Articles from:December 2017

  • Math Ed Seminar Series @ Brock

    Monday, December 18, 2017 | By

    Math Ed Seminar Series @ Brock

    Season 2017- 2018
    Mark your calendar!

    15 January @ 10:00 in TA403
    Dr. Chantal Buteau, Dr. Eric Muller
    Department of Mathematics and Statistics (Brock University)
    & Dr. Joyce Mgombelo
    Faculty of Education (Brock University)

    ‘Coding’ and mathematics: the students’ learning experience

    Seminar Poster

    29 January @ 10:00 in TA403
    Dr. Abolfazl Rafiepour
    Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman (Iran)
    Visiting Professor at Department of Mathematics and Statistics (Brock University)

    Revisiting the role of common sense in mathematical word problem solving

    12 February @ 10:00 in TA403
    Dr. Mina Sedaghatjou,
    Faculty of Education (Brock University)

    Finger counting in the Era of touchscreen-based technology

    19 March @ 10:00 in TA403
    Dr. Joyce Mgombelo
    Faculty of Education (Brock University)

    Title TBA

    Contact information and print version of the seminar list

  • Brock U research studies integrating computer programming into mathematics education

    Monday, December 11, 2017 | By

    When it’s raining outside and you want to stay as dry as possible, is it better to walk in the rain, or run?

    It’s a question that wouldn’t be tackled in traditional ‘paper and pencil’ undergraduate mathematics courses, but educators at Brock University are teaching their students how to tap into the power of computers to model, simulate, visualize and choose the best alternatives in calculations.

    “It’s using computer programming as an instrument to engage in mathematics investigations,” says Chantal Buteau, Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

    “It’s taking a scientific, experimental approach to mathematics: asking questions, conjecturing, testing math problems or applications with programming and seeing the outcomes through computer simulations, then further tweaking the problem or model to continue the math work,” she says.

    Buteau and fellow mathematicians Bill Ralph and Henryk Fuks are adapting the

    European Mathematical Society’s view that, beyond theory and experimentation, “a third pillar of scientific inquiry of complex systems has emerged in the form of a combination of modelling, simulation, optimization and visualization.”

    “Few post-secondary mathematics programs address this 21st century need by adapting the curricula to combine mathematics and computer programming,” says Buteau.

    Brock is the exception.

    For more details, please see the story in the Brock News