized, got to know each other and brainstormed about what we, as a group, would like to see happen. It was clear that our younger colleagues wanted to meet as mathematicians, sharing intellectual ideas as well as anecdotes from the trenches.
Humanistic Mathematics: An Oxymoron?, Gizem Karaali
Humanistic Mathematics: An Oxymoron?, Gizem Karaali
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research
Mathematics faculty are trained as mathematicians, first and foremost. If we did not experience the soul-expanding possibilities of liberal education during our own undergraduate years, we may hesitate to bridge disciplinary divides when pursuing our core human need to inquire and understand. Although most mathematicians I know are amazing teachers, communicators, and mentors, many still teach the same material that their professors and their professors’ professors taught. This time-tested approach can be powerful, fascinating, and even quite entertaining. But it can also seem far removed from the world we inhabit. Yes, we teach “real world applications” of mathematical concepts. Yet …
Imagine Math Day: Encouraging Secondary School Students And Teachers To Engage In Authentic Mathematical Discovery, Darryl H. Yong, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
Imagine Math Day: Encouraging Secondary School Students And Teachers To Engage In Authentic Mathematical Discovery, Darryl H. Yong, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
All HMC Faculty Publications and Research
Research mathematicians and school children experience mathematics in profoundly different ways. Ask a group of mathematicians what it means to “do mathematics” and you are likely to get a myriad of responses: mathematics involves analyzing and organizing patterns and relationships, reasoning and drawing conclusions about the world, or creating languages and tools to describe and solve important problems. Students of mathematics often report “doing mathematics” as performing calculations or following rules. It’s natural that they see mathematics as monolithic rather than an evolving, growing, socially constructed body of knowledge, because most mathematical training in primary and secondary schools consists of …
The Art Of Teaching Mathematics, Garikai Campbell, Jon T. Jacobsen, Aimee S A Johnson, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
The Art Of Teaching Mathematics, Garikai Campbell, Jon T. Jacobsen, Aimee S A Johnson, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
All HMC Faculty Publications and Research
On June 10–12, 2007, Harvey Mudd College hosted A Conference on the Art of Teaching Mathematics. The conference brought together approximately thirty mathematicians from the Claremont Colleges, Denison, DePauw, Furman, Middlebury, Penn State, Swarthmore, and Vassar to explore the topic of teaching as an art. Assuming there is an element of artistic creativity in teaching mathematics, in what ways does it surface and what should we be doing to develop this creativity?
Teaching Time Savers: The Exam Practically Wrote Itself!, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
Teaching Time Savers: The Exam Practically Wrote Itself!, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
All HMC Faculty Publications and Research
When I first started teaching, creating an exam for my upper division courses was a genuinely exciting process. The material felt fresh and relatively unexplored (at least by me), and I remember often feeling pleasantly overwhelmed with what seemed like a vast supply of intriguing and engrossing exam-ready problems. Crafting the perfect exam, one that was noticeably inviting, exceedingly fair, and unavoidably illuminating, was a real joy.
Teaching Time Savers: Is Homework Grading On Your Nerves?, Lisette G. De Pillis, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
Teaching Time Savers: Is Homework Grading On Your Nerves?, Lisette G. De Pillis, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
All HMC Faculty Publications and Research
You have probably heard it said that we learn mathematics best when we do mathematics, or that mathematics is not a spectator sport. For most of our students, this means that their mathematics courses will involve a fair amount of homework. This homework is often used to evaluate individual student progress, but it can also be used, for example, as a catalyst for discussion, to emphasize a point made in class, and to identify common misunderstandings throughout the class as a whole. There is, however, the matter of grading homework.
Teaching Time Savers: Some Advice On Giving Advice, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
Teaching Time Savers: Some Advice On Giving Advice, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
All HMC Faculty Publications and Research
There are always a lot of questions that need to be answered at the beginning of a course. When are office hours? What are the grading policies? How many exams will there be? Will late homework be accepted? We have all seen the answers to these sorts of questions form the bulk of a standard course syllabus, and most of us feel an obligation (and rightly so) to provide such information.
Teaching Time Savers: Style Points, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
Teaching Time Savers: Style Points, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
All HMC Faculty Publications and Research
When I began as an assistant professor, I had a pretty good sense of how much time it would take for me to prepare for each class. After a few conversations with my new colleagues, I even had a good sense of how much time I should devote to tasks like office hours and committee work. Somewhere in the middle of grading my first exam, though, it became painfully clear that I had underestimated the amount of time I would need to grade exams!
Teaching Time Savers: A Recommendation For Recommendations, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
Teaching Time Savers: A Recommendation For Recommendations, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
All HMC Faculty Publications and Research
I admit it — I enjoy writing recommendation letters for my students. I like
learning about their hopes and dreams, where they have been and where they want to go. A recommendation letter is an opportunity to remind myself how much my students can grow while they are in college, and how much I have grown as an instructor, advisor, and mentor.
Looking Beyond The Curriculum In Jamaica, Jon T. Jacobsen, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
Looking Beyond The Curriculum In Jamaica, Jon T. Jacobsen, Michael E. Orrison Jr.
All HMC Faculty Publications and Research
In August 2004, we had the opportunity to travel to Jamaica to lead a pilot workshop for Jamaican high school math teachers. The workshop focused on the importance of mathematical context in the teaching of mathematics. It was sponsored by the Gibraltar Institute, a Jamaica-based nongovernmental organization led by Trevor Campbell (Pomona College) and Reginald Nugent (Cal State Pomona), Jamaica’s College of Agriculture, Science and Education, and Harvey Mudd College.
Mathematical Magic, Arthur T. Benjamin
Mathematical Magic, Arthur T. Benjamin
All HMC Faculty Publications and Research
In this paper, we present simple strategies for performing mathematical calculations that appear magical to most audiences. Specifically, we explain how to square large numbers, memorize pi to 100 places and determine the day of the week of any given date.
Rethink The Aptitude Excuse, David E. Drew
Rethink The Aptitude Excuse, David E. Drew
CGU Faculty Publications and Research
The achievement problems in U.S. schools can be seen clearly at our border. Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas, are about a mile apart, separated by the Rio Grande. For years, one of my former doctoral students was on the faculty of the University of Texas at El Paso and directed the remedial center. Students who were having trouble in a variety of subjects, including mathematics, came to the center for tutoring by undergraduates and graduate students. In reviewing who was hired by the center over a number of years, she observed that Americans were rarely hired to tutor in …