As more careers require data skills and our everyday lives have become inundated with data, it is critical that students have opportunities to learn with and from data. Let’s come together to consider how data science is already in secondary education and steps we can take within our classrooms, schools, and communities to infuse data science education into learning experiences for all students in all disciplines. And yes, we will dig into some data and consider tools that can support data science for everyone.

Come explore the artistic side of mathematics! Create some simple pieces of art that are based on mathematical ideas or objects. All projects use simple, readily available, and inexpensive materials so that you can use these ideas with your students. 

We'll contrast three inference paradigms (frequentist, Bayesian, likelihood), and participants will learn a little bit about the history of each. Using accessible problems and mathematics, all three approaches will be illustrated. This session is meant to expand teachers' breadth of knowledge about inference; the topic is beyond the AP Statistics syllabus. However, a classroom-ready handout will also be provided that can be used to introduce AP Statistics students to alternative inference approaches, which may make a good activity following the AP Statistics exam. 

Our first of two Desmos-related sessions is aimed toward beginner-level Desmos users (newbies welcome!) and / or teachers looking for specific classroom strategies to get students talking about math. First, you’ll experience a Desmos activity as a student; next, we’ll debrief the activity through a teacher lens and discuss specific ways we as teachers can plan for and engineer moments of meaningful mathematical conversation. Strategies will include tools specific to the Desmos Classroom platform, general good questioning strategies stemming from NCTM’s 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions, and various ways the two supplement one another. Come to learn the basics of or to reinvigorate yourself around the use of Desmos, while also participating in conversations about good lesson facilitation for all levels of teachers. 

This will be an active session: bring your laptop and come ready to participate! Those who want to level up their skills with building custom activities in the Desmos Activity Builder tool (teacher.desmos.com) are also welcome - but not required - to stay for our second session (“Desmos Jigsaw”) immediately after this one. 

Desmos Jigsaw:  A Collaborative Workshop in Desmos Activity Design

Our second of two Desmos-related sessions is aimed toward teachers with prior experience using, creating, and designing activities using the Desmos Activity Builder tool (teacher.desmos.com) OR those who attended our first session (“Desmos + 5 Practices”) as a precursor and want to progress to the next level of teaching using Desmos. This will be an interactive workshop session: we’ll form groups based on comfort level and build a portion of a custom Desmos activity together with the help of peers, resources that we share, and us! (THINK: jigsaw / scavenger hunt / new Desmos tricks!) Since we expect Desmos stans of all levels in attendance, the tasks we’ll pose are differentiated and range from: basics of Desmos Activity Builder (screens, components, etc.); new ways to use the Desmos graphing calculator to make your activities more interactive and visual; introductory Computation Layer (CL) for those interested in engineering interactions between components and screens; and miscellaneous Desmos tips and tricks to make your life easier.

This will be an active session: bring your laptop and come ready to dive straight into some activity building with new people! Again, we strongly advise that you either attend our first session before attending this one OR that you have your own previous experience creating or editing custom activities using the Desmos Activity Builder tool. 

Explore dice fairness using a presenter-developed R Shiny app. Investigate various dice companies, assessing product fairness for gaming. The app illuminates key concepts: sample size's impact on inferences, the role of distributions in decision-making, and a nuanced exploration of potential errors and decision trustworthiness. Core theoretical foundations include the law of large numbers, chi-square distribution, p-values, and a comprehensive look at type 1 and 2 errors, alongside the concept of test power. 

We will analyze the distribution of the first non-zero digit of the ratio of two random digits. This topic will be relevant to students from Precalculus to Multivariable Calculus. Techniques will include geometric series and integration to calculate geometric probability. 

This presentation will use audience participation, movement, and problem solving to examine Rational Tangles. As the group manipulates ropes to form and change knots, connections to fractions, signed numbers, and more are developed together. This activity can work at middle school (arithmetic), algebra (slopes), high school (problem solving), or beyond (abstract algebra).