FALL 2013

DATE	SPEAKER/EVENT
September 10th Math East 143	Reading group, SoTL. In this week's meeting, we will begin a reading group which will discuss the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). This meeting will focus on a 2011 paper by Bennett and Dewer which gives a nice overview of SoTL in mathematics. Click here for the article. Please bring your ideas and questions and be ready for a great discussion!
September 17th Math East 143	Speaker: Cody Patterson, Director, Center for Recruitment and Retention of Mathematics Teachers, UA and Virginia Bohme,  Mathematics Appointed Personnel at UA Title: The Center for Recruitment and Retention: Bringing Teachers and Mathematicians Together Abstract: The Center for Recruitment and Retention of Mathematics Teachers, founded by mathematician Fred Stevenson, works to recruit and support mathematics teachers in southern Arizona.  The Center seeks to cultivate a professional community of mathematics educators, at both the K-12 and college levels, who work together to tackle challenges in the teaching and learning of K-12 mathematics. The Center's programs include mathematics workshops for teachers, an induction program for teachers in their first year of mathematics teaching, and the annual Mathematics Educator Appreciation Day (MEAD) Conference, an event that attracts over 400 educators from across the state of Arizona. We will describe these programs in detail - *and let you know how you can get involved.* Finally, we will share some thoughts from a mathematician's point of view on productive and responsible involvement in K-12 mathematics education. Mathematicians have skills that, when properly honed, can be extremely useful to various stakeholders in our country's education  system: children, families, teachers, administrators, curriculum developers, and policymakers. Our goal is that you will leave this talk energized and eager to participate in the important work of helping children learn mathematics.
September 24th Math East 143	Reading group, SoTL. In this week's meeting, will focus on two papers; one on the calculus concept inventory and the other on the statistics concept inventory. Click here and here for the articles. Please bring your ideas and questions and be ready for a great discussion!
October 1st Math East 143	Speaker: Joshua Lioi,  Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in Mathematics at UA Title: Modeling Biology in the Classroom Abstract: Many high school students are not aware of the possibilities of interdisciplinary study in the sciences. Biocomplexity is an interdisciplinary field that combines mathematics, biology, chemistry, computer science, and physics. We have been working on ways to bring this topic into high school science and mathematics classrooms. We have developed a website with resources, including background information and NetLogo programs modeling several biological processes, which have been created by high school teachers. So far we have created modules on flocking, protein binding, microtubules, and myxobacteria swarming developed as a collaboration between high school teachers, graduate students, and college/university researchers.
October 8th Math East 143	Speaker: Bruce MacMillan: Instructor in Mathematics at UA Title: Trigonometric Identities - The Sum and Difference Formulas Abstract: We will take a new look at the sum and difference formulas from a traditional Trigonometry course. We will derive the formulas by using only right triangle trigonometry ratios. Then we will look at some interesting problems and applications which can be solved using these formulas.
October 15th Math East 143	Reading group, SoTL. In this week's meeting, will discuss the paper: Classroom Questioning with Immediate Electronic Response: Do Clickers Improve Learning? by Yourstone et al.: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-4609.2007.00166.x/full Please bring your ideas and questions and be ready for a great discussion!
October 22th Math East 143	Speaker: Kristen Beck and Rohit Thomas, Postdoctoral Teaching Fellows in Mathematics at UA Title: Web-based Student Response Systems Abstract: The use of in-class student response systems has been on the rise in recent years, and has evolved from the basic "clicker" to the use of software which allows students to use their smart-phone, tablet, or laptop as a response device. In this talk, we will discuss and demonstrate the use of two such web-based student response systems: Learning Catalytics (http://www.learningcatalytics.com) and Socrative (http://www.socrative.com). You are encouraged to BYODevice for full participation.
October 29th Math East 143	Reading group, SoTL. We will discuss the paper: Applying the scholarship of teaching and learning: student perceptions, behaviours and success online and face-to-face by Agi Horspool et al: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02602938.2010.496532#preview Please bring your ideas and questions and be ready for a great discussion!
November 5th Math East 143	Reading group, SoTL. We will discuss the paper: Flipping Calculus by J. McGivney-Burelle et al.: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10511970.2012.757571#.UnWSjyfWZZI This paper investigates the benefits and challenges of flipping the classroom in a calculus course. Please bring your ideas and questions and be ready for a great discussion!
November 12th Math East 143	Speaker: Cody Patterson, Director, Center for Recruitment and Retention of Mathematics Teachers, UA Title: The Book: An Adventure in Educational Engineering Abstract: I am currently in my second semester of teaching Math 196V, a supplemental instruction workshop for students taking Math 223 (Vector Calculus).  In this course, students attend class for one two-hour session each week and work in teams on challenging problems meant to develop their problem-solving skills and understanding of vector calculus concepts.  Over the last two semesters, I have developed several routines that enhance students' collaborative work and provide me with regular feedback on how students interact with the problems in the course. In this talk, I will focus on "The Book," a sketchbook in which I keep a record of all of the problems I use, some very basic data on the work students do with them, and feedback the students give me.  This book was originally intended to provide me with source material for an instructor manual I plan to write for this course.  However, my weekly ritual of populating the book with reflections and feedback has caused me to think about broader themes in "educational engineering": what makes a task desirable for collaborative work; what kinds of feedback we can (and can't) realistically get from student comments and real-time observation; what to do when our prized creations don't work; and how to bridge the long gap between the testing and re-testing phases of the engineering cycle. The engineering part of this talk will be very big-picture - more mission statement than how-to manual - but given the group's interest in designing tasks for collaborative in-class work, I will also share some reflections about both tasks and classroom rituals that I think have made collaborative work run effectively in my class.
November 19th Math East 143	Reading group, SoTL. We will discuss the paper: Calculus: The Importance of Precise Notation by W. S. Mahavier and W. T. Mahavier. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10511970701196243#.Uoq6QSe1VZI Please bring your ideas and questions and be ready for a great discussion!
November 26th Math East 143	Speaker: Deborah Hur, Instructor in Mathematics at UA Title: Herding WildCats in the Online Environment Abstract: In the online environment, there are unique challenges in addition to those encountered in a traditional format classroom. One of the biggest challenges is in effectively and continuously engaging students without the benefit of frequent face-to-face meetings. The initial introduction into an online course can be overwhelming. Even once students are comfortable in the environment, a second challenge is to keep students working consistently on the material, seeking help as they need it. I will present methods and technology implemented to tackle these issues in Math 112 Online Hybrid.
December 3rd Math East 143	Reading group, SoTL.
December 10th Math East 143	Speaker: Aaron Ekstrom, Instructor in Mathematics at UA Title: Periods of Harmony Abstract: We will discuss how some fundamental ideas of musical harmony can be deduced from a basic understanding of periodic functions. We will also give an explanation of why there are 12 notes in the western scale, and why exponential functions start creeping into the picture. The talk is accessible to all teachers and a must for anyone teaching trigonometry or pre-calculus.