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MAA Instructional Practices Guide

Montse Cordero — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 23:25:13 +0000

The Mathematical Association of America published The MAA Instructional Practices Guide in 2017 aiming to share evidence-based practices with mathematics instructors to facilitate meaningful learning for students. Here are two exciting quotes from the manifesto section of document and you can find the full version in the page linked below:

“Because access to success in mathematics is not distributed fairly, the opportunities that accompany success in mathematics are also not distributed fairly. We in the mathematical sciences community should not affirm this inequitable situation as an acceptable status quo.”

“Mathematics instructors stand at a crossroads. We must gather the courage to take the difficult path of change. We must gather the courage to venture down the path of uncertainty and try new evidence-based strategies that actively engage students in the learning experience. We must gather the courage to advocate beyond our own classroom for student-centered instructional strategies that promote equitable access to mathematics for all students.”

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Steve Strogatz

Montse Cordero — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 19:58:40 +0000

This case of undergraduate mathematics teaching contains excerpts from the award winning professor Steve Strogatz, teaching his course: Mathematical Explorations. The case begins on the second day of exploring an Art of Mathematics task called Pennies and Paperclips. The students spent the first class playing the game and making conjectures as to winning placements of the pennies and paperclips. In the second day, which we see in the video case, the students move to making proofs. We encourage you to try the task, which is posed at the beginning, before watching the remainder of the video case.

Steve Strogatz is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow at Cornell University. He is a world-renowned mathematician and was recently awarded the Weiss Fellow Teaching award. He is a New York Times columnist and author of The Joy of x, Synch and The Calculus of Friendship.

Read excerpts from Jo Boaler’s interview with Professor Strogatz, that is part of her new online class: Mathematical Mindsets.

Additional Resources from Steve

Steven Strogatz on Teaching Eigenvectors and Eigenvalues

Listen to the Recording (about 5 minutes)

Inspiring Students with Steven Strogatz

Listen to the Episode (about 1 hour, or select a segment)

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Jo’s Pennies and Paperclips

Montse Cordero — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 19:37:57 +0000

Jo’s undergraduate students work on the Pennies and Paperclips task from Discovering the Art of Mathematics:

Pennies and Paperclips is a two-player game played on a 4 by 4 checkerboard with a standard color pattern. One player, “Penny”, gets two pennies as her pieces. The other player, “Clip”, gets a pile of paperclips as his pieces. Penny places her two pennies on any two different squares on the board. Once the pennies are placed, Clip attempts to cover the remainder of the board with paperclips — with each paperclip being required to cover two adjacent squares. Paperclips are not allowed to overlap. If the remainder of the board can be covered with paperclips then Clip is declared the winner. If the remainder of the board cannot be covered with paperclips then Penny is the winner.

For more information on the problem visit: https://www.artofmathematics.org/blogs/jfleron/pennies-paperclip-proofs

4 minute version of the video:

8 minute version of the video:

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