These are excerpts from Math Explorations in Spring 2016. Students get frustrated and make many mistakes before finally succeeding in solving the cube. It is important for them to learn that this is part of doing mathematics.
This video was taken in a mathematics for liberal arts class with 30 students. It met two times a week for 75 minutes each.
Calculus 3 students reinvented the definition of directional derivative in their groups. Afterwards the students compare their different definitions in a whole class discussion. Trying to resolve the disagreement creates energy and curiosity in the classroom.
The class had 25 students and met two times a week for 75 minutes each and one time for 50 minutes.
This video shows the main elements of a typical class of Volker Ecke. Notice how
different students are working on different topics and the assignments are
differentiated as well. Because of this there are no whole class discussions
happening in this class period.
This video was taken in a mathematics for liberal arts class with 30 students. It met three times a week for 50 minutes each.
This video was taken in a mathematics for liberal arts class with 30 students. It met two times a week for 75 minutes each.
Professor supports students in solving the Rubik's cube without telling them what to do.
This video was taken in a mathematics for liberal arts class with 30 students. It met two times a week for 75 minutes each.
This video shows the typical elements of Christine von Renesse's classes.
Students explore in groups and present their thinking later in whole class
discussions.
This video was taken in a mathematics for liberal arts class with 15 honors students. It met two times a week for 75 minutes each.
Student exploration of series in a Calculus 2 class. The class had 25 students and met two times a week for 75 minutes each and one time for 50 minutes.
Students are investigating Salsa Rueda dancing. The question is how to predict if you will dance with every leader/follower given n pairs and only dancing dame k (Salsa Rueda chapter in the Dance Book). Prior to the scene in the video, I asked a student to share her conjecture with the class because she had done the greatest number of examples and I knew that her work would be a great resource for the class. We see the student explain her conjecture.
A small group interaction with their professor as part of investigations of the areas of polygons on a geoboard in relation to the number of pins contained within the polygon and those falling along the boundary. Mathematically, these are first steps towards the (re-)discovery and proof of Pick's Theorem. The students wondered which pegs actually lie on the boundary formed by the rubber band. Pedagogically, notice how the teacher works hard to support the students, drawing their attention to particular aspects of the geoboard.
