Developing Mathematics Enrichment Workshops for Middle School Students: Philosophy and Sample Workshops

This paper describes our approach to organizing enrichment activities using advanced mathematics topics for diverse audiences of middle school students. We discuss our philosophy and approaches for the structure of these workshops, and then provide sample schedules and resource materials. The workshops cover activities on the following topics: Graphing Calculators; The Chaos Game; Statistical Sampling; CT Scans–the reconstruction problem; The Platonic and Archimedean solids; The Shape of Space; Symmetry; The Binary Number System and the game of NIM; Graph Theory: Proof by Counterexample

Impact of a New Introductory Mathematical Modeling Course on Student Confidence in Mathematical Ability and Skills

Interdisciplinary mathematics and science courses are increasing in popularity. Faculty teaching these courses are given the opportunity to show how mathematics plays an important role in science and how it can be used to improve our understanding of mathematics and science. This paper discusses a new course in mathematical modeling that focuses on environmental issues. Course content and format are presented, as well as the results of a study on the changes in students’ perceptions of their mathematical abilities as a result of taking this new course

The world of fractals

[EN] Fractals are fascinating geometric structures of nature which appear in more and more field of science, ranging from heartbeat characterization through, cancer research, stock exchange trends, meteorology, and computer graphics, up to digital image processing. Fractals can be created by simple algorithms that can be manifested with also simple computer programs. The necessary programs are available in the literature and they are easy to understand and manage for first-year undergraduate students too. Therefore fractals are suitable to attract student interest and improve their attitudes toward learning physics. Our main goal was that students work independently and gain experience on fractals with applying simple algorithm and making pictures of the weird formations of fractals. In this paper, a teaching material that is freely available on the internet is described. The material was originally intended for college students, but is suitable for anyone to become familiar with fractals.This research is supported by EFOP-3.6.1-16-2016-00006 “The development and enhancement of the research potential at John von Neumann University”project. The Project is supported by the Hungarian Government and co-financed by the European Social Fund. This study was funded by the Content Pedagogy Research Program of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.Nagy, P.; Tasnádi, P. (2020). The world of fractals. En 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. (30-05-2020):939-947. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.11178OCS93994730-05-202

Chaos at Fifty

In 1963 Edward Lorenz revealed deterministic predictability to be an illusion and gave birth to a field that still thrives. This Feature Article discusses Lorenz's discovery and developments that followed from it.Comment: For an animated visualization of the Lorenz attractor, click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu4RdmBVdp