BodyText1
The Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of
Delaware (with support from Toyota and Delaware Department of Education)
recently organized the Toyota-UD Applied Math Initiative Workshop for
High School Teachers (July 21 and 24, 2014). The
main question discussed in the workshop and showcased in the
presentations were the following:
1. How is high-school math used by professionals in industry?
2. How is high-school math used by academics in their research/teaching?
During the workshop, the teachers received answers to these
important questions from people working in very diverse environments
showcasing the strength and diversity of mathematics.
"The teachers enjoyed learning about the new and interesting ways
mathematics is used these days. We were fortunate to have great
speakers from industry that described their experiences using
mathematics in modeling many important problems arising in
various areas of science. Several of my colleagues in the Department of
Mathematical Sciences as well as other UD faculty from the ISE Lab,
Department of Electrical Engineering and Department of Mechanical
Engineering contributed with interesting presentations
on the role of mathematics in their research and teaching. I am
grateful to our Department for the support, to all the speakers for
making this workshop a great experience for the high school teachers and
to David Ross from RIT for his tremendous help in organizing
this event" said Sebastian Cioaba, Assistant Professor in the
Department of Mathematical Science who helped organize the event.
Knowing specific examples about the use of mathematics in
industry, research, and teaching that go beyond the usual examples used
in textbooks will be extremely beneficial to the teachers and to their
students. The teachers created many interesting lesson
plans that incorporate some of the ideas discussed during the workshop.
The workshop created new and strengthened existing connections between
the Delaware high school teachers and the UD mathematics community and
consisted of talks given by UD Math Faculty,
UD non-Math Faculty and professionals in industry on the use of high
school mathematics in their work as well as panel and round table
discussions on the transition between high school and college
mathematics. The following Math faculty contributed through
presentations or roundtable/panel discussions during the workshop:
Cristina Bacuta, Richard Braun, Sebastian Cioaba, Michelle Cirillo,
David Edwards, John Pelesko, Chris Raymond, Lou Rossi, Tammy Rossi,
Gilberto Schleiniger and Jamie Sutherland.
