MESA Posts

Please join us next Monday,
Oct. 28th at 11 am – 12 pm
in Aderhold Room 229.

ABSTRACT

Recently there has been a lot of enthusiasm for integrating practices of Computer Science into mathematics classrooms. Although the reasons range from the hopeful to the pragmatic, we in fact know very little about how mathematical thinking might productively, or unproductively, connect with Computing. In this talk I will share findings from two rounds of design studies that sought to understand how these content areas, and their associated practices, might intersect, and ultimately, what the two fields have to learn from each other.

BIO

Melissa Gresalfi is an Associate Professor in Mathematics Education and the Learning Sciences, and Dean of the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons at Vanderbilt University.  Her research considers how to design learning environments that support students’ empowered engagement with mathematics. Her projects explore how tasks, social interactions, and norms and broader narratives support student learning and identity, with a current focus on textile craft, programming, and play. These projects share a commitment to understand how classroom structures and curricular designs create (or limit) opportunities for students to engage meaningfully with information. Gresalfi has served as PI or co-PI on numerous grants funded through the Gates Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, the MacArthur Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation.

When: Wednesday, September 4th, 2019
Time: 11-12 pm
Where: Aderhold 112

Join us for a colloquium hosted by Dr. Paul Dawkins of Texas State University. 

The title of his talk is, ”Novice students’ reasoning about proofs of conditional statements and the emergence of a meaning for conditional truth.”

Abstract: In a recent series of teaching experiments, we (with Kyeong Hah Roh) are investigating how students construct some relationship between a conditional mathematical statement and a proof of that statement. This line of inquiry is intended to reveal some of the preconditions for students to make sense of the logic of proof as it relates to their reasoning about particular mathematical content. The presentation shall focus on the issue of whether students can construct any reason why a proof of the converse statement does not prove a given conditional when both statements are true. We argue why this depends upon students developing some (content-general) meaning for conditional truth and we present three such meanings as exemplified in our data. The presentation shall explore the challenges and opportunities of these three meanings for the purposes of teaching logic

Dr. Dawkins earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2009 under the direction of James Alvarez. His dissertation work focused on student apprenticeship into defining practices in an inquiry-oriented real analysis classroom. His subsequent research has continued to focus on mathematical practices, inquiry-oriented instruction, and proof-oriented mathematics. Other projects have focused on axiomatizing in geometry as well as language and logic in introduction to proof. Many of Dr. Dawkins’ experiments use guided reinvention to design novel instructional sequences. By observing how students may be guided to reinvent key mathematical ideas, one can learn about the cognitive shifts that are necessary for learning.

When: Monday, September 9, 2019

Time: 2-3 pm

Where: Aderhold 229

Want to learn about how to fund your next research study? Do you know what goes into the process of grant development? Or what resources are available when writing a grant? What about how to communicate your grant writing plans when you’re on the job market?

Grace Thornton, manager of the research development office in the College of Education at UGA, will answer some of these questions on Monday, September 9 from 2 to 3pm. Location will be announced. 

If you have a question that you want Grace to answer, please submit your question below.

Submit your question