Mathematics Education Student Association at UGA
MESA Posts
For our second colloquium talk, we will have Dr. Keith Weber from Rutgers University.
Proof Comprehension in Advanced Mathematics
Thursday, October 17th; 3:00-4:00 PM, Aderhold _____
In advanced mathematics courses, students spend a substantial amount of time reading propositions and their proofs. Yet research suggests that students often learn little from reading these proofs. In this presentation, I address four questions about students’ reading of mathematical proof: (1) Why do students have so much difficulty understanding a proof? (2) What does it mean to understand a proof and how can this understanding be assessed? (3) What strategies should students use when reading a proof to facilitate comprehension? (4) What beliefs do students hold about their responsibilities in proof reading? These questions are addressed using qualitative and quantitative data. Initially task-based interviews with students and interviews with mathematicians were used to generate hypotheses about what students should do, but do not do, when reading a proof. A survey was then used to demonstrate statistically reliable differences in mathematics majors’ approaches to proof reading and the approaches that mathematicians would like them to take.
We are excited to have Dr. Peg Smith for our first colloquium of the year! She will be giving two talks for us.
Engaging Students in the Standards for Mathematics Practice: The Role of Cognitively Demanding Tasks
Thursday, September 26th; 4:15-5:15 PM
Athens Career Academy
Research on mathematical tasks over the last two decades has made salient that student learning is greatest in classrooms where the tasks consistently encourage high-level student thinking and reasoning (Hiebert & Wearne 1993; Stein & Lane 1996; Boaler & Staples 2008). This talk will focus on how high-level or cognitively challenging tasks can provide opportunities for students to engage in the Standards for Mathematical Practice (CCSSM, 2010).
Orchestrating Productive Discussions in Math and Science
Friday, September 27th; 11:30-12:30 PM
Aderhold 119
Orchestrating discussions that use student-developed work as the launching point places significant pedagogical demands on the teacher (e.g., Ball, 2001; Chazen & Ball, 2001; Lampert, 2001). Teachers must make rapid online diagnoses of students’ understandings, compare them with desired outcomes, and then fashion a response that will help move both the responding student and the rest of the class towards a more sophisticated understanding of the content in question. This talk will focus on a pedagogical model that specifies key practices that teachers can learn in order to use student responses more effectively and on initial efforts to study the impact of the model on instruction.
We hope to see you there!
We are excited to inform you that MESA has received a grant from NCTM which will enable us to send three undergraduate students to the 2014 NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans, LA from April 9th to April 12th.
This opportunity is open to undergraduate MESA members who will be enrolled in courses during the spring of 2014. The NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition provides an opportunity for members of the mathematics education community to participate in meaningful professional development. After returning from the conference, the three undergraduate members that attended will give a total of three presentations to UGA students and faculty in order to share information from the conference. MESA officers will assist the undergraduates with coordinating the presentations. Grant monies will cover the costs of travel, hotel accommodations, and conference registration. Additional expenses (e.g., meals) are not covered by the grant and must be covered by individual attendees.
Interested undergraduates are encouraged to apply by completing the application which is accessible through this link.
The deadline for applications is October 15th.
Please contact Hamilton Hardison if you have any questions regarding this opportunity.
Minding the discursive gap: Learning mathematics as overcoming communicational conflict.
Well done to Faculty United!