Proposals for talks are invited on mathematics and the teaching of mathematics. Talks will be scheduled for about 20 minutes, depending on the number of talks submitted.
Proposal for talks should be sent in by March 15, 2006 to allow time to create a schedule. Please send title and abstract to W. Y. Vélez at the address above, or by email (velez@math.arizona.edu). If you would like to organize a panel then please contact W. Y. Vélez as soon as possible to make arrangements. Overhead projectors and screens, projectors for your laptops will be available. No laptops will be provided. Blackboards will not be available.
Some proposed sessions (talks are not limited to these areas!):
Mathematical aspects of games. Yash Mittal (UA) is proposing to talk about the increasing trend now to `mathematize' origami. There might be some other ideas for bringing in more mathematics into other games. Anyone interested in joining in a special session on this general topic should contact Yash Mittal (mittal@math.arizona.edu) or William Y. Velez (velez@math.arizona.edu).
Mathematics Across the Community College Curriculum. Sessions on the NSF funded MAC^3 project of AMATYC, presented by Rebecca Hartzler, Seattle Central Community College.
Algebraic manipulation: What is it, why we need it, how to teach it, why students have so much trouble with it, and what difference that makes in their academic lives.
Mentoring from a student’s perspective: A panel of students will express their views on how mentoring has affected their careers. Chris Mikel (mikel@math.arizona.edu) has agreed to organize this panel here.
Graduate students directing undergraduate research and carrying out outreach projects: For several years the UA department of mathematics has had graduate students working directly with undergraduates on research projects.
The high school calculus class visitation project and other outreach projects: Visiting high school calculus classes is becoming even more important if we are to encourage our students to pursue mathematical careers. David Bressoud (Macalester College) gave a talk at the latest meeting of the AMS/MAA in San Antonio in which he pointed out that more that 500,000 high school students are enrolled in AP calculus, roughly equal to the number of college students enrolled in first semester calculus. In the latest round of the calculus AP test, about 12,000 8, 9, 10, 11 grade students took the BC AP Calculus test (roughly this is second semester calculus). These are students who have not yet completed their senior year. That is more than the total number (~11,000) of undergraduate students earning bachelor’s degrees in mathematics each year. Clearly this is a pool of students that should be going on in mathematics. Dorin Dumitrascu (dumitras@math.arizona.edu), a teaching Post-doc at the University of Arizona, is willing to organize this session.
ConcepTests in teaching mathematics. Organized by Deborah Hughes-Hallett (dhh@math.arizona.edu).
William Y. Velez
Department of Mathematics
The University of Arizona
P.O. Box 210089
Tucson, AZ 85721-0089
Phone: (520) 621-2259
Fax: (520) 621-8322