MAA Ancillary Workshops

Implementing and Orchestrating Active Learning Strategies in Calculus, organized by Larissa B. Schroeder, University of Hartford, and Debbie Gochenaur, Shippensburg University; Thursday, 1:00–2:20 pm., M304, Marquis Level, Marriott Marquis. In this workshop, participants will engage in pedagogical discussions focused on developing practical strategies for incorporating active learning strategies (e.g., student presentation, inquiry-based learning activities, writing to learn, etc.) into their Calculus courses. The emphasis will be on using existing curricular materials (e.g., activities from Active Calculus (Boelkins, Austin, & Schlicker, 2015), classroom voting questions, concept tests, etc.) to support active learning. Active learning strategies are those that engage students in activities that promote analysis, synthesis and evaluation of course content. This workshop, intended for the novice user, will include small group discussions and interactive discussions with the organizers and will focus on helping participants move beyond the initial difficulties associated with first-time implementation of active learning strategies.

Course Design with Active Learning, organized by Victor Piercey, Ferris State University, and Luke Tunstall, Michigan State University; Thursday, 2:35–3:55 pm., M304, Marquis Level, Marriott Marquis. Faculty are often called upon to create new courses and redesign existing courses. Participants in this workshop will outline the design for a sample learning module using “backwards design.” Backwards design is a technique for course design which begins with what students should be able to do or demonstrate at the end of the course, followed by how this will be assessed, and concludes with preparing learning activities. We will identify learning outcomes appropriate for active learning, discuss assessment techniques, and conclude by outlining supporting learning activities. Regardless of whether you are addressing general education reform or redesigning advanced courses for graduate students, if you are working on a designing a new course then this workshop will be for you.

Using Interactive Dynamic Technology in Teaching Introductory Statistics: Simulation-Based Inference, organized by Gail Burrill, Michigan State University; presenters for this workshop are Darren Starnes, The Lawrenceville School; Chris Franklin, American Statistics Association; and Beth Chance, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Saturday, 9:00–10:20 am., M304, Marquis Level, Marriott Marquis. The use of software packages to analyze data is considered a core part of introductory statistics courses. But technology can also be used to introduce fundamental concepts of statistical inference using simulation-based methods. This shift from methods based on the normal distribution can provide new insights into statistical reasoning. Participants will engage in activities using interactive dynamic technology to explore the underlying logic of confidence intervals and significance tests with real data.