2005 Bunker Hill CC Charlestown, MA

NEMATYC 2005 was held at Bunker Hill Community College on Friday and Saturday, April 8, 9, 2004. The theme was "Mathematics for the Real World". The conference co-chairs were Shirley MacKenzie and Geri Curley, both of Bunker Hill CC. Besides a great program other events enjoyed by the participants included the following. Friday Reception: Held at the Boston Science Museum, a walkable distance from BHCC, this was followed by visiting the museum itself. Saturday's lunch was at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, next to the Science Museum. Conference Photos

NEMATYC Treasurer's Report 4/9/05 Bank Account Balance, March 15, 2004 $10109.98 INCOME: Interest $75.59 Membership 260.00 Scholarship Fund 359.00 NEMATYC 2004 300.00 NEMATYC 2004 Profit 2242.00 $3236.59 EXPENSES: Newsletter Expenses $979.41 Awards 157.00 Executive Board Meetings 340.13 Bank Charges 19.35 Scholarship Fund 109.10 AMATYC Hospitality Sponsor 200.00 AMATYC 2004 Support for NEMATYC President 500.00 NEMATYC 2005 300.00 Website Domain Name 50.00 $2654.99 Bank Account Balance, March 15, 2005 $10691.58 Respectfully submitted, Lois A. Martin Treasurer

Program

FRIDAY

Wall Street Statistics: Diversify Your Investment Portfolio

Presenters: Dr. Eiki Satake, Dr. Philip P. Amato
Emerson College Room:

This paper session presents a thorough study of basic statistical methods in investment analysis. The theory of asset allocation along with intuitive probabilistic thinking will be emphasized. We will also discuss the mathematical rationale behind diversification.

Tried Methods to Meet Student Needs

Presenter: Dr. Prem Singh
Johnson and Wales University

Teaching has become a very challenging profession. Our classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse in age and background, personal interests, physical and mental abilities. This presentation will discuss tried methods, ranging from the use of technology to cooperative learning to classroom assessment techniques.

Problem Mathematics Students: A New Instructional Paradigm

Presenter: Rev. Dr. Christian Agunwamba
Bunker Hill Community College

In this presentation, we go beyond the usual lists (skills, methods, attitudes, technologies, etc.) that teachers are rightly required to acquire. We present a number of other issues that are relevant to teaching difficult mathematics students. One can often hear instructors discussing these problems in the hallway or in their offices. The purpose of this presentation is to widen this discussion and suggest possible solutions.

The Power of 1 in the Developmental Mathematics Classroom

Presenter: Adele Miller
Central Connecticut State University

The unit is the simplest and most universal idea humans have about number, and understanding variety in the unit creates a foundation for understanding whole numbers and builds a bridge for understanding rational numbers. Students' resistance to fraction ideas may arise from being unclear about what the unit is. This workshop will present games and activities which may help students gain a better understanding of the unit and unit fractions so that they can grasp rational number concepts.

All the Baseball Statistics About the Boston Red Sox that You Ever Wanted to Know

Presenter: Steve Krevisky
Middlesex (CT) Community College

The 2004 World Series win by the Sox completes a cycle of 100 years of Red Sox baseball. In this presentation, we examine the history and statistics of this storied franchise which has included such greats as Ted Williams, Tris Speaker, Cy Young, Roger Clemens, Jimmie Foxx and many others. Various formulas and statistical calculations will be used to examine the legacy of this franchise. This will be of interest to teachers of various levels of mathematics, and baseball can be a tool to motivate our students, thus making math more relevant to them. Come join the discussion and be ready to talk about your favorite Red Sox player! At the end, we can pick an all-time Red Sox team!

Teaching and Learning with Tablet PCs

Presenters: Lois Martin, Kerryn Snyder
Massasoit Community College

The presenters received an EAST grant to use Tablet PCs for instruction in mathematics and science classes. Although the grant was written to address teaching and learning of students with disabilities, the benefits to other students and faculty were evident. Learn about partnering the use of a tablet PC with WebCT to create and deliver both traditional and online lessons with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Journal, a whiteboard, and virtual office hours.

Math Models, Multiple Representations and Conceptual Understanding

Presenters: Dr. Joanne Manville, Yvette Straughter
Bunker Hill Community College

A contributing factor to students' difficulties in mathematics is their belief that math is memorization of formulas and replication of procedures. A modeling approach utilizes methods and materials which contribute to student awareness that mathematical ideas should have meaning and that mathematical procedures are based on underlying relationships. Session participants will work with materials which facilitate conceptual understanding of topics in arithmetic, geometry, algebra, and precalculus. Concepts, relationships and procedures will be introduced using concrete or visual models physical objects or movements, sketches, graphs, calculator screens and computer illustrations. The models will provide a foundation for understanding the same mathematical ideas expressed in words, numbers and symbols.

SATURDAY

Pythagoras: The First Mathematician

Presenters: Dr. David C. Mello, Dr. Joseph Delaney
Johnson and Wales University

The significant contributions of Pythagoras and the members of his school will be discussed in a historical, philosophical, and mathematical context. His intellectual legacy and overall impact upon subsequent thinkers such as Plato, Kepler, and Descartes will also be discussed.

Seven Principles to Build Success in Developmental Mathematics Students

Presenter: Dr. John Tobey
North Shore Community College

In most cases, students taking developmental mathematics courses in college were taught algebra for two or three years in high school but they failed to learn it successfully. After years of frustration and failure in mathematics how do we give hope to the college student who enrolls in developmental math but feels hopeless about learning the material? Dr. Tobey presents seven time-tested principles that help the college student to succeed in a developmental mathematics course. Come and find out some ways that will help motivate students to master a subject that they have often hated and avoided all their lives.

EXCELlent Statistics - Using Excel and Fisheries Biology in the Teaching of Statistics

Presenter: Barry Woods
Unity College

At Unity College, statistics courses are taught using Microsoft Excel and the fish data collected from nearby Lake Winnecook. In collaboration with the Fisheries Science and Techniques class, both descriptive and inferential statistics are taught using realworld fish data. Excel will be used to demonstrate the teaching of statistics in this ongoing environmental study.

The Eureka! Experience - Instructional Techniques that Encourage It!

Presenter: Alan Tussy
Citrus College

Watch as several of your colleagues participate in an intriguing experiment that explores the relationship between thought and language. Learn about the successive changes that your students go through to assimilate mathematical terms and concepts. Witness the Eureka! Experience - that point in the learning process when students confidently claim, "Now I get it!" You'll leave with some specific instructional techniques that help students better speak, write, and think mathematically using the language of algebra.

Peer Led Team Learning in Calculus I at the University of Maine

Presenters: Jen Tyne, Paula Drewniany
University of Maine

We are in the third semester of using the national Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) model in our Calculus I course. The PLTL Workshop model engages teams of eight to ten students in learning sciences, mathematics and other undergraduate disciplines guided by a peer leader. Our four credit course meets three days per week in lecture, and one day for 75 minutes in small groups. The small groups, led by a peer leader, work through in-depth calculus problems, called "workshops". In our session, we will briefly describe our experience creating workshop materials, hiring and training leaders, and implementing PLTL in the classroom. We will include evaluation results to date and plans for the future. Attendees will then participate in a workshop session.

A Historical Tour of Numeration Systems

Presenters: Tom Pandolfini, Dr. Joseph Delaney
Johnson and Wales University

Please join us as we tour the development of numeration systems and numerals, over the course of many eras and through many cultures an interesting, interdisciplinary topic that demonstrates arithmetic concepts and number sense.

Effective Web-Based Tutorials, Homework, Testing and Course Management

Presenters: Kevin O'Brien, Michelle Renda
Pearson: Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall

Addison-Wesley and Prentice Hall will present two web-based resources available with both company's math and statistics texts. These resources, MathXL and MyMathLab, would be of interest to instructors looking to offer easily accessible practice problems and tutorials to enhance both traditional lecture and online courses. Online homework and testing with a robust grade book are also available. Both MathXL and MyMathLab correlate directly with the scope, sequence, and problems in the AW and PH texts.

Using Multiple Choice Exams in an Introductory Biostatistics Course

Presenter: Gary R. Tataronis
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

The speaker will discuss the challenges of using a multiple choice format versus the traditional examination method for assessing student learning in biostatistics. Advantages and disadvantages of both types of testing will be presented.

How are "Differential Equations" and "Standard Deviations" Relevant to my Training as a Pharmacist or Health Care Worker?

Presenter: Dr. Magdalena Luca
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

In this presentation, I will discuss how I incorporate applications from personal real-world collaborations into teaching Calculus and Statistics to pharmacy and health sciences students. My intention is to address how the challenge of teaching mathematics to future health care workers turns into an extremely rewarding activity when students understand and enjoy mathematics through the use of real biomedical applications in lectures.

An Online Precalculus Course and an Online Statistics Course - Two Different Approaches to Online Learning

Presenters: Judy Carter, Lora Connelly
North Shore Community College

Pedagogy is an important consideration in any course. Get some good ideas for online mathematics courses that meld effective pedagogy and user friendliness. A precalculus course that uses a standard text with web support and a statistics course that adopts materials developed specifically for the web will be presented.

Ayuh! There is Meaningful Life After Retirement

Presenter: Gary Getchell
Cape Cod Community College (retired)

Gary Getchell is sixty-nine, has been retired from Cape Cod Community College since 2001, and lives full-time in Dresden, Maine. He is Vice-Chairperson of the local school committee, the "Mathematician-in-Residence" at a local middle school, a stand-up comic performing throughout Maine and Massachusetts, has built a barn, and still teaches algebra to Four C's Students through television and the Internet. In this informative and sometimes zany presentation, Gary shares with you his "life-inretirement".

Puzzles, Games and Fun Projects

Presenter: Charles Mazmanian
Johnson and Wales University

Mathematics can be interesting and entertaining to both teachers and students. The puzzles and games are not only fun but educational as well other than mere drill in fundamentals.

Engaging, Assessing, and Helping Your Student with New Tools from Houghton Mifflin

Presenter: Leonid Tunik
Houghton Mifflin Company

Houghton Mifflin will be demonstrating new teaching tools that help you engage and empower your students - while saving you time. The presenter will walk participants through an integrated suite of online and CD-based products containing current, media-rich self-paced tutorials and guided practice, one-on-one tutoring support, assessment content, enhanced electronic book content, instructional video options, and other elements that tie directly to the material presented in the text. The presentation will highlight examples in Developmental Math, Calculus, and Statistics.

Are We Teaching All the Essentials?

Presenter: Rev. Dr. Christian Agunwamba
Bunker Hill Community College

The NCTM Standards state that curriculum at all levels, up to and including grade 12, should include proofs. All students should know that logical reasoning is fundamental in mathematics. In agreement with these standards, we maintain that mathematical proofs, which provide training in logical reasoning, should be included in the community college mathematics curriculum.

Unusual and Creative Teaching Techniques

Presenter: Dr. Andrew B. Perry
Springfield College

As a math teacher, I experiment frequently with different teaching techniques, some of them unusual, and some of them arguably eccentric. For example, I've developed a complex math game called "Wheel of Functions", and utilize daily feedback from each student in many of my classes. I will share some of my ideas and hope audience members will share some of theirs as well.

Exhibitors & Sponsors 2005

Door Prizes

The following individuals are recognized for their contributions of time and talent. Judy Blouin, Donna DeSimone, Bob Flynn, Cathy Guild, Kevin Hanley, Courtney McGlynn, S. Leonard Mhlaba, Paul Moda, Nancy Myers Erin Yates John Bookston, Steven Fierimonte, Bill Hart, Pamela Laquidara, Priscilla Shute, Linda Sutliffe, Alexander Teodorescu-Frumosu Chi Chan, Anh Nguyen, Kevin Nguyen, Kieu Nguyen, Luan Nguyen, Oanh-Oanh Nguyen

Registration List