Search Results for: workshop

Workshop — Applying Math Through Modeling

Last night I ran a workshop for teachers about mathematical modeling. Modeling can be nebulous and overwhelming to those unaccustomed to applied math, so my goal was to give teachers an accessible introduction to the modeling process that allowed them to experience what distinguishes modeling from what might be considered “school math”.

The workshop was based on the work I’ve done building and running a mathematical modeling program at my school the past three years, where I’ve drawn heavily on resources from the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (COMAP) and modeling competitions like the MathWorks M3 Challenge.

Modeling is a wonderful way to get students doing authentic applied math, and even though I’ve got a lot to learn myself, I was happy to share what’s worked for me and my students as we have built our program.

Related Posts

By MrHonner, ago

Workshop — The Geometry of Statistics

I’m excited to present The Geometry of Statistics tonight, a new workshop for teachers. This workshop is about one of the coolest things I have learned over the past few years teaching linear algebra and writing a book on statistics: Finding the line of best fit for a set of data is really a geometry problem, but not the geometry problem you might think it is!

In this workshop we’ll see how finding the regression line is equivalent to finding the shortest path from a point to a plane in a curious high dimensional space. This geometric context helps make sense of many mysterious things in regression, like mean-centering (thanks, All 1s vector!) and the correlation coefficient. It also ties into advanced applied mathematical ideas like Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD).

As is often the case when I learn mathematics, the turning point occurred when I finally understood why I didn’t understand. I look forward to sharing that understanding with others!

Related Posts

By MrHonner, ago

Workshop — Learning to Love Row Reduction

I’m running a workshop for teachers tonight titled Learning to Love Row Reduction.

If a math teacher has done anything with matrices, they’ve probably row-reduced one. Row reduction is often experienced as mindless symbol manipulation, but in fact it is an incredible and surprising process that is deeply connected to the fundamental ideas of linear algebra. A little row reduction takes you a very long way! My goal in this workshop is to show teachers just how far it can take us.

This is part of an ongoing series of workshops I’m running on Linear Algebra, that have their origins in the tremendous amount I’m learning by teaching this course at the high school level. I’ll be offering the workshop through Math for America, where I’ve given talks and offered workshops on linear algebra, computing, and many other topics.

Related Posts

By MrHonner, ago

Workshop — The Geometry of Linear Algebra

I’m running a workshop for math teachers tonight titled The Geometry of Linear Algebra. We’ll take a purely geometric approaching to developing the important properties of linear transformations and explore how those properties connect to fundamental notions of linear algebra like vectors, matrix multiplication, and change of basis.

The workshop is part of the ongoing learning that’s happening as a result of teaching linear algebra at the high school level. I’ve taught linear algebra many times, but only in recent years did the course start making sense to me as a whole. The key, as it has been so often in my teaching career, was to see it as a geometry course.

I’ll be offering the workshop through Math for America, where I’ve given talks and offered workshops on linear algebra, geometry, and many other topics.

Related Posts

By MrHonner, ago

Workshop — It’s All Linear Algebra

Tonight I’ll be running my workshop “It’s All Linear Algebra” for teachers at Math for America.

This workshop is designed to show teachers how the big ideas of linear algebra — linear combinations, vectors, systems, dependence — are present in all the courses in the middle school and high school curriculum. Making these connections can help enrich the teaching of these topics in earlier courses, create threads that connect ideas throughout the sequence, and preview what lies ahead in more advanced courses.

This workshop is based on my experience teaching linear algebra in high schools for the past 10 years. After a short break I’m teaching it again this year, and I’m having a blast revisiting the ideas with a fresh perspective.

I’ve been learning a lot this year and I’m excited to share my experiences, and some great math, with teachers in this workshop.

Related Posts

By MrHonner, ago
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox

Join other followers: