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Minicourses are open only to persons who register for the Joint Meetings and pay the Joint Meetings Registration fee in addition to the appropriate minicourse fee. The MAA reserves the right to cancel any minicourse that is undersubscribed. The fees for these courses are: Minicourses 1-6 (Computer minis): US
$95 All fees apply before and during the meeting. To register for the meeting and these courses, click here. SOLD OUTMinicourse #1 Introduction to the mathematics of modern cryptography, organized by Colm K. Mulcahy and Jeffrey Ehme, Spelman College; Part A: Friday, 9:00 a.m.to 11:00 a.m. and Part B: Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The mathematics of modern cryptography is for anyone with an interest in mathematics today, especially if that person also registers for classes (or submits grades) online, or pays bills or shops on the Internet. Since that includes most of our students and most of us, it is a perfect subject for adding to the standard undergraduate curriculum, either in a regular or special topics course, or as a subject for directed research. There can be no better way of illustrating the application to everyday life of abstract mathematics and clever modern ideas. This minicourse will focus on the basics, assuming only a rudimentary knowledge of number theory and abstract algebra (e.g., Fermat's Little Theorem and the concept of an abelian group), and cover topics ranging from 1970s breakthroughs such as Diffie Hellman key exchange and RSA cryptography, to the more recent methods of ElGamal, elliptic curves, and Groebner bases. Participants will have a chance to cement and deepen their understanding of several aspects of the material covered with directed Maple explorations. A CD containing all of the notes/transparencies, associated Maple worksheets, and an annotated bibliography will be distributed. Cost is US$95; enrollment limit is 30. SOLD OUTMinicourse #2 Some deterministic models in mathematical biology and their simulations, organized by James F. Selgrade, North Carolina State University, Cammey E. Cole, Meredith College, and Hüseyin Koçak, University of Miami, Coral Gables; Part A: Friday, 2:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. and Part B: Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. This course will present and analyze discrete and continuous models from physiology (e.g., the Hodgkin-Huxley model), pharmacokinetics, and population biology (e.g., the chemostat model). The class will be conducted in a computer lab where participants will use the software Phaser to simulate model behavior. Each of the four topics will be discussed for 30 minutes followed by 30 minutes of computer experimentation. The participants will be provided electronic copies of the Web-based notes, simulations, and the software. Familiarity with the material in undergraduate courses in ordinary differential equations and linear algebra will be helpful. Cost is US$95; enrollment limit is 30. Minicourse #3 A tool to implement quantitative literacy (QL): Spreadsheets across the curriculum, organized by Semra Kiliç-Bahi, Colby-Sawyer College, Gary T. Franchy, Davenport University, and Cheryl Coolidge and William A. Thomas, Colby-Sawyer College; Part A: Friday, 4:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. and Part B: Sunday, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. In this minicourse, participants will explore a wide range of spreadsheet modules centered on quantitative literacy concepts and skills. These modules were developed with the support of an NSF grant, Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum, Principal Investigator: Len Vacher, University of South Florida, and Project Director: Emily Lardner, The Washington Center. Each module aims to have students explore one or more problems in disciplinary contexts by building their own spreadsheets. These modules are tested and ready to be used in the classroom along with classroom assessment suggestions. The necessary support and guidance will be given to participants to start developing their own spreadsheet modules. This minicourse is designed for people who are at the initial stages of implementing QL as well as for people who would like to enhance their existing QL courses by integrating the use of spreadsheets. Cost is US$95; enrollment limit is 30. SOLD OUTMinicourse #4 Creating visual mathematics applets using Flash programming, organized by Douglas E. Ensley, Shippensburg University, and Barbara Kaskosz, University of Rhode Island; Part A: Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and Part B: Monday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Due to its intuitive authoring environment and the ubiquitous, free Flash Player, Macromedia Flash is a superior product for the creation of interactive material on the Web. This course will teach essential Flash programming in the context of mathematics classes developed by the presenters through NSF DUE 0535327. These freely available classes allow for the easy construction of webpages that graph functions, surfaces, and even slope fields. Participants will receive a thirty-day trial version of the Flash product for use with this material. No previous experience with Flash is required, but participants should have some familiarity with computer programming. Cost is US$95; enrollment limit is 30. Minicourse #5 Wavelets and applications: A multi-disciplinary undergraduate course with emphasis on scientific computing, organized by Patrick J. Van Fleet, University of St. Thomas; Part A: Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and Part B: Monday, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. This minicourse provides a basic introduction to wavelets and applications. The wavelet transform is developed in an ad hoc manner. It is then used in applications such as data compression. Participants develop the necessary software and are encouraged to bring their own digital images or audio files to use. Our construction is easy to understand but is limited in applications. Thus we have the motivation for developing wavelets in a general context. The minicourse content provides an excellent template for an undergraduate class in wavelets and applications. We discuss how the course can be offered to undergraduates. Participants receive software and lecture materials that can be used to offer the course at their home institution. For more information, please visit http://cam.mathlab.stthomas.edu/wavelets. Cost is US$95; enrollment limit is 30. Minicourse #6 WeBWorK 2: An Internet-based system for generating and delivering homework, organized by Arnold K. Pizer, Michael E. Gage, and Vicki Roth, University of Rochester; Part A: Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Part B: Monday, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. This minicourse introduces participants to WeBWorK 2, the new version of the open software system for presenting and grading homework problems. Supported by grants from NSF, WeBWorK has already been adopted by over 100 colleges and universities. WeBWorK can handle most homework problems found in a typical calculus text and is distributed with an extensive library of over 4,000 problems covering college algebra and trigonometry, precalculus, single and multivariable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, statistics, and probability. There is also a larger national library of problems. It's easy to modify current WeBWorK problems or to write new ones. Participants will actively participate in using WeBWorK to select and edit problems, set up and administer a course, etc. More information about WeBWorK is available at http://webwork.rochester.edu/. Cost is US$95; enrollment limit is 30. Minicourse #7 Directing undergraduate research, Aparna W. Higgins, University of Dayton; Part A: Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and Part B: Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. This course will cover many aspects of facilitating research by undergraduates, such as getting students involved in research, finding appropriate problems, deciding how much help to provide, and presenting and publishing the results. Similarities and differences between research conducted during summer programs and research that can be conducted during the academic year will be discussed. Although the examples used will be primarily in the area of discrete mathematics, the strategies discussed can be applied to any area of mathematics. Cost is US$60; enrollment limit is 50. Minicourse #8 Mathematics and geometry of voting, organized by Donald G. Saari, University of California Irvine; Part A: Friday, 2:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. and Part B: Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. By now, most of us know that voting rules can cause unexpected outcomes and delicious paradoxes. It is possible for the standard plurality ranking, for instance, to be Alice >Barb >Connie while the "vote for two" outcome is precisely the opposite. The mathematical issues--which constitute the theme of this course--are to identify everything that can possibly happen and the mathematical reasons why they occur, how to construct any number of illustrating examples, how to identify which voting rule is the "best", and to learn how to convert portions of this recent research into rich course offerings for our undergraduates. Cost is US$60; enrollment limit is 50. Minicourse #9 Evaluating student presentations in mathematics, organized by Suzanne Dorée, Augsburg College, Richard J. Jardine, Keene State College, and Thomas J. Linton, Central College; Part A: Friday, 4:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. and Part B: Sunday, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Do your students give in-class presentations or present their undergraduate research project at a conference or senior seminar? While most mathematics professors can tell a great mathematics talk from a truly horrible one, when it comes to grading student presentations we are often at a loss. In this course we'll examine what makes a good student mathematics talk, offer concrete advice on helping students prepare to speak, discuss the use of rubrics for evaluating presentations, and explore the role of presentations in departmental curriculum and assessment. Participants will practice using rubrics to evaluate presentations on video and at the meetings themselves. Sponsored by the MAA Committee on Teaching Undergraduate Mathematics (CTUM). Cost is US$60; enrollment limit is 50. Minicourse #10 A beginner's guide to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) in mathematics, organized by Curtis D. Bennett and Jacqueline M. Dewar, Loyola Marymount University; Part A: Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and Part B: Monday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. This course will introduce participants to the scholarship of teaching and learning in mathematics. We will present a framework that illustrates the similarities between disciplinary research and SoTL work, offer examples of SoTL projects in mathematics at varying stages of development, discuss methods for investigation, and help participants begin projects of their own. Participants will be guided in transforming a teaching problem of their own into a problem for scholarly investigation. Suggestions for how to make this work public will also be given. Cost is US$60; enrollment limit is 50. Minicourse #11 Origami in undergraduate mathematics courses, organized by Thomas C. Hull, Merrimack College; Part A: Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Part B: Monday, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Those who have studied origami may have unfolded their creations and marveled at the pattern of creases in the paper that result. Lovely mathematics lurks behind these creases, incorporating topics throughout the entire undergraduate mathematics curriculum. This material is easily understood by undergraduate majors, leads to numerous open questions, and offers a great opportunity for hands-on, discovery-based learning. This workshop will offer participants hands-on experience with the main areas of "origami-math" (including modular origami, geometric constructions, and combinatorial modeling) to incorporate into their own classes. Requests will also be solicited from participants for topics they'd like to see applied to origami. This version of the minicourse will include new material from previous years. Experience either in paper folding or in teaching geometry, algebra, or combinatorics, would be useful. Cost is US$70; enrollment limit is 30. Minicourse #12 Combinatorially thinking, organized by Arthur T. Benjamin, Harvey Mudd College, and Jennifer J. Quinn, Association for Women in Mathematics; Part A: Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and Part B: Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Faced with an identity, how do you create a combinatorial proof? This hands-on minicourse will provide you with some useful combinatorial interpretations, well-selected examples, and the challenge of finding your own combinatorial proofs. Along with numbers that are defined through counting (binomial coefficients, Stirling numbers, Catalan numbers), you will acquire a combinatorial appreciation for quantities like harmonic numbers, continued fractions, determinants, Fibonacci numbers, and the golden ratio. An extensive list of identities--some with known interpretations and others without--will serve as the basis for your exploration. Of course, you are welcome to bring along your personal favorites to add to the excitement. Cost is U$60; enrollment limit is 50. Minicourse #13 Teaching a course in the history of mathematics, organized by Victor J. Katz, University of the District of Columbia, and V. Frederick Rickey, U.S. Military Academy; Part A: Friday, 2:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. and Part B: Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Many schools are introducing courses in the history of mathematics and asking faculty who may never have taken such a course to teach them. This minicourse will assist those teaching history by introducing participants to numerous resources, discussing differing approaches and sample syllabi, providing suggestions for student projects and assessments, and giving those teaching such courses for the first time the confidence to master the subject themselves and to present the material to their students. Cost is US$60; enrollment limit is 50. Minicourse #14 Contemporary college algebra: A refocused college algebra course, organized by Donald B. Small, U.S. Military Academy, and Laurette B. Foster, Prairie View A&M University; Part A: Friday, 4:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. and Part B: Sunday, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The "refocused" aspect of the course refers first to developing students to become exploratory learners, and second to preparing students for the quantitative needs they will encounter in school, the work place, and society. Elementary data analysis, functions, and problem solving/modeling are the major components of the course. Participants will engage in small-group class activities, small-group projects, modeling (graphically, recursive sequences), and discussions on pedagogy, content (What are the basic skills for college algebra?), and assessment. Participants will receive a collection of small-group activities and projects. Familiarity with a graphics calculator will be helpful, but is not a prerequisite. See http://contemporarycollegealgebra.org for more information. Cost is US$60; enrollment limit is 50. Minicourse #15 Geometry with history for teaching teachers, organized by David W. Henderson and Daina Taimina, Cornell University; Part A: Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Part B: Monday, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. This minicourse will facilitate a hands-on cooperative experience of the geometries of various surfaces (cones, cylinders, spheres, and hyperbolic planes) and studying the intrinsic geometry of these surfaces. We will also explore the interactions (both ways) between geometry and mechanical motions. We will use four historical strands to organize our reflection on the basic geometric notions of Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry. These explorations enhance our understandings of Euclidean geometry and help to demonstrate a non-axiomatic, non-formal view of mathematics and mathematics learning. Appropriate for all mathematicians teaching teachers. Teaching materials and references to Web and paper resources will be provided. Cost is US$60; enrollment limit is 50. Minicourse #16 More music and mathematics, organized by Leon Harkleroad, Wilton, Maine; Part A: Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and Part B: Monday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. An all new set of topics from the interface of math and music will be explored including subjects such as historical geometric methods to approximate equal tempering in instrument design, group theory in contradancing, and music from space-filling curves and fractals. This minicourse will not repeat material from the previous one (held in Atlanta, GA, in January 2005), and it will not assume that participants attended that earlier installment. Cost is US$60; enrollment limit is 50. |
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