Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Combating Anti-Statistical Thinking Using Simulation-Based Methods Throughout The Undergraduate Curriculum, Nathan L. Tintle, Beth Chance, George Cobb, Soma Roy, Todd Swanson, Jill Vanderstoep

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The use of simulation-based methods for introducing inference is growing in popularity for the Stat 101 course, due in part to increasing evidence of the methods ability to improve students’ statistical thinking. This impact comes from simulation-based methods (a) clearly presenting the overarching logic of inference, (b) strengthening ties between statistics and probability/mathematical concepts, (c) encouraging a focus on the entire research process, (d) facilitating student thinking about advanced statistical concepts, (e) allowing more time to explore, do, and talk about real research and messy data, and (f) acting as a firmer foundation on which to build statistical intuition. Thus, …

Critical Thinking And High-Level Discourse In A 1:1 Environment, Ryan G. Zonnefeld, Valorie L. Zonnefeld

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Learn about our experiences co-teaching a K–8 methods course using 1:1 tablets in a high-tech lab. This innovative course included a move away from a textbook to a dynamic research-based curriculum supported by NCTM resources and CCSSM as well as integral utilization of apps, web 2.0 tools, and professional learning networks.

Viscous Fluid In A Horizontally Rotating Cylinder, Kolter Bradshaw, Zach Van Engen

Student Work

If you race a hoop and a disk of equal mass and radius by rolling them down a ramp, the disk will reach the bottom first due to the difference in how the mass is distributed. For rolling solid objects, this phenomenon is straightforward to model. However, if you roll a hollow cylinder filled with fluid, the situation is more complex due to the way fluid properties, such as viscosity, effect rotation. We are analyzing the motion of fluids and beads in a cylinder in order to observe viscosity effects on the fluid-cylinder system. By examining a rolling fluid-cylinder system …

Systematic Errors In Intro Lab Video Analysis, John Zwart, Kayt E. Frisch, Tim Martin

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In video analysis lab experiments, students frequently find large discrepancies between results based on self-filmed videos and expected values (e.g. for g determined by a fit to projectile motion data). These differences are frequently far larger than the uncertainty calculated from their fit. Using an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera with a 4x optical zoom to record video, we investigated two possible causes of this error: the effect of placing the reference meter stick at a different object-to-camera distance and the effect of the motion of interest being in a plane not perpendicular to the camera lens. When we observed these phenomena …

Rapture Of The Geeks, Derek Schuurman

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"If we are more than machines, what is it that defines our humanity? Is it our intelligence, creativity, or emotion?"

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the distinction between humans and artificial creatures from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/the-rapture-of-the-geeks/

Why Should Ecology Matter To A Christian?, Derek Buteyn

Staff Work

"The goodness of creation is more than a pleasing aesthetic. It doesn't just provide value to us because we enjoy it. It is inherently valuable; in every rock, tree, and living creature, truth is spoken of the Creator."

Posting about living responsibly within creation from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/why-should-ecology-matter-to-a-christian/

Chemistry Of The Protolunar Disk And Volatile Depletion Of The Moon, Channon Visscher, Robin M. Canup, Julien Salmon, Bruce Fegley Jr.

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In the giant impact theory for lunar origin, the Moon forms from a circumterrestrial disk of silicate debris produced by the collision of a planetary-sized impactor with the early Earth. Recent accretion models suggest that the final 10-60% of the lunar mass may be provided by the accretion of melt material spreading outward from the inner (Roche-interior) disk over the first ~102 years following the giant impact. The chemical and thermal evolution of the inner disk material is thus expected to strongly influence the bulk chemical composition of the Moon.

In a previous study we explored the chemistry of the …

Genetic Variability Of The 5-Enolpyruvylshikimate-3-Phosphate (Epsp) Synthase Gene In Round-Up™ Resistant Soil Bacteria, Seth Steenwyk, Hannah Van Maanen, Jeff Ploegstra

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Global use of Round-up™ has had a profound effect on agricultural systems. While there is a clear challenge with the emergence of resistant weeds, less emphasis has been placed on its impacts regarding the soil ecosystem. In this study, we sought to identify glyphosate resistance in two specific soil bacteria, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas syringae pv. glycinea. To accomplish this purpose, selective media and colony PCR were used to isolate and identify colonies with glyphosate resistance. The presence of glyphosate resistance in soil bacteria was verified, and continuing work is being done to analyze sequence data that may lead to …

Mathematician's Apology, Tom Clark

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"Better standards may help all math teachers to shape our classes to better reflect the creativity and play at the heart of mathematics."

Posting about ways to improve math's negative image­­­­­­­­ from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/a-mathematicians-apology/

Technology Isn’T Just For Smart People, Kari Sandouka

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"Technology isn’t only for those who like studying computers and interacting with the technology that makes them run. Rather, we all use technology, no matter what our given job or profession is. Here are four ways to decipher how best to use technology."

Posting about technology and if it brings us together or pushes us apart from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/technology-isnt-just-for-smart-people

Practical Applications Of An Integrally Christian Approach To Teaching Mathematics, Valorie L. Zonnefeld

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Descriptions of various frameworks and approaches to integrating Christian faith in the mathematics classroom are explored, as well as examples and techniques. In particular, a subject-centered approach is advocated in contrast to the traditional teacher-centered approach or, more recently, the student-centered approach.

Symbolic Powers Of Edge Ideals, Mike Janssen

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No abstract provided.

Subject-Centered Approach To Integrate Faith And Learning, Valorie L. Zonnefeld

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No abstract provided.

Mindsets, Attitudes, And Achievement In Undergraduate Statistics Courses, Valorie L. Zonnefeld

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The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of theories of intelligence and an intervention of incremental mindset training on students’ attitudes toward statistics and their mastery of content in an introductory statistics college course. The sample was 547 undergraduate students at a small, faith-based, liberal arts college in the Midwest.

A pretest-posttest design was used for the three instruments implemented. The Comprehensive Assessment of Outcomes in a first Statistics course (CAOS) assessed students’ statistical literacy. The Student Attitudes Towards Statistics – 36© (SATS©) assessed six components of students’ attitudes toward statistics including affect, cognitive competence, difficulty, effort, …

Understanding Everyday Use Of The Computer: How Philosophy Can Be Practical, Nick Breems

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The issues which must be considered when attempting to understand the totality of behavior when a human uses a computer are both multifarious and diverse. We thus have difficulties in gaining insight into the meaning that use of the computer creates in our lives, particularly in everyday use. Such understanding is important because insight based on holistic understanding is our best hope for exploiting the God-created potentials for human flourishing that is part of the promise of computing technology. As computer and internet technologies continue to embed themselves in the fabric of our everyday living, the number and complexity of …

On The Fattening Of Lines In P3, Mike Janssen

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We follow the lead of Bocci and Chiantini and show how differences in the invariant alpha can be used to classify certain classes of subschemes of P^3. Specifically, we will seek to classify arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay codimension 2 subschemes of P^3 in the manner Bocci and Chiantini classified points in P^2. The first section will seek to motivate our consideration of the invariant alpha by relating it to the Hilbert function and gamma, following the work of Bocci and Chiantini, and Dumnicki, et. al. The second section will contain our results classifying arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay codimension 2 subschemes of P^3. This work …

Students Learning From Atlanta Public Schools Cheating Scandal, Thomas M. Van Soelen

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Access full-text article on publisher's site:

http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/students-learning-from-atlanta-public-schools-cheating-scandal/education

Protolunar Disk Evolution And The Depletion Of Volatile Elements In The Moon, Robin M. Canup, Channon Visscher, Julien Salmon, Bruce Fegley Jr.

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We explore how the evolution of the protolunar disk could lead to a depletion in K, Na, and Zn in the Moon relative to Earth even in the absence of escape.

Taming The Unknown: A History Of Algebra From Antiquity To The Early Twentieth Century, Calvin Jongsma

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Reviewed Title: Katz, Victor J. and Karen Hunger Parshall. Taming the Unknown: A History of Algebra from Antiquity to the Early Twentieth Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014. 485 pages. ISBN 9780691149059

Emphasizing The Entire Research Process Throughout The Curriculum: The Next Step In Real Data Integration In Introductory Statistics Courses, Nathan L. Tintle

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Access blog post at publisher's site:

https://www.causeweb.org/sbi/?p=617

Simulation-Based Inference In Statistics Education: Exciting Progress And Future Directions, Nathan L. Tintle

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Statistics Views asked Dr Tintle to explain more about simulation-based inference in statistics education and some of the exciting progress that has been made to date and future directions within the undergraduate curriculum.

If A, Then B: How The World Discovered Logic (Book Review), Calvin Jongsma

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Reviewed Title: Shenefelt, Michael and Heidi White. If A Then B: How the World Discovered Logic. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014. 333 pages. ISBN 9780231161053

Developing The Horizon Content Knowledge Of Teachers Through A Math Teachers’ Circle, Tom Clark

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Although much of the training pre-service mathematics teachers receive is either in mathematical content or educational theory and pedagogy, research indicates that mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT), which lies in a sense at the intersection of the two, is a factor in teacher quality. Unfortunately, none of the recent improvements in teacher preparation necessarily affect in-service mathematics teachers. One successful program affecting in-service teachers nationwide is the Math Teachers’ Circle Network. One strand of MKT that I believe math teachers’ circles are in a position to affect is Horizon Content Knowledge (HCK). Although taking advanced mathematics courses may improve HCK, …

Identification Of Magnetite In Lunar Regolith Breccia 60016: Evidence For Oxidized Conditions At The Lunar Surface, Katherine H. Joy, Channon Visscher, Michael E. Zolensky, Takashi Mikouchi, Kenji Hagiya, Kazumasa Ohsumi, David A. Kring

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Lunar regolith breccias are temporal archives of magmatic and impact bombardment processes on the Moon. Apollo 16 sample 60016 is an ‘ancient’ feldspathic regolith breccia that was converted from a soil to a rock at ~3.8 Ga. The breccia contains a small (70 × 50 μm) rock fragment composed dominantly of an Fe-oxide phase with disseminated domains of troilite. Fragments of plagioclase (An95-97), pyroxene (En74-75, Fs21-22,Wo3-4) and olivine (Fo66-67) are distributed in and adjacent to the Fe-oxide. The silicate minerals have lunar compositions that are similar to anorthosites. Mineral chemistry, synchrotron X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy (XANES) and X-ray Diffraction …