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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Carrying Biomath Education In A Leaky Bucket, James A. Powell, Brynja R. Kohler, James W. Haefner, Janice Bodily Jul 2012

Carrying Biomath Education In A Leaky Bucket, James A. Powell, Brynja R. Kohler, James W. Haefner, Janice Bodily

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

In this paper, we describe a project-based mathematical lab implemented in our Applied Mathematics in Biology course. The Leaky Bucket Lab allows students to parameterize and test Torricelli’s law and develop and compare their own alternative models to describe the dynamics of water draining from perforated containers. In the context of this lab students build facility in a variety of applied biomathematical tools and gain confidence in applying these tools in data-driven environments. We survey analytic approaches developed by students to illustrate the creativity this encourages as well as prepare other instructors to scaffold the student learning experience. Pedagogical results …


Parts Of The Whole: Learn More, Learn Better, Dorothy Wallace Jan 2012

Parts Of The Whole: Learn More, Learn Better, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

Building on previous columns in Numeracy, this column analyzes various teaching techniques in terms of their ability to build cognitive schema, extend existing schema, reinforce learning, move mean understanding of a group of students, and reduce variance in understanding of a group. We offer a pedagogical cycle as an example of how to address multiple learning goals using common teaching methods.


Squaring, Cubing, And Cube Rooting, Arthur T. Benjamin Jan 2012

Squaring, Cubing, And Cube Rooting, Arthur T. Benjamin

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

I still recall my thrill and disappointment when I read Mathematical Carnival, by Martin Gardner. I was thrilled because, as my high school teacher had recommended, mathematics was presented in a playful way that I had never seen before. I was disappointed because it contained a formula that I thought I had "invented" a few years earlier. I have always had a passion for mental calculation, and the following formula appears in Gardner's chapter on "Lightning Calculators." It was used by the mathematician A. C. Aitken to mentally square large numbers.