Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont All HMC Faculty Publications and Research HMC Faculty Scholarship 12-1-2006 Teaching Time Savers: Some Advice on Giving Advice Michael E. Orrison Jr. Harvey Mudd College Recommended Citation Orrison, Michael. "Imagine Math Day: Encouraging Secondary School Students and Teachers to Engage in Authentic Mathematical Discovery." MAA FOCUS 26.6 (2006): 24-27. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the HMC Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in All HMC Faculty Publications and Research by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FOCUS December 2006 FOCUS is published by the Mathematical Association of America in January, February, FOCUS March, April, May/June, August/September, October, November, and December. Volume 26 Issue 9 Editor: Fernando Gouvêa, Colby College; [email protected] Inside Managing Editor: Carol Baxter, MAA; 4 2007 Haimo Award Winners to Speak at the January Joint Meetings [email protected] By Colin Adams Senior Writer: Harry Waldman, MAA; [email protected] 6 Archives of American Mathematics Spotlight: The School Mathematics Please address advertising inquiries to: Study Group Records [email protected] By Kristy Sorensen President: Carl C. Cowen 8 MAA Names Arthur Benjamin—Mathematical Wizard, Writer First Vice-President: Carl Pomerance, and Editor—Pólya Lecturer Second Vice-President: Deanna Haunsperger, By Harry Waldman Secretary: Martha J. Siegel, Associate Secretary: James J. Tattersall, Treasurer: 9 The Fourth Blackwell-Tapia Conference John W. Kenelly By Joe Gallian Executive Director: Tina H. Straley 9 Math Horizons: Time for a New Editor FOCUS Editorial Board: Robert Bradley; By Steve Kennedy Joseph A. Gallian; Jacqueline Giles; Colm Mulcahy; Michael Orrison; Peter Renz; Sha- 10 Geometry If not, why not? If so, what? ron Cutler Ross; Annie A. Selden; Hortensia Soto-Johnson; Peter Stanek; Ravi Vakil. By P.N. Ruane Letters to the editor should be addressed to 13 MAA is Offered Unique Opportunity to Buy Golden Icosahedron Fernando Gouvêa, Colby College, Dept. of By Harry Waldman Mathematics, Waterville, ME 04901, or by email to [email protected]. 13 Summer Mathematics Program for Women at Carleton College Subscription and membership questions By Deanna Haunsperger should be directed to the MAA Customer Service Center, 800-331-1622; e-mail: 14 Perception and Research: Mathematics, Gender, and the SAT [email protected]; (301) 617-7800 (outside By Cathy Kessel U.S. and Canada); fax: (301) 06-9789. MAA Headquarters: (0) 387-500. 16 Teaching Time Savers: Some Advice on Giving Advice By Michael E. Orrison Copyright © 005 by the Mathematical Association of America (Incorporated). 18 What I Learned at the MAA Digital Library Workshop Educational institutions may reproduce articles By Gizem Karaali for their own use, but not for sale, provided that the following citation is used: “Reprinted 21 Legendary Mathematician and Former MAA President G. Baley Price with permission of FOCUS, the newsletter Dies at 101 of the Mathematical Association of America By Harry Waldman (Incorporated).” 22 AAAS Meeting in San Francisco Will Feature Periodicals postage paid at Washington, DC and additional mailing offices.Postmaster: Send Interdisciplinary Mathematics Program address changes to FOCUS, Mathematical By Edward Aboufadel Association of America, P.O. Box 90973, Washington, DC 0090-0973. 23 A Mathematician’s View of the AAAS Annual Meeting By David L. Finn ISSN: 0731-040; Printed in the United States of America. 25 Writing as an Effective Teaching and Assessment Tool By Anna Davis 31 Employment Opportunities On the cover: The golden icosahedron on the cover was offered for sale to the MAA. See page 13 for the full story. Photograph provided by Sebastian Thewes. December 2006 FOCUS Birth Announcement: It’s a SIGMAA! We are proud to announce the arrival tional opportunities among undergradu- Joint Meetings, including an MAA panel, of a new Special Interest Group of the ates and undergraduate faculty in the an MAA CUPM subcommitee discus- Mathematical Association of America, fields of mathematical and computational sion and an MAA minicourse, as well as on Mathematical and Computational biology. This necessarily includes inter- AMS & SIAM events. BIO SIGMAA is Biology, henceforth to be known as BIO action with all concerned departmental the official sponsor of a three-part MAA SIGMAA. This SIGMAA was officially structures (i.e. mathematics, computer session on Integrating Mathematics and born at MathFest in August 006, after science, biology, and other related de- Biology in Undergraduate Education, to the usual nine month gestation period. partments) and also institutions and be held on Friday, January 5, 007, from organizations that feed into, and from, 8:00 AM to 10:55 AM, Sunday, January 7, The BIO SIGMAA charter begins: the undergraduate programs. 007, 4:15 PM to 6:10 PM, and Monday, January 8, 007, 8:40 AM to 10:35 AM. The focus of BIO SIGMAA is on the The first BIO SIGMAA Business Meet- pedagogy of mathematical and computa- ing and Reception will take place on Questions regarding membership in BIO tional biology at the undergraduate level. Saturday, January 6, 007, from 5:45 SIGMAA or the goals and activities of This includes the support of curriculum PM to 7:00 PM, at the Joint Mathematics BIO SIGMAA, should be directed to development, faculty development, and Meeting in New Orleans. the BIO SIGMAA Chair, Eric Marland undergraduate research in those fields. at [email protected]. The BIO The purpose of BIO SIGMAA is to sup- Dozens of talks and other interesting ses- SIGMAA web site is at http://www.maa. port those activities that will enhance the sions relating to mathematical and com- org/SIGMAA/biosigmaa. exchange of ideas and access to educa- putational biology are scheduled for the MAA Study Tour to Celebrate Euler’s 300th By Lisa Kolbe T o help commemorate Leonhard In four full days in Berlin, we will not Euler’s 300th birthday, the MAA Math- only visit the Berlin Academy where ematical Study Tour for 007 will be an Euler worked, but also learn about math- Euler tour, visiting his birthplace, Basel, ematics in the time of Weierstrass at the and the two cities in which he spent his University of Berlin (now the Humboldt working life, St. Petersburg and Berlin. University). In addition, we will meet The Study Tour will happen on July 1- with mathematicians in Berlin today, to 14, 2007. There will be five full days in discuss common issues in mathematics St. Petersburg, with tours of the places education, and be able to enjoy a musi- where Euler lived and worked and the cal performance at one of Berlin’s many cemetery where he is buried. We will musical venues. visit the Academy of Sciences to see their archive of Euler letters and manuscripts The tour leaders will be Victor J. Katz, and meet with Russian mathematicians Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, at the St. Petersburg Mathematical So- University of the District of Columbia, as well as that of other mathematicians, ciety and with teachers who work with and Phyllis Katz, founding Executive can help inspire and motivate mathemat- talented youth. Director (retired) of Hands On Science ics learning. In addition, participants with Outreach, Inc. In each city, Phyllis Katz expertise in any area related to the tour In two days in Basel, we will visit the will provide interested participants with are encouraged to contact Victor Katz church where Euler’s father was pastor ways to use the tour experience in teach- personally to discuss the possibility of and hear about how work is proceeding ing. She will help you formulate plans sharing their knowledge with the other on the massive collection of Euler’s col- to use your photographs and other infor- tour members. lected works. There will also be visits to mation to assist students in developing sites associated with Johann Bernoulli, projects involving mathematics history. See http://www.maa.org/ euler_trip/ for Euler’s teacher at the University of Ba- She will also provide suggestions on how full details, itinerary and registration. sel. visits to museums can supplement formal The number of travelers for this tour is teaching, and on how Euler’s biography, limited to 35. 3 FOCUS December 2006 2007 Haimo Award Winners to Speak at the January Joint Meetings By Colin Adams The Deborah and Franklin Tepper the co-editor of the MAA’s undergraduate His expository work and his workshops Haimo Award for Distinguished College magazine, Math Horizons, she has writ- have touched many more students either or University Teaching of Mathematics ten a variety of expository and research directly or through the teachers who have recognizes excellence at the national articles. Her MAA book, Proofs that learned from him. level in the teaching of mathematics. Really Count: the Art of Combinatorial The 007 winners are Michael Starbird Proof, co-authored with Arthur Benja- Mike’s teaching excellence is document- from the University of Texas at Austin, min, has been described (by Persi Di- ed by about a dozen teaching awards, Jennifer Quinn of the Association for aconis) as a blend of the talents of Martin including the Excellence Award from Women in Mathematics, and W. Gilbert Gardner and Houdini: “It gives magical the Eyes of Texas (twice), the Dad’s Strang of the Massachusetts Institute of ‘aha’ proofs that are real mathematics but Association Centennial Teaching Fellow- Technology. As happens every year, the accessible to everyone.” Not surprisingly, ship, the President’s Associates Teaching winners have been invited to speak on it won the MAA’s Beckenbach Book Excellence Award, the Jean Holloway “the secrets of their success” at the Joint Prize in 006. Award for Teaching Excellence, the Chad Mathematics Meetings, to be held in New Oliver Plan II Teaching Award, the Friar Orleans on January 5–8.