OUTREACH TO K-12 - Aspirations and Goals:

(1) Bring Cutting Edge Science, Engineering and Mathematics to K-12 teachers and Students in innovative and engaging ways.

        Replace sports heroes with science and math heroes.

        Explain and show everyone that the scientific method is alive and well - modern science is happening now in venues near you!

        Simplify but do not eliminate the math that scientists use to do their work.

        What used to be a one-day-field trip to a museum or science exhibit can now become an essential component of the curriculum.

(2) Use mathematics to enrich both math and science - make them more interesting and raise their level simultaneously.

       Use technology to create games, simulations and videos which engage, encourage, and provoke questions and dreams in young minds.

       Enhance the professional lives of K-12 science and math educators by showing them many "content adventures".

(3) Connect scientists, educators, and education researchers - bridge the pedagogy gap.

        Help scientists to appreciate the importance of pedagogy, the challenge of pedagogy, and the essentiality of studying and refining learning objectives.

(4) Raise the respect of the K-12 teaching profession among university researchers, administrators, and professional organizations.

        Help get more credit in promotion and tenure decisions for K-12 outreach activities.

        Help cutting edge science researchers and their students get excited about and learn how to share their findings and their passion for learning with K-12.

        Enhance the educational divisions of science and math research organizations with a focus on outreach to K-12.

        Help parents, teachers, students and school board leaders to understand the importance of math and science education.

 

Video - The Keck Museum, Where the Adventure of a Lifetime Begins

This video, intended for grades 4-6 in Nevada, tells the story of  gold and silver mining from the past and from Today. A tour of the Nevada Seismological laboratory and some college of science research on the Mars rover project are also featured.  A full feature web page with lots of extra details for young learners is currently under construction.

Video Link

 

Advanced Algebra Applications - Seeing Algebra again from a different point of View

For High School students who have passed Algebra 2 but not with total mastery, this course (now being piloted but still under development) provides an innovative look at many algebra topics from a variety of applied viewpoints. Links here involve preliminary material developed by Ed Keppelmann but there is a whole team of Fantastic Teachers working on many other excellent modules: (This is all the sole property of the Washoe County School District)

THINK DOWN  

This game for TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Calculators and Emulators (such as the Inspire) is a fun way to learn about the graphing of lines, cubics, quadratics, cubics, exponentials, logs , rational functions and absolute value. Literature is available below

Think Down Primer

Insurance Spread Sheet

This macro based spreadsheet simulates auto insurance rates and accidents for different types of drivers.

GPS Examples

Learn about how intersecting circles can triangulate your location - and finding the intersection is no more complicated than solving a two-by-two system of linear equations.

Proportional Venn Diagrams

Creating Venn  Diagrams whose areas (from parts of rectangles) are in proportion to their membership - a great example of quadratics in action.

 

Northern Nevada Math Initiative

With Dave Thomas of the Raggio Center  this grant was funded on March 30, 2009. Check back for details soon!

 

Finite Group Behavior

FGB

This windows based program is a great way to learn about finite groups, subgroups, cosets, factor groups and homomorphisms. This is based on the old dos program (Exploring Small groups) by Leonard Geissinger and made famous using the materials developed by Ellen Maycock. Write to Ed Keppelmann   for a beta version that can enumerate homomorphisms and subgroups.Fred Schmitt of Marin College is currently working on a Java platform independent version of the program.

Current research with McQueen High School Student Klavdia Zemlianova involves improving the Verhoff check digit scheme which uses the symmetry group of the regular pentagon. Check back here for a draft of our upcoming publication to be posted soon!

 

Teacher's Circles

This program and materials developed by the American Institute of Mathematics, the Mathematical Association of America, the American Mathematical Society, the National Science Foundation, and the National Security Agency is a unique form of collaboration between mathematicians and middle school math teachers.

Teacher's Circle Website

CircleExample

An example of an engaging arithmetic Activity and plans for Nevada Teacher's Circles. Contact

Ed Keppelmann so he can visit your school to do a full day teacher's circle demonstration.

Check out the MAA's Special Interest Group (SIGMAA) on Math Circles at MCST
Nevada Math and Science Leadership Cadre

This Nevada Department of Education funded grant seeks to bring together top math and science teachers from each of Nevada's 17 counties. We share best practices, hopes, dreams and ambitions and the teachers bring home all sorts of professional development opportunities for their districts both rural and urban. Check out our web site at NMSLC

 

Last Updated: March 31, 2009