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IMPACTful Discussions: Influences of Research and Cultural Environment on Teaching Practices

  • 1.  IMPACTful Discussions: Influences of Research and Cultural Environment on Teaching Practices

    Posted 04-16-2024 09:18:00

    What proven international math teaching or research practices would you like to incorporate in your classroom (in the US)?  How do you embed the cultural context and environment in which you teach?



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    Barbara Leitherer
    Professor of Mathematics
    CC of Baltimore County - Essex
    Baltimore MD
    bleitherer@ccbcmd.edu
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  • 2.  RE: IMPACTful Discussions: Influences of Research and Cultural Environment on Teaching Practices

    Posted 04-21-2024 12:10:00

    HI, thanks for bringing this topic. I am enjoying the discussions on how Math is taught in different countries and how we can best incorporate these practices. Some of the discussion is in the other post by Frank Marfai.

    I have begun to use more cultural context in my teaching. Students love projects where they can choose an aspect of the problem, even create their problem. This term, in Calculus, I stole an idea from Pat Riley at AMATYC (How large is Simba's kingdom?). I assigned them the problem of finding the horizon area from any tower or peak in the whole world. It was a fun group project, where they showed the Math of calculating the area, then giving fun facts & cultural significance of the spot. Interestingly, few students who are afraid of calculus found passion in the cultural aspect and spoke eloquently in their presentations. However, it does take time and if we have a large portion to cover, we have to pick and choose such impactful projects.

    Typically, I try to include some global cultural context to make them aware of the world outside. But I think, I need to give a better introduction. For instance, I assign a project on world travel in Contemporary Math, where they choose 5 places on 5 continents. The idea is to find the shortest round trip path. I was shocked to see several groups not realizing that Mexico is in the same continent as the US.



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    Manisha Ranade
    Associate Professor
    Santa Fe College
    Gainesville FL
    http://www.sfcollege.edu
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  • 3.  RE: IMPACTful Discussions: Influences of Research and Cultural Environment on Teaching Practices

    Posted 04-23-2024 10:35:00

    Manisha -

    Thank you so much for sharing your ideas about adding more cultural context to your teaching. Your example about Simba's Kingdom and what you did with it sounds very intriguing. Would you mind sharing your project so that others could also learn from it? That would be great. I agree that many students in this country are not very knowledgeable in geography, but we can always try to put math on their mind with cultural and geographic examples. 



    ------------------------------
    Barbara Leitherer
    Professor of Mathematics
    CC of Baltimore County - Essex
    Baltimore MD
    bleitherer@ccbcmd.edu
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: IMPACTful Discussions: Influences of Research and Cultural Environment on Teaching Practices

    Posted 04-23-2024 17:52:00
    Edited by Manisha Ranade 04-23-2024 17:54:32

    Sure, here is the project that I used in Calc 1 recently, it was a success and students found interesting facts to share. I took the idea that Pat Riley presented at the ITL themed session at AMATYC last year, added a cultural context in the rubric. Here it is, feel to free to use and modify.

    Choose your own tower (or horizon project)

    How large is Simba's kingdom? Lion king holds the cub at a high plateau and claims his kingdom spans as far as one can see. How will you calculate the horizon area? Here is a reference with an explanation of a simplified equation.  where h is height in feet or meters and d is distance to horizon in miles or km. With Google Earth, locate any tower of interest or a natural peak and find out how far of a horizon area you can see from the top. We use linear approximation for angles as mentioned in the reference, so sin𝜃=𝜃 holds. We assume that the region is flat or circular rather than a curved surface.

     

    Rubric:

    Horizon from a tower or peak

    Criteria

    Ratings

    Pts

    Introduction of the place

    Photo, location, cultural significance of the tower or peak and its native name. Height in meters

    4 to >0.0 pts

    Full Marks

    0 pts

    No Marks

    4 pts

    Mathematical knowledge

    Show the geometry of the horizon problem. Can copy from the reference. Neat picture and explain the formulas used to find the length, radius, area. Next formula for finding area. Connect to any of the nearby spots that can be seen. For instance, can you see Pacific ocean? London city hall? from the chosen place. Find information from google maps or any other website.

    5 to >2.5 pts

    Full Marks

    2.5 to >0.0 pts

    Either Math or spots included

    Math of finding area is fully done but not the spots visible and vice versa

    0 pts

    No Marks

    5 pts

    Scaling up or down

    What if the tower were twice the height or half? Or maybe a third? How much area can be visible from the top? Choose a multiplier for your problem and solve it. Show the math. Can you show both the original and the changed tower on one picture and show the difference in area? Side view and top view

    4 to >0.0 pts

    Full Marks

    0 pts

    No Marks

    4 pts

    References

    Give references for the tower and any cultural fun facts, apps if used for generating horizon pictures. Use proper reference notation – APA or MLA.

    3 pts

    Full Marks

    0 pts

    No Marks

    3 pts

    Total Points: 16



    ------------------------------
    Manisha Ranade
    Associate Professor
    Santa Fe College
    Gainesville FL
    http://www.sfcollege.edu
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: IMPACTful Discussions: Influences of Research and Cultural Environment on Teaching Practices

    Posted 04-24-2024 21:25:00

    Hi Manisha, 

    This is a very creative use of popular culture in the calculus curriculum. Thanks for sharing.



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    Hong Yuan
    CUNY Borough of Manhattan CC
    New York City NY
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  • 6.  RE: IMPACTful Discussions: Influences of Research and Cultural Environment on Teaching Practices

    Posted 04-25-2024 08:25:00

    Manisha and Hong-

    I agree with Hong that this is another creative way to use popular culture. The rubric gives students guidance for the work they need to show and how it would be graded. I believe it is increasingly important to put this into writing so that students know expectations. Manisha, I am curious of how your students did with this assignment. Do you have a student project that you could potentially post? 



    ------------------------------
    Barbara Leitherer
    Professor of Mathematics
    CC of Baltimore County - Essex
    Baltimore MD
    bleitherer@ccbcmd.edu
    ------------------------------