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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Considering The Non-Programming Geographer's Perspective When Designing Extracurricular Introductory Computer Programming Workshops, Thomas R Etherington Dec 2018

Considering The Non-Programming Geographer's Perspective When Designing Extracurricular Introductory Computer Programming Workshops, Thomas R Etherington

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Computer programming is becoming an increasingly important scientific skill, but geographers are not necessarily receiving this training as part of their formal education. While there are efforts to promote and support extracurricular introductory computer programming workshops, there remain questions about how best to deliver these workshops. Therefore, as part of a recent introductory programming extracurricular workshop I organized for non-programing geographers, I tried to understand more about their perceptions of computer programming. I identify that one of the most important aspects for geographers to learn to computer program is to have training that is domain specific to ensure that the …


The Gaise College Report: The American Statistical Association Meets Sound Pedagogy In Central Virginia, Beverly Wood Nov 2018

The Gaise College Report: The American Statistical Association Meets Sound Pedagogy In Central Virginia, Beverly Wood

Beverly Wood

Research in undergraduate statistics education often centers on the introductory course required for a large percentage of college students. While acknowledging the diverse setting, audience, and purpose of introductory courses, existing research assumes that courses offered by different disciplines share the same goals and teaching practices. The purpose of this study is to examine the objectives for student outcomes and pedagogical delivery of introductory statistics courses in various academic departments to provide explicit evidence for this assumption. The American Statistical Association’s Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) are meant to apply to all introductory courses. The College …


Four Times Exceptional: Reflections On Motherhood And Teaching College Mathematics, Maria Fung Jul 2018

Four Times Exceptional: Reflections On Motherhood And Teaching College Mathematics, Maria Fung

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This essay discusses the challenges of mothering four very different children--one adopted, one gifted, one anxious and one dyslexic child--and the impact of this experience on teaching mathematics at the college level.


Motherhood And Teaching: Radical Care, Ksenija Simic-Muller Jul 2018

Motherhood And Teaching: Radical Care, Ksenija Simic-Muller

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This essay is a personal reflection on how I leverage my positioning as a caregiver in my roles of a mathematician, teacher, and mother, to advance a vision for a more just and equitable society. I argue that care at home and in the classroom takes similar forms, and can be liberating instead of oppressive.


Supporting English Language Learners Inside The Mathematics Classroom: One Teacher’S Unique Perspective Working With Students During Their First Years In America, Amy Marie Fendrick May 2018

Supporting English Language Learners Inside The Mathematics Classroom: One Teacher’S Unique Perspective Working With Students During Their First Years In America, Amy Marie Fendrick

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

Reflecting upon my personal experiences teaching mathematics to English Language Learners (ELL) in a public high school in Lincoln, Nebraska, this essay largely focuses on the time I spent as the only Accelerated Math teacher in my school building. From 2012 – 2017, I taught three different subjects at this high school: Advanced Algebra, Algebra, and Accelerated Math. This essay highlights why I chose to become a math and ELL teacher, as well as the challenges, issues, struggles, and successes I experienced during my time teaching. I focus on the challenges I faced teaching students who did not share my …


Archimedes In The Classroom, Rachel Towne Apr 2018

Archimedes In The Classroom, Rachel Towne

Masters Essays

Eureka! Eureka! What better way to excite and engage students than to bring Archimedes into the classroom? Archimedes is widely regarded as the greatest mathematician of antiquity. Very little is known about Archimedes’ personal life. Archimedes was born in Syracuse, Sicily around 287 B.C., and he was the son of an astronomer. He probably studied in Alexandria, Egypt under followers of Euclid. Today we know Archimedes as a brilliant mathematician and scientist, he spent much of his career inventing war machines. Despite orders not to harm Archimedes, his life was cut short in 212 B.C. when the Romans invaded Syracuse …


May The Forces Be With You!, Christopher Sirola Feb 2018

May The Forces Be With You!, Christopher Sirola

Faculty Publications

In everyday life, we usually directly note two basic forces: gravity and electromagnetism. Gravity—as in the acceleration due to Earth’s gravity—tends to be a background force of sorts, something that is always present and always the same. We don’t always see electricity and/or magnetism as such, but their subsidiaries are all around us—friction, normal force, tension, springs, and the like.


Siphons, Water Clocks, Cooling Coffee, And Leaking Capacitors: Classroom Activities And A Few Equations To Help Students Understand Radioactive Decay And Other Exponential Processes, John B. Brady Jan 2018

Siphons, Water Clocks, Cooling Coffee, And Leaking Capacitors: Classroom Activities And A Few Equations To Help Students Understand Radioactive Decay And Other Exponential Processes, John B. Brady

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Although an understanding of radiometric dating is central to the preparation of every geologist, many students struggle with the concepts and mathematics of radioactive decay. Physical demonstrations and hands-on experiments can be used to good effect in addressing this teaching conundrum. Water, heat, and electrons all move or flow in response to generalized forces (gradients in pressure, temperature, and electrical potential) that may change because of the flow. Changes due to these flows are easy to monitor over time during simple experiments in the classroom. Some of these experiments can be modeled as exponential decay, analogous to the mathematics of …


Ancient Cultures + High School Algebra = A Diverse Mathematical Approach, Laryssa Byndas Jan 2018

Ancient Cultures + High School Algebra = A Diverse Mathematical Approach, Laryssa Byndas

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.


Using Geogebra To Explore Properties Of Circles In Euclidean Geometry, Erin Hanna Jan 2018

Using Geogebra To Explore Properties Of Circles In Euclidean Geometry, Erin Hanna

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.