PNW NExT Meeting - Descriptions of Sessions
University Of British Columbia
June 15, 2000
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MAA Mini-course
An Introduction to Computational Number Theory
Hugh Montgomery, University of Michigan
Using a suite of programs that run under DOS, by means of which one can witness various phenomena, and also watch algorithms being executed, one step at a time. The assumption is made that the participants are already familiar with basic elementary number theory apart from the computational considerations. This would provide enough background so that a participant could then later cover such topics when teaching number theory. It also would provide the scientific basis of RSA encryption (I have programs that demonstrate this).
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Session 1
Teaching Elementary Statistics Using Active Leaning
Brian Gill, Seattle Pacific University
Several years ago, the MAA's joint committee with the American Statistical Association laid down recommendations for all introductory statistics courses. Three major points were emphasized:
1. Teach statistical thinking
2. Incorporate more data and concepts, fewer recipes and derivations
3. Foster active learning, through group problem solving and discussion, laboratory exercises, and written and oral presentations.
Since then, much progress has been made toward integrating the first two recommendations into statistics courses and textbooks, but progress on the third recommendation has been much more limited. This session will examine ways of moving elementary statistics courses away from a lecture-and-listen approach and toward hands-on activities that engage students in the learning process. The session will actively involve participants in examples of such activities and will provide them with a variety of resources for incorporating this approach in their own courses.
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Session 2
Teaching Strategies for Optimizing Class Time
Nancy Ann Neudauer, Pacific Lutheran University
Each panelist will discuss two or three things they do in the classroom that they find effective. These are things that help them make better use of class time -- from having students come to class prepared to discuss the new material to making students excited about mathematics.
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Session 3
A Discussion on Web-Based Course Materials
Matt Hudelson, Washington State University
This session will be a discussion among the fellows about issues concerning web-based interactive instructional materials. What things work well for the students? What don't? If there is web-access, a demonstration of some small Java applets that have been used in WSU math courses will be shown.
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Session 4
Using Technology in the Classroom with EGEMS
Grant Miller, Maple Grove Elementary School
E-GEMS, Electronic-Games for Education in Math and Science, is a interdisciplinary team doing research and development on:
As certain studies of child-computer interaction suggest, many children actually personify computational objects and often consider computers as being "alive", able to "think", and having a personality. These findings provide an interesting new way of looking at human-computer interaction.
This involves looking at educational content and motivational elements in order to come up with suitable representation of concepts and interfaces in designing educational games.
We consider different learning styles and classroom activities and incorporate elements such as graphics, sound effects, stories, characters, humor, rewards and navigation to make learning a more enjoyable experience.
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Session 5
What's NExT?
Jenny McNulty, The University of Montana
The PNW-NExT is a professional development program for new college-level faculty interested in improving the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics. This description tells what the purpose of the program is, but the details of what the program becomes is up to us. What do we want our section NExT to be? Some questions we might consider are: