Registration Opens on November 20!
Beth Chance
Cal-Poly- San Luis Obispo
In this talk, we will explore some strategies for integrating statistical concepts alongside Common Core math content and how the math, statistics, and data science content can reinforce each other and improve student engagement. We will also discuss pros and cons on the role of technology for doing so, while considering what skills are essential for students to develop as they move to higher level courses as well as across disciplines.
Ryan Pietropaolo,
NCSSM Durham
Why do we grade? What do we grade? and How do we grade? These questions will guide this interactive talk as attendees will be encouraged to share ideas, approaches, and overall thoughts on grading. The goal of this session is to consider new ways of grading, including using student data, that are efficient and produce better student outcomes. Please join us and share your insights as we try to rethink grading.
Theo Wells,
Skew the Script
Our lessons tackle authentic problems with real data and real implications. The math isn’t a side-show. Rather, the math helps students gain genuine insight into the topics our lessons cover.
Dan Teague,
NCSSM Durham
A common problem-solving practice is to consider a sequence of small cases (n = 1, 2, 3, 4,...) and generate values so that the pattern you observe in those values reveals the underlying process. For example, if we want to know the formula for the sum of n squares f positive integers, we generate the ordered pairs (1, 1), (2, 5), (3, 14), (4, 30),... What simple polynomial generates these values? Newton's Method of Finite Differences is a method for generating the simplest interpolating polynomial for a set of data whose domain is the non-negative integers. The method makes a surprising connection between combinatorics and calculus.
Floyd Bullard
NCSSM Durham
In many statistics courses, graphs are discussed in a unit on descriptive statistics, and then are revisited when students study inference in the context of linear regression. But graphs can also be very useful in teaching experimental design and inference concepts outside of linear regression. In this session we'll see examples of assignments that use graphs in these ways, along with some sample student work. All of the relevant course content is part of the AP Statistics syllabus.
Taylor Gibson
NCSSM Durham
Data science has become a buzzword in education, research, and industry so it's true meaning is often difficult to determine. This session will demystify data science, and highlight a curriculum used at NCSSM to introduce students to this exciting emergent field that combines computers and statistics. No previous experience in data science required!
Kevin Ji,
NCSSM Durham
Lauren Baucom,
Amplify Desmos Math
Jenny White,
Amplify Desmos Math
Desmos activities are powerful in their ability to surface student thinking and spark interesting and productive classroom conversations. In this double session, participants will peel back the layers of the Desmos Activity Builder by viewing it through the lens of the 5 Practices for Orchestrating Math Conversations to promote positive mathematics learning experiences and healthy dialogue in the math classroom. In the first half, we’ll experience a Desmos activity together and discuss teacher tools and facilitation techniques. In the second half, participants will select from three differentiated breakout sessions to choose their own adventure, whether they’d like to learn more about: (1) features of the Desmos Activity Builder and graphing calculator; (2) how to create Desmos activities that utilize Computational Layer (CL) not only to make student thinking visible but to encourage rough draft thinking and revision of student solutions based on CL feedback; or (3) how to collect and display student inputs using Computation Layer (CL) and the “aggregate” function. Participants of all Desmos background knowledge are welcome and encouraged to join us as we learn alongside each other. Whether you use Activity Builder regularly or it’s a new tool to you, there will be something for everyone!
Nick Koberstein
NumWorks
In this session, we will engage in a series of activities that demonstrate key statistical concepts. Each activity can be implemented in your own classroom with ease. Concepts will include modeling distributions of data, random sampling, and the Central Limit Theorem. From Math 1/Algebra 1 to AP Statistics, these activities will help engage every student in activity-based statistics!
Dashiell Young-Saver
Skew the Script
This session will introduce teachers to Skew The Script - a site that provides educators with free, socially relevant math lessons. Together, we'll explore the AP Stats offerings, including lessons with data on evaluating NBA players, online dating, food deserts, gerrymandering, and much more. We'll discuss how to use such activities to boost learning, engagement, and critical thinking, all in a non-partisan way.
Maria Hernandez,
NCSSM Durham
We can engage students as active learners through modeling activities that foster mathematical curiosity. These lessons motivate the use of data analysis techniques and invite students in the mathematics conversation as we explore how to measure biodiversity and discover how to weigh a fish with a ruler.
Michael Lavigne, PhD,
NCSSM Durham
Exponential growth is the natural language of population biology. Though this and other growth laws are deterministic in nature, they effectively summarize the collective behavior of many inherently random processes. We will explore some simple analog and in-silico probability games to re-discover these classical observations of population growth.
Jennifer White
Amplify Desmos Math
The transition to online teaching made me reevaluate my teaching practices. Why do I assess? Would a traditional assessment really showcase my student’s thinking in this new online world? I needed a new way to view student thinking on high-quality math tasks that demonstrates their understanding. The portfolio journals provided a solution.
Christine Belledin
NCSSM Durham
It is back! The ever popular ArtSpace, led by Christine Belledin, assisted by Amber Smith and Ryan Severance - all from the NCSSM Math Department. ArtSpace will provide participants a place to explore connections between mathematics and art and try out a few activities that they could use with students in their own classroom.
Philip Rash,
NCSSM Durham
We'll look together at some data that I've collected from various vehicles recently - electric car, electric truck, and an airplane. We'll discover and discuss together what we might learn from these data, what stories they tell, and how we might use them in classes.
Design and Pitch Challenges in STEM
presented by a research team from the Department of Education, NC State University
Explore Backed by Data, a project-based design challenge that empowers students to shed light on overlooked or misunderstood stories using data and the power of social media. This challenge is part of a set of secondary challenges called the Design & Pitch Challenges in STEM, which use entrepreneurship to increase engagement and support mathematics learning. Come join us to have some fun with data!
Reed Hubbard
NCSSM Morgonton
Through this interactive session, we will focus on project based approaches with a view towards data analysis. Participants will be asked to examine how traditional pieces of a math curriculum can be embedded into a real modeling problem, and how evaluations of such work could be constructed.
Mahmoud Harding
NCSSM Durham
A famous study published in 1968 entitled “Further Investigation of the Transmission of Arbitrary Environmental Information between Bottle-Nose Dolphins” explored whether two dolphins (Doris and Buzz) could communicate abstract ideas to one another. We will use this study to motivate student engagement in experimental design and simulation. Finally, the data drawn from the simulation will lead students to a surprising inference.
Tracy White
NCSSM Durham
In this session, we will explore confidence intervals using simulations. Participants will engage in a hands-on activity that will allow them to construct and interpret confidence intervals based on their own simulated trials. We will also examine other simulations and tools that can be used for this type of activity. Lastly, we will discuss how activities that use simulations are valuable to students' understanding of confidence intervals.