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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Beauty Of Life In Dynamical Systems: Philosophical Musings And Resources For Students, Soumya Banerjee, Joyeeta Ghose, Tarakeswar Banerjee, Kalyani Banerjee Aug 2023

Beauty Of Life In Dynamical Systems: Philosophical Musings And Resources For Students, Soumya Banerjee, Joyeeta Ghose, Tarakeswar Banerjee, Kalyani Banerjee

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Information plays a key role in life and in complex biological systems, and dynamical systems underlie and can be used to represent many complex systems. Indeed, dynamical systems and information processing capabilities may be the hallmarks of life-like systems. In this paper we combine dynamical systems with a computational framework to generate art. The framework can be used to generate aesthetically appealing forms of life-like systems. Our work suggests that we may need an ``aesthetic sense'' to recognize life that we have not seen before. We also provide teaching resources for students in schools and undergraduate institutions.


Students Arts Participation Increases Stem Motivation Via Self-Efficacy, Stephen M. Dahlem Feb 2023

Students Arts Participation Increases Stem Motivation Via Self-Efficacy, Stephen M. Dahlem

The STEAM Journal

This work found that there exists a correlation between student motivation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and student participation in the arts during high school with self-efficacy being a mediator. STEM is an important component of student success from a broad, national, perspective, as well as from a domain-specific point of view. The results of this work may provide aid to teachers, parents, administrators, and even students seeking to find ways to increase student motivation and performance in the STEM subjects. Additionally, this work may be of interest to advocates of the arts. This quantitative correlational study was …


Challenge-Based Learning & Steam Curriculum, Diana Lockwood Feb 2023

Challenge-Based Learning & Steam Curriculum, Diana Lockwood

The STEAM Journal

STEAM education is being integrated into elementary schools as a way to engage more students in creativity, hands-on learning, and problem-based learning also referred to as Challenge-Based-Learning (CBL). This article focuses on elementary educators’ curriculum design for STEAM and presenting students with open-ended questions phrased as a challenge as a way to raise student interest and achievement (DeJarnette, 2018; Hunter-Doniger, 2018). When students received challenges to solve, they felt more open to sharing their ideas since there was more than one potential right answer (DeJarnette, 2018; Drake, 2012). When implementing CBL, teachers act as facilitators using a constructivist approach as …


Qualitative Analysis Of A Resource Management Model And Its Application To The Past And Future Of Endangered Whale Populations, Glenn Ledder Mar 2021

Qualitative Analysis Of A Resource Management Model And Its Application To The Past And Future Of Endangered Whale Populations, Glenn Ledder

CODEE Journal

Observed whale dynamics show drastic historical population declines, some of which have not been reversed in spite of restrictions on harvesting. This phenomenon is not explained by traditional predator prey models, but we can do better by using models that incorporate more sophisticated assumptions about consumer-resource interaction. To that end, we derive the Holling type 3 consumption rate model and use it in a one-variable differential equation obtained by treating the predator population in a predator-prey model as a parameter rather than a dynamic variable. The resulting model produces dynamics in which low and high consumption levels lead to single …


Evolution Of Island, Dominique Kongsli Dec 2020

Evolution Of Island, Dominique Kongsli

The STEAM Journal

Evolution of Island emerged from the depths of an ocean of blue paint. My process involves observation of nature: I remember scuba diving in Thailand in the Andaman Sea and having a spiritual experience underwater while observing Christmas-tree worms pop in and out of the coral.


Visual Arts Enhance Instruction In Observation And Analysis Of Microscopic Forms In Developmental And Cell Biology, Max Ezin, Christina Noravian, Amira Mahomed, Adam Lyle, Aveleen Gill, Tamira Elul Dec 2020

Visual Arts Enhance Instruction In Observation And Analysis Of Microscopic Forms In Developmental And Cell Biology, Max Ezin, Christina Noravian, Amira Mahomed, Adam Lyle, Aveleen Gill, Tamira Elul

The STEAM Journal

Two important skills for scientists in developmental and cell biology, as well as in fields such as neurobiology, histology and pathology, are: 1) observation of features and details in microscopic images of cells, and 2) quantification of cellular features observed in microscopic images. However, current training in developmental and cell biology does not emphasize observation and quantitative analysis of microscopic images, and it is unclear how best to teach students these skills. Here, we describe our experiences applying visual artistic approaches to instruct undergraduate and graduate students in how to observe and analyze cellular forms in microscopic images. At Loyola …


Extending Power Series Methods For The Hodgkin-Huxley Equations, Including Sensitive Dependence, James S. Sochacki Nov 2020

Extending Power Series Methods For The Hodgkin-Huxley Equations, Including Sensitive Dependence, James S. Sochacki

CODEE Journal

A neural cell or neuron is the basic building block of the brain and transmits information to other neurons. This paper demonstrates the complicated dynamics of the neuron through a numerical study of the Hodgkin-Huxley differential equations that model the ionic mechanisms of the neuron: slight changes in parameter values and inputted electrical impulses can lead to very different (unexpected) results. The methods and ideas developed for the ordinary differential equations are extended to partial differential equations for Hodgkin-Huxley networks of neurons in one, two and three dimensions.


Natural By Design, Craig Steele Jul 2020

Natural By Design, Craig Steele

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

I’m a professor in the Department of Biology and Health Sciences at Edinboro University, in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, a small, comprehensive liberal arts institution within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. My major teaching duties involve environmental biology, zoology, and ichthyology. I emphasize to my students how mathematics underlies the natural world of plants and animals, pointing out to them how many of “our” most amazing engineering and constructional achievements are copied from nature (from geodesic domes to the fusiform bows of modern commercial ships), as well as how plant and animal physiology and animal behavior (of individuals and of …


Third Voices Conference On Teaching Stem With Music, September 22-23, 2019, Lawrence M. Lesser Jul 2019

Third Voices Conference On Teaching Stem With Music, September 22-23, 2019, Lawrence M. Lesser

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The third annual VOICES (Virtual Ongoing Interdisciplinary Collaborations on Educating with Song; https://www.causeweb.org/voices/) conference will be held online September 22-23, 2019. Chaired by Tiffany Getty, this conference will explore the use of song to teach STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) at the postsecondary (or secondary) level.


Applied Scientific Demiurgy I – Entrance Examination Information Sheet, Mario Daniel Martín Jul 2019

Applied Scientific Demiurgy I – Entrance Examination Information Sheet, Mario Daniel Martín

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This document provides all the required information needed by aspiring demiurges to sit the entrance examination for the foundation course Applied Scientific Demiurgy I in the scientific stream of the Bachelor of Applied Demiurgy at the Topological Hyper-university of Technological Cosmology.


Differential Equations Of Love And Love Of Differential Equations, Isaac Elishakoff Jul 2019

Differential Equations Of Love And Love Of Differential Equations, Isaac Elishakoff

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In this paper, simple ordinary differential equations are discussed against the background of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In addition, a version of this relationship in a somewhat opposite setting is considered. It is proposed that engineering mathematics courses include this topic in order to promote additional interest in differential equations. In the final section it is shown that vibration of a single-degree-of-freedom mechanical system can be cast as a love-hate relationship between its displacement and velocity, and dynamic instability identified as a transition from trigonometric love to hyperbolic.


Using Hidden Markov Modeling For Biogeographical Ancestry Analysis, Melvin R. Currie Jul 2019

Using Hidden Markov Modeling For Biogeographical Ancestry Analysis, Melvin R. Currie

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This paper describes a methodology for analyzing X-chromosome data to establish biogeographical contributions to the author’s X chromosome. We present an exposition of how Hidden Markov Modeling (HMM) can be used as a black box for ancestry analysis and focus on a set of conditions that are not universal but fairly common. The first condition is that the ancestral populations are drawn from regions that have had very little or no contact with each other since prehistoric times. The second condition is that the number of possible ancestral populations is small. In this analysis, we assume that the ancestral populations …


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

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.


One = Zero, Eric John Gofen Jul 2017

One = Zero, Eric John Gofen

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In this paper, I use Mathematics in addition to the three most pure sciences --- Physics, Chemistry, and Rap --- to prove that 1=0. The argument uses The Ideal Gas Law, Ohm's Law, the Definitions of Power and Velocity in addition to indefinite integrals, simple mathematical operations, and the 99 Problems Law. The intuition-crushing result can be applied to all branches of mathematics and sciences and will likely go down as one of the greatest discoveries of all time.


Unseen Minutia, Sara Kapadia Sep 2015

Unseen Minutia, Sara Kapadia

The STEAM Journal

A brief thought on the unseen details.


Ecoscience + Art Initiative: Designing A New Paradigm For College Education, Scholarship, And Service, Changwoo Ahn Sep 2015

Ecoscience + Art Initiative: Designing A New Paradigm For College Education, Scholarship, And Service, Changwoo Ahn

The STEAM Journal

The paper presents a new initiative, EcoScience + Art, which blooms at George Mason University. The creator explains the background, history, and recent activities of the initiative, and also introduces an on-going special project called “The Rain Project”, a student participatory project to design, construct, and monitor a green infrastructure (i.e., floating wetland) for sustainable stormwater management on campus. The special project is geared to design and present a new paradigm to integrate college education, scholarship, and service. The relevance of the initiative and the special project to STEAM education is discussed.


Some Effects Of The Human Genome Project On The Erdős Collaboration Graph, Chris Fields Jul 2014

Some Effects Of The Human Genome Project On The Erdős Collaboration Graph, Chris Fields

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The Human Genome Project introduced large-scale collaborations involving dozens to hundreds of scientists into biology. It also created a pressing need to solve discrete mathematics problems involving tens of thousands of elements. In this paper, we use minimal path lengths in the Erdős Collaboration Graph between prominent individual researchers as a measure of the distance between disciplines, and we show that the Human Genome Project brought laboratory biology as a whole closer to mathematics. We also define a novel graph reduction method and a metric that emphasizes the robustness of collaborative connections between researchers; these can facilitate the analysis of …


Connecting The Contradictory With Science Art And The Aid Of A Caption, Carel P. Brest Van Kempen, Darryl Wheye Mar 2013

Connecting The Contradictory With Science Art And The Aid Of A Caption, Carel P. Brest Van Kempen, Darryl Wheye

The STEAM Journal

When the disciplines of science and art intertwine to reveal a truth then words and images are suited to telling different parts, and reveal the whole story most effectively when working in tandem. Decoding the underlying science within a work of art through a caption does not diminish its value as art, but when we fail to decode the science we miss entry into a narrative.


Broad Vision: The Art & Science Of Looking, Heather Barnett, John R. A. Smith Mar 2013

Broad Vision: The Art & Science Of Looking, Heather Barnett, John R. A. Smith

The STEAM Journal

Undergraduate students and academic staff from diverse disciplines in the arts and sciences investigated questions of mediated vision through a year-long interdisciplinary research project at the University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. The Broad Vision project explored the perception and interpretation of microscopic worlds, and investigated the benefits and challenges of working across disciplinary divides in a university setting. This article describes the three-phase model for interdisciplinary learning and research developed through the project, providing a valuable case study for inquiry based art/science education.


Towards A “Cloud Curriculum” In Art And Science?, Roger Malina Mar 2013

Towards A “Cloud Curriculum” In Art And Science?, Roger Malina

The STEAM Journal

Recently an email hit my desk from Paul Thomas in Australia with a proposal to work together on a “Cloud Curriculum for Art and Science”. I immediately agreed to collaborate. I don’t yet have a clue of what a cloud curriculum is, but what I do know is that we are ‘backing into the future’ in educational institutions and we desperately need a ‘cloud curriculum.’ We need to look over the ten year horizon. And in the emerging art-science field I doubt that the usual approach to curriculum development will work.


A Distributed Intelligence Approach To Multidisciplinarity: Encouraging Divergent Thinking In Complex Science Issues In Society., Jarod Kawasaki, Dai Toyofuku Mar 2013

A Distributed Intelligence Approach To Multidisciplinarity: Encouraging Divergent Thinking In Complex Science Issues In Society., Jarod Kawasaki, Dai Toyofuku

The STEAM Journal

The scientific issues that face society today are increasingly complex, open-ended and tentative (Sadler, 2004). Finding solutions to these issues, not only requires an understanding of the science, but also, concurrently dealing with political, social, and economic dimensions that exist (Hodson, 2003). For example, 40 years after the first congressional hearing on climate change held by Al Gore in 1976, the 2012 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report states that climate change is still getting worse, despite efforts by governments, businesses, social actors such as Non-Government Organizations, and scientists. With the top minds in the world, across all disciplines, …


A Letter To The Steam Journal Readers, Deborah Freund Mar 2013

A Letter To The Steam Journal Readers, Deborah Freund

The STEAM Journal

A letter to the readers from the President of Claremont Graduate University, President Deborah Freund, welcoming the inaugural issue of 'The STEAM Journal'.


Three Poems: The Lorenz Transformations, Rotating The Strange Attractor To Find The Principal Components, The Sieve Of Eratosthenes, Robin Chapman Jan 2013

Three Poems: The Lorenz Transformations, Rotating The Strange Attractor To Find The Principal Components, The Sieve Of Eratosthenes, Robin Chapman

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

No abstract provided.


A Mathematician Weighs In On The Evolution Debate, Kris H. Green Jul 2011

A Mathematician Weighs In On The Evolution Debate, Kris H. Green

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

There are a variety of reasons underlying the lack of public acceptance for the theory of evolution in the United States. An overlooked cause is related to problems with the mathematics curriculum in the K-12 setting. In this essay, we examine this relationship and propose changes to the mathematics curriculum that could improve mathematical thinking while also providing a basis for understanding theories, like evolution, that are poorly understood.