MAA Workshop: NSF Funding Opportunities in the Education and Human Resources Directorate and the Division of Mathematical Sciences, organized by Karen Allen Keene, NSF, Division of Research on Learning; Wednesday, 9:35-10:55 am. A number of NSF divisions offer a variety of grant programs that promote innovations in learning and teaching and/or infrastructural support in the mathematical sciences. Following a short presentation about these programs (15 minutes), the remainder of the session will feature opportunities to engage in small group discussions with NSF staff about program features, current NSF policy changes, proposal preparation guidance, and other related topics. Presenters are Karen Allen Keene, Sandra Richardson, Talitha Washington, and Lee Zia, NSF, Division of Undergraduate Education, Karen King, NSF, Division of Research on Learning, Tara Smith, NSF, Division of Graduate Education, and Matt Douglass and Swatee Naik, NSF, Division of Mathematical Sciences. This workshop is sponsored by the MAA Subcommittee on Professional Development.
MAA Workshop: Discussing Project Ideas with NSF/EHR Program Officers, Parts I and II, organized by Karen Allen Keene, NSF, Division of Research on Learning; Part I: Wednesday, 2:15-3:25 pm and Part II: Friday, 9:45-10:55 am. NSF program officers in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources will be available to talk with prospective Principal Investigators about potential project ideas. Following a very brief (5 minute) overview of NSF, participants may sign up for short (10 minute) time slots to speak one-on-one with program officers about the specifics of their ideas. (Participants are encouraged to bring a one-page description.) If you believe you have an idea, project or program worthy of NSF support that will positively impact preK-12, undergraduate, or graduate education in the mathematical sciences you should attend one of these two sessions. Presenters are Karen King, NSF, Division of Research on Learning, Tara Smith, NSF, Division of Graduate Education, and Karen Allen Keene, Sandra Richardson, Talitha Washington, and Lee Zia, NSF, Division of Undergraduate Education. This workshop is sponsored by the MAA Subcommittee on Professional Development.
MAA Workshop: Making it Happen: Modeling in Your Differential Equations Course, organized by Brian Winkel, SIMIODE; Thursday, 9:00–10:20 am. Workshop participants experience modeling with differential equations in a way they can bring into their own classroom. Modeling activities are used so teachers can experience, as students, what it is like to learn and teach in a modeling-based differential equations environment. We do this with engaging examples, situations in which modeling gives rise to mathematics. Modeling Scenarios from the SIMIODE - Systemic Initiative for Modeling Investigations and Opportunities with Differential Equations community at www.simiode.org will serve as example opportunities. Participants generate and collect data through experiments, build a mathematical model, estimate parameters, validate the model, and create the need for learning about differential equations as a direct result of the modeling activity. Examples will involve collecting data and using data from sources, modeling, and parameter estimation. The demonstrations of the effective use of modeling to motivate the study of differential equations will be suitable for different school settings, high schools, two-year colleges, and four-year institutions. Workshop participants will leave with a large collection of materials they can use to offer a modeling-based approach in their own differential equations courses. Presenters are Audrey Malagon, Virginia Wesleyan University; Rachel Rossetti, Agnes Scott University; Brian Winkel, SIMIODE; and Dina Yagodich, Frederick University.
MAA Workshop: For Faculty on Fostering Student Engagement: Experience Classroom Practices from the MAA IP Guide, organized by Carolyn Yackel, Mercer University; Thursday, 10:35–11:55 am. This workshop will help faculty gain experience with classroom practices promoted in MAA's new Instructional Practices (IP) Guide, focused on fostering student engagement and selecting appropriate mathematical tasks to facilitate active learning. Strom and Alvarez, the lead writers of the Classroom Practices section of the IP guide, will involve participants in investigating two techniques: (1) paired board work and (2) engaging students in mathematical critique and justification. First, participants will experience these techniques as students in the leaders' classroom, after which they will collectively debrief the experience from instructors' standpoints. Presenters are April Strom, Scottsdale Community College and James Alvarez, University of Texas at Arlington. This session is sponsored by the MAA Committee on the Teaching of Undergraduate Mathematics.
MAA Workshop: How to Talk about Math So People Want to Listen, organized by Paul Zorn, St. Olaf College; Thursday, 2:35-3:55 pm. Join podcast host, director and science writer Flora Lichtman and avid math communicator Rachel Levy for a workshop to help you practice communicating about mathematics to the audience of your choice. Previous attendees of our workshops have successfully engaged the popular press about their research. In this workshop we will focus on communicating about the value of mathematics to the general public, policy-makers and administrators. Presenters are Flora Lichtman, Gimlet Media, and Rachel Levy, Mathematical Association of America. This workshop is sponsored by the MAA Science Policy Committee.
MAA Workshop: Calculus: Near-Numbers, organized by Frank Swenton, Middlebury College; Saturday, 9:45–10:55 am. What is infinity? Why isn't zero times infinity zero? Why is infinity minus infinity indeterminate? A large proportion of student misapprehension of the core concepts of calculus (limits, convergence, divergence, etc.) derives from a single cause: that the classical (and outdated) mathematical language we use to talk about these concepts doesn’t allow us to express them accurately and fully, particularly when it comes to their more subtle or troublesome (and often interesting) aspects. In this workshop, aimed at both inst ructors and students of calculus, we’ll preview and demonstrate videos and interactive instructional tools, freely available online, that can be used to shed new light on convergence, divergence, and limits by accurately animating these concepts and providing a language for teachers and students that allows them to say precisely what they mean to. In the process, we’ll see straightforward, direct answers both to the sample questions above and to as many participant-suggested questions as time permits. The presenter is Frank Swenton, Middlebury College.