MichNExT 2003 Program
Supported by the Michigan Section-MAA and the Exxon Foundation
May 1, 2003,
3:00-6:30 PM
Saginaw Valley State University
Room: TBA
Here is a tentative schedule for the afternoon and evening.
Abstracts of the presentations appear below.
Schedule
| 3:00-3:20 |
Greeting and Refreshments |
| 3:30-4:10 |
Classroom Capsules
Michele Intermont, Kalamazoo College |
| 4:15-4:55 |
Teachers' Reasoning about Calculus as a Course
Dara Sandow, Michigan State University
|
| 5:00-5:40 |
Dynamic Spherical Geometry
Will Dickenson, Grand Valley State University
|
| 5:45-6:25 |
Applied Writing Projects
in Calculus and Differential Equations
Gavin LaRose, University of Michigan
|
| 7:00-9:00 |
Dinner at TBA |
In addition, there will be a special session on Friday, 5:00-600 pm.
Details will be posted as they become
available.
As they are available, abstracts of the talks will be posted here.
Dynamic Spherical Geometry
Will Dickinson
Grand Valley State University
In a joint effort, David Austin and I constructed a program in Java
that enables users to study spherical geometry dynamically. Combined
with The Geometer's Sketchpad (TM) and Non-Euclid, upon which our
program is modeled, users now have similar tools for studying each of
the three two-dimensional geometries--Euclidean, hyperbolic and
spherical.
In this talk, I will demonstrate some features of this program and how
we have used it in our classes and discuss how we plan to continue its
development. Along the way, we hope to illuminate for the audience some
of the differences between Euclidean, hyperbolic and spherical geometry.
Furthermore, we will see how to use this intuition to construct tilings
of the sphere.
Classroom Capsules
Michele Intermont
Kalamazoo College
I've been stealing good ideas (and even titles) for innovative
activities and assignments for a few years now. I'll share my
collection of ideas for both upper level and lower level courses with
you. We'll also discuss some risks and strategies for implementing
them.
Creating and Using Applied Writing Projects in Courses Near Calculus
Gavin LaRose
University of Michigan
In this talk we will discuss the use of "major" written projects in
calculus courses and those courses immediately preceding and following
calculus. Topics to be considered include the motivation for using such
projects, how to create or locate projects or project ideas, the mechanics
of assigning them, and strategies for managing grading. Examples will be
provided of projects, grading rubrics, and resources facilitating the
development of new projects.
Teachers' Reasoning about Calculus as a Course
Dara Sandow
Michigan State University
Discussions of teaching often tend to focus at the lesson level. At
the
same time, we hear claims about "the need to develop a coherent vision
of
the course(s) as an essential component of a teacher's planning for
instruction if one is to break away from the 'cake-layer' mentality of
disconnected courses and Skill 1 today, Skill 2 tomorrow, etc."
(National
Research Council, 2001, p. 132). In this talk, I will discuss a study
of
secondary and college calculus teachers who recognize that calculus
courses
can be made coherent in more than one way and who explicitly reason
about
(1) the themes they'll use to try to generate coherence in their
calculus
courses and (2) the content, organization, and pedagogical choices
they'll
use to develop those themes. While some of their themes are specific
to
calculus, others address the nature of mathematics and doing
mathematics or
students' beliefs about themselves in relation to mathematics more
broadly.
Implementing Historical Perspectives Across the Curriculum
Victor Katz
University of the District of Columbia
There are numerous ways the history of mathematics can be
used to improve the teaching of mathematics at all levels, from the use
of anecdotes to the full-scale reworking of courses from a historical
perspective. But for most teachers, history can best be implemented by
using it in introducing and discussing individual topics in the
curriculum, particularly those topics which frequently give students the
most trouble. In this talk, I will give examples of this use of history
in courses ranging from elementary algebra and trigonometry to abstract
algebra and advanced calculus. In each case, I will consider how
student difficulties can often be overcome by considering the historical
difficulties in the development of these topics.
This page is maintained by
Randall Pruim. Please email comments, corrections, suggestions and
the like to rpruim@calvin.edu.
Document last modified
Monday, 01-Mar-2004 08:01:55 EST