The proceedings for the 2011 ACMS Conference at Westmont College are now available. This includes the schedule, list of abstracts, and summaries for all the talks.
There were a lot of great thoughts from a lot of great presenters. Enjoy.
Math Conferences
Reflections from CAMT 2011: Math as Story
It has been a while (at least longer than I would have liked) since I posted. I have been involved with several writing projects this summer that have taken more of my time than I initially anticipated. But the upside is that once they have been completed and publish I will be able to share the fruit of that labor here. In the meantime, back to our regularly(ish) scheduled programming.
A few weeks back I was privileged to attend CAMT 2011 (Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching). The main reasons that I made time for it on my schedule was that it was being held in my hometown of Grapevine, TX (=money saved by staying with family) and the featured speaker was Dan Meyer (=my hero in math education).
Overall it was a good experience. Not bad, not great. Good. Being a conference designed for primary and secondary teachers, I was expecting presentations that were practical for me to take back to my classroom. On the whole, I didn’t quite get what I expected. Some presentations were psychological/research driven, meaning they went along the lines of, “the numbers show that kids are failing at (blank) and possible reasons include (blank), and we can correct this by creating a culture of (blank) in education.” It was all good information, but the solution strategy seemed more speculative than practical. On the flip-side, some presentations were too practical. By that I mean that the presenter essentially gave a quasi-lesson and left me to go copy it without really fleshing out the philosophy behind why it is a good lesson, so I can then develop other lessons in a similar philosophical vein.
Of course, this could just be representative of the talks I chose to attend and not the conference as a whole.
There were of course several presentations that perfectly blended (at least for my taste) the philosophical and the practical aspects of teaching. Naturally Dan Meyer’s talks fall in this category and this why I am such a big fan of his. The main point of both his talks: a good (read engaging) math problem is like a good story. A good problem grabs your interest (usually with a powerful image), equips you to solve the problem which is different than just giving you a bunch of information, and it finally relieves the tension that was initially presented by confirming the solution (ideally with an image again, not just revealing the answer key). It also sets the stage for a sequel.
It seems so intuitive, but yet it clearly goes against the grain of how most of us were taught mathematics. It also fits into our evolving, media-saturated world better than word problems in a textbook.
The concept of a good “story” I think is also essential to our understanding of the Biblical text. As I reflect on this understanding in my own spiritual life, I see clear parallels. Narratives in Scripture often present an initial conflict that I naturally want to see resolved. This is usually followed by a coming to terms with this conflict, where characters are equipped to handle their problem (which is NOT the same as God intervening and just giving them all the answers). Then the narrative closes with an act of redemption, revealing the nature of God, and bringing satisfaction to the problem. But, just like the description of a good math story above, the Bible leaves way for a sequel. Whatever redemption we experience now, though miraculous, is temporary and incomplete. In the narrative’s attempt to resolve the conflict, to borrow a line from a song, we still haven’t found what we’re looking for.
Reflections from the ACMS 2011 Conference
I attended my first ACMS conference a few weeks ago at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA. I had a blast. I was able to present a paper, hear some great talks, and meet/fellowship with some great mathematicians who are solid believers in their faith. Too many great moments to share them all, but here are a few thoughts/quotes from the meetings:
1. Texas needs to find a way to hijack California’s weather.
2. I have a great, beautiful, supportive, loving wife, and for this I am extremely blessed.
3. Art Benjamin is an entertaining teacher which is great to see in a mathematician. I’m sure people who have always hated the subject pay more attention when he is talking.
4. My magic square (Hint on what makes it so magic, 35):
5. He left his Father’s throne above So free, so infinite his grace! Emptied himself of all but love, And bled for Adam’s helpless race. ‘Tis mercy all, immense and free, For O my God, it found out me!
6. This earth belongs to God…
7. It is amazing to see how such different branches of mathematics can work together in ways never before thought. The example of combinatorial proofs of trigonometric identities was very cool to see.
8. Building on 6, why would we want to find different proofs for stuff we have already proved? “The proofs we have may establish truth, but they don’t necessarily establish insight.” This quote sticks with me as an educator.
9. 2, 3, 5, 8, who do we appreciate? Fibonacci!
10. Paper by Jason Wilson of Biola University: The Divine mind is impressed on the world such that the secular mind recognizes it and seeks to use it for gain. The Biblical mind not only obtains a deeper understanding of it but is even beckoned to become a partaker of it. Notice the juxtaposition of wisdom in Proverbs 8 with Jesus in John 1:1-14.
11. I was pushed to really consider for what purposes I would use a math biography in my lessons – just to present ideas, or to bring out more in the life of the mathematician/believer.
12. The more we are able to recognize our weakness, the more we are able to practice true dependence on God.
13. Great site: the Mathematics Genealogy Project
14. Glenn Van Brummelen, Quest University, has a great self-described title: Mathematical Anthropologist. Need to read The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth.
15. In different cultures the goal wasn’t to convince you of the proof mathematically, but rather to give you different types of understanding – there was no “naturally” correct way of doing things.
16. When missionaries entered these cultures they brought their math with them, thinking a way to convert people to Christianity was to show them the superiority and power of the math and science that Christianity produced… perhaps this is not the best way of thinking 🙂
17. Are mathematical ideas universal, as evidenced in different cultures reaching similar results independently? Or is this just evidence of our shared humanity?
18. Mike Stob of Calvin College convinced me I need to use “R” next year with my AP Stat class.
19. Talithia Williams of Harvey Mudd College gave a great (and much needed) presentation on making students aware of the misapplication of statistics in American life. A great example is in how pharmaceuticals are now peddled directly to the consumer, yet since we don’t know the actual data from the studies, it is hard to know when to take a risk on certain medication. This might make a good stats-and-society project for students.
20. “Who we are mathematically is not who we always were, or who we will always be.”
21. Often models we use in the classroom are not accurately presenting the ways the material was learned at the time of its inception.
22. Some cultures preserved their mathematical ideas and passed them down in poems and songs – I’ve found these to be effective teaching tools in the past, I need more of them.
23. Wigner – in looking at the effectiveness of mathematics, the miracle is not in the connection of math with science, but in the math itself.
24. It was great to hear Bob Brabenec of Wheaton give a talk. I’ve mentioned his work on this blog on more than one occasion. It was interesting to hear him delineate between doing philosophy of mathematics and thinking philosophically about mathematics. I myself have realized that I probably fit more in the latter category.
25. Mark Colgan of Taylor University gave a great talk on encouraging students to connect topics in Calculus with Biblical ideas by using weekly reflection papers. Though I may not follow his model exactly, I very much like the idea of introducing reflection papers into my curriculum.
26. David Stucki of Otterbeing University gave a great talk on teaching students the concept of infinity. I wish I could have focused on it more and taken more notes, but my talk was right after his. He did list some great resources which I hope to contact him about and share here.
27. Mathematics Through the Eyes of Faith is due out in August. I got an advanced copy of it and it looks great! It really addresses some of the key issues in Mathematics and the Christian Faith. Do mathematical concepts point beyond themselves to a higher reality? Can the idea of chance be reconciled with God’s sovereignty? How do we account for mathematics being so effective in describing the world? How does giving people the capacity to do mathematics fit into God’s purposes for humanity? Should be a great read. I look forward to reviewing it.
28. In trying to describe the beauty and wonder of mathematics to a broader audience it is very difficult to “describe the mathematics simply without simplifying the problem,” which is where the beauty lies.
29. There was something wonderful about being in a room full of academic colleagues and being able to all worship the Lord together.
30. I hope I don’t have to wait two more years to this again.
GOD & MATH: Thinking Christianly About Math Education 