Math in the Media: Mathematics is Evil?

There is an old saying (really, I just made this up):  If you are looking for immortality, you have two choices.  Become famous, or become infamous.  Either way, you will not soon be forgotten....

A professor here is uncovering an interesting conjecture.  The fictitious, evil mastermind and arch-nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, Professor James Moriarity, was modeled by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on a mathematics professor here at Hopkins.  The similarities are quite striking, detailed here by current professor Carl McTague

Moriarity at Hopkins

Give it a read.  Nice idea, eh?

Math in the Media: TEDx and me....

Late last year, I was asked to give a TEDx talk (the 'x' means locally organized) for the inaugural TEDx event here at Hopkins (called TEDxJohnsHopkinsUniversity).  I gladly accepted, seeing it as a chance to say something I've been wanting to say for a while:  I wanted to give a talk on what mathematics means to me and why I chose it as a lifestyle.  On February 22, 2014, here on campus, I gave the talk, entitled "Why Mathematics?".

Here it is in full:

Why Mathematics?

It was a great experience, and the organizers did an excellent job.  I hope you find the talk interesting.

We are a Top 50 Freshmen Advisor!

Well, I'll be.... It seems that I've been noticed.

A website devoted to online resources for the college-age and college-focused among us, eCollegefinder.org has showcased websites devoted to education innovation and advice, and career advice and advocacy, among other things. Their just concluded their latest top 50 list, for Freshmen Advisors. I made it. It is quite the complement and very nice to be noticed.

I thank them for their endorsement, and hope I can live up to the their (and your) expectations.

Nice.

Surviving university-level Math?

I gave a orientation talk this fall to incoming freshmen. It was part of a set of Academic Interest Panels, designed to facilitate the transition from a student's previous life to university life. My contribution was to make them aware of a problem I see with incoming freshmen in their first math class here at Hopkins: That what they expect for math at this level, in terms of workload, focus, level of rigor, expectations of the student's as well as that of the instructors is really very different from the reality. And the transition shock that sometimes results can doom a student's chances in that first class. The talk was entitled

Thriving in University-level Mathematics

It became more than just a warning, however. I wound up giving lots of advice on how to study, how to treat the course and its components, the role of the lectures, recitations, homework, the instructor the TA, etc.

The step from secondary school math to what we offer is quite large.... easy to trip on, so to speak.

Click on the title link to see a PDF of the slides. It's worth a look, I believe. Enjoy.

AP credits tightening??

Here is a heads-up on a policy change coming down the pipeline....

Recently, in a post entitled AP Preparation Adequate?, I posted on a concern we have with the way we award credits for exam scores under the AP system. The questions is: How well is the AP system prepping our students for college-level math?

There has always been a concern that many HS programs tend to teach for the exam, devoting much time on problem types and techniques and sacrificing some of the deeper theoretical material development in the process. Here at the university level, where we do not sacrifice the theoretical material, we find the transition for some students to be quite difficult. Anecdotal and personal evidence abounds (my interactions with individual students, for example). Systemic evidence (searching for evidence throughout our service courses) is more difficult to uncover.

The previous post presented an attack to uncover some systemic evidence. This evidence is now leading to a decision by the department to change the policy regarding credit awards.

Namely,

• instead of offering Calculus I credits for a 4 or a 5 on the AB exam, we will restrict the credit awards to those receiving full marks, or a 5 on the AB exam.
• Instead of offering Calculus II credits for a 4 or a 5 on the BC exam, we will restrict the credit awards to those receiving full marks, or a 5 on the BC exam.
• The award of credits for Calculus I by receiving a 3 or a 4 on teh BC exam will remain in place.

Putting this new policy in place will take some time, but the wheels are now turning. Comments?