In a glass case in the hallway of Altgeld Hall on the University of Illinois campus lies an all-but-forgotten machine -- a Harmonic Analyzer designed by Albert Michelson to perform Fourier Analysis. This presentation will describe the year long effort to memorialize this machine via the creation of a series of videos and production of posters and a coffee table book. No specialized knowledge will be necessary to appreciate this wondrous machine.
A fascinating look at numbers in music through the use of golden section proportions, ancient Chinese magic squares, and feng shui in music by James Brown, Phil Collins, Eminem, Peter Maxwell Davies, Claude Debussy and Zack Browning. The lecture will include a discussion of Browning’s “Network Slammer” for flute and computer-generated sounds which is based on the Magic Square of the Sun, and String Quartet which is based on the Lo Shu Square as it appears in period eight of the Flying Star System of feng shui.
After almost twenty years in education, Amar Patel has found that all of the repeated efforts to overcome deficits in American education (No Child Left Behind, UCSMP, Common Core, etc.) all fail to overcome the singular issue that haunts teachers and school systems in America: You can’t learn math without spending time doing it. Amar will present what he thinks can be done about it, to those who could do something to help.
Getting students to embrace computational thinking and creative problem solving is not easy. But if done successfully, it can bring great benefits to the students now, and in the future. In this talk, Hon-Wai will discuss how he uses fun problems and activities to get students to unconsciously think about computational thinking. Some of these examples include MatheMagic, solving problems with graph coloring, CS UnPlugged activities (sorting networks, parity-based-puzzles, etc), creative use of induction, zero-knowledge proofs, pancake flipping problems.
In response to the launching of Sputnik almost 60 years ago, the US has struggled to reform school mathematics. We've spent large sums of money on new curricula, teacher training and technology. What seems to be working, and what remains to be done?
Each year, over one million college students enroll in math classes that do not count towards degree credit and serve to delay their time to graduation and use up resources. This talk provides a brief introduction to the major issues and trends related to these pre-college level math classes and then outlines a current effort to help accelerate students through these classes. This will include initial data from a study examining student experiences in this class.
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessment is the new standardized test to be used in all Illinois k-12 schools starting this Spring. It will used to assess mathematics and language arts at all grade levels from 3 - 8 and once in high school. The assessment is not without controversy. Come to the pizza lunch this Friday and find out why. Try your hand at a few sample items from the math portion. Learn about the development and implementation of the assessment.
On November 7th, the NetMath crew will give a brief introduction of the NetMath program, followed by a discussion on mentoring in NetMath and the Partner High School Program.
Educators are always talking about "what mathematicians really do." Fact is, they do lots of very different things, most of which require technical vocabulary and a lot of mathematical background
Around 1890, Georg Cantor invents a theory of infinite sets and shocks the mathematical world. Luckily, this theory is not only genuinely elegant, but doesn't require much background. So, it's a wonderful example for both high school teachers and students to show at least what some mathematicians do or have done.
Delta is a biannual international mathematics education conference. George and Debra will discuss some of the presentations there, as well report on the presentation they gave at the conference.