Education Commons^™

Voices: Conference On Teaching Stem With Music, September 27-28, 2017, Gregory J. Crowther

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This first-of-its-kind, online-only conference will explore the use of music to teach STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) at the college level (including AP courses). Presentations will be live-streamed from the conference website, https://www.causeweb.org/voices. Online registrations (for only $10 apiece!) will be accepted at the conference website until the conclusion of the conference on September 28, 2017.

Special Issue Call For Papers: Mathematics And Motherhood, Pamela E. Harris, Becky Hall, Carrie Diaz Eaton, Emille Davie Lawrence

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The Journal of Humanistic Mathematics is pleased to announce a call for papers for a special issue on Mathematics and Motherhood. Please send your abstract submissions via email to the guest editors by October 1, 2017. Initial submission of complete manuscripts is due January 1, 2018. The issue is currently scheduled to appear in July 2018.

A Mathematician’S Journey From Mentee To Mentor: Reflections On The Edge Program, Sarah Bryant, Alejandra Alvarado

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The programs supporting diversity in mathematics are as important as ever. So why are they losing funding? And what hope do they have of thriving in the current political climate? In this collaborative interview, two past participants of EDGE (Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education) explore these questions; Sarah probes and narrates as Alejandra thinks out loud about the ways that the program has shaped her life and how she hopes to see the program continue.

I Love You Fifty, Nat Banting

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This article chronicles the merging of my roles of teacher and learner of mathematics with that of a relatively new pursuit: parenthood. Amidst my attempts to dutifully provide opportunities for my son to interact with various mathematical ideas and artifacts, it was an unanticipated moment of epiphany that allowed me to enter into his emerging world of mathematical significance and rediscover what first drew me to the teaching and learning of mathematics. My son’s innocent, yet potent, understanding of number provides an image of the power of mathematics to organize experience, structure significance, and communicate meaning.

Inquiry Based Learning From The Learner’S Point Of View: A Teacher Candidate’S Success Story, Caroline Johnson Caswell, Derek J. Labrie

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The goal of this paper is to review current research on Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) and shed some light, from a student's perspective, on the challenges and rewards of this pedagogy. The first part of the article provides an extensive review of the literature on IBL. The second part focuses on one student's experiences in an IBL classroom.

In particular, a graduate secondary mathematics student reflects upon his experiences in a college mathematics class where the instructor implemented an Inquiry Based Learning model. His experience is validated by current research on IBL educational methodology which structures the classroom environment for …

Paul's Dilemma: Is This A Polyhedron?, Bethany Noblitt, Shelly Harkness

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Teachers play the believing game when they honor students’ mathematical thinking, even when it means they must suspend their own mathematical thinking momentarily. The study reported here tells the story of what happened in a university mathematics classroom when one student did not think that a particular figure satisfied the definition of a polyhedron and the instructor chose to play the believing game. The result was a very rich discussion, where both students and the authors grappled with their own mathematical understanding. One author served as the instructor of the course and the other author was an observer, taking field …

16, Dan Mcquillan

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This 15 word poem suggests that the reader count the words of the poem. Since every line has half as many words as the previous line, and since the poem urges the reader to keep counting forever, one imagines a total of 16 words.

The Battle Against Malaria: A Teachable Moment, Randy K. Schwartz

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Malaria has been humanity’s worst public health problem throughout recorded history. Mathematical methods are needed to understand which factors are relevant to the disease and to develop counter-measures against it. This article and the accompanying exercises provide examples of those methods for use in lower- or upper-level courses dealing with probability, statistics, or population modeling. These can be used to illustrate such concepts as correlation, causation, conditional probability, and independence. The article explains how the apparent link between sickle cell trait and resistance to malaria was first verified in Uganda using the chi-squared probability distribution. It goes on to explain …

The Graduate Student Blues, Marion D. Cohen

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This is a memoir about my rather unconventional path to a mathematics Ph.D. There were difficulties, due partly to university politics, partly to my youth and immaturity, and partly to the thesis material itself – it was, in the words of some of my fellow students, “not what’s being done now”. I had written the thesis entirely on my own, without help from my Master’s thesis advisor or any other professor at my school. This is not the usual procedure of course. Nobody in my department could understand the thesis or was willing to vouch for it. There followed three …

Mathematics For Human Flourishing, Francis Su

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Why does the practice of mathematics often fall short of our ideals and hopes? How can the deeply human themes that drive us to do mathematics be channeled to build a more beautiful and just world in which all can truly flourish?