Queer Studies, Special Education, and Mathematics

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Maya Sharma

I recently read educator James Sheldon’s paper Erasing Queer Subjects, Constructing Disabled Subjects: Toward a Queering of Mathematics Disabilities, which questions the relative absence of mathematics in the field of queer studies, discusses ways in which special education mathematics curricula fails to serve the students for which it is intended, and proposes that viewing differences in performance through the lens of queerness rather than deficiency could help provide all students with the resources to succeed in math. Sheldon also questions current means of measuring student performance, such as the Woodcock-Johnson assessment. Continue reading →

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The Collatz Conjecture

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Avery Carr

Photo Credit [Wikimedia Commons]

Mathematical inquiry can lead down jagged paths hewed deeply in the landscape of abstract thought. The English cleric Charles Caleb Colton once said, “The study of mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness but ends in magnificence.” This magnificence can be observed directly in the process of making a new discovery. Poised with creativity and a thorough knowledge, mathematicians often discover generalizations that transcend time as much as they do common understanding.

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Posted in AMS, General, Math, Math in Pop Culture, Mathematics in Society, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Outreach of Mathematician

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Shijie Gu

community_outreachOutreach for a mathematics department as any activity that enhances the teaching and learning of mathematics outside the department, in particular in K–12 education and community colleges. Undoubtedly, most math department have such program, and many graduate students have involved in it.

It’s not hard to note that an outreach mathematician is not a mathematics education researcher but is likely to spend considerable time working on matters that are sometimes within the domain of mathematics education. I know some graduate students, even professors who are such kind of mathematicians. Their main job are very similar to those in  TTU(described in the latest article, Revisiting an Outreach Mathematician, Notices of AMS):

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Please Help: A Survey on the Mathematical Experience

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Tyler Clark

AMSBlogTwitterLuke Wolcott is a recent PhD graduate and previous member of the editorial board of this blog. He is currently working on a postdoc project and could use our help. Please see Luke’s note below.

As a side project during my research postdoc, I’ve been collaborating with a philosopher of mathematics, Alexandra Van Quynh, on mathematical phenomenology. We’re looking for help from math PhD students (or postdocs, or professors). Continue reading →

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What’s the Big Data?

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Shijie Gu

The first time I heard about big data was April 1st, the “fool’s day”, while I was drinking coffee, and reading the SIAM newspaper. I was attracted by a report about a meeting of the SIAM Committee on Science Policy (December 3 and 4, Washington, DC), a few themes emerged from the wide-ranging discussions generated by the agenda and slate of visitors. “Big data,” the overarching theme, was closely connected to two others: programs of most of the U.S. agencies that fund science and the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of research on important problems.
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