Rest in Peace, Bill Thurston....

A great mathematician, and my professional grandfather (he was the thesis advisor of my thesis advisor), died some days ago.  William Thurston, a pioneering mathematician is many areas, whose contributions not only spanned many areas of mathematics but tied disparate topics together through geometry, fell to cancer at the age of 65.

I only met him and saw him speak a few times, but all of my work is to be considered "thurston-esque" in that it plays on the tools and ideas he exposed and developed.  I remember distinctly early on in my thesis research struggling to understand what was going on in one of his papers, yet feeling the fascination and joy in the slow but steady comprehension.  Every mathematician, like every writer and artist, has a style about them.  Not just a style in the way they write but a style in the way they think, perceive, and present.  I see that style in the "children" of Bill Thurston, people like Benson Farb, Richard Canany, Lee Mosher, Yair Minsky, Martin Bridgeman, and my advisor Bill Goldman.  They seem to see mathematics the way a child views a carnival: full of wonder and joy, fasinated with each new discovery, and simply happy to be a part of the whole scene.

Of course, this is a huge loss for the mathematics world.  But his contributions even up to now will continue to percolate through the outer edges of what is known and what is yet to be discovered.  And his attitude, his style, as seen through his descendents, will certainly live on.

Rest in Peace, Bill Thurston.  The community will miss you.  And we thank you dearly for your thoughts.

Wikipedia entry 

Christian Perfect's Aperiodical Blog Entry

Math in the Media: Math Food?

One of the more basic and interesting shapes (spaces) in mathematics is the torus.  We typically describe is as the surface of a doughnut or bagel.  That it is mathematically different from the surface of a ball is a good entry point for a lay explanation of some fun higher mathematics. 

Speaking of a bagel, here is an interesting video on a way to mathematically play with your food:

A Mathematically Correct Breakfast

Buon appetito!!!

A Find: In Praise of Lectures

Currently vogue in internal university discussions involving education is the idea that the standard lecture format for a course is not the most effective means to educate students.  We here at Hopkins are quite interested in understanding better how serve our entering students in the large-lecture courses we call Gateway Science courses (Our study of this issue here at Hopkins is appropriately called the Gateway Science Initiative.  Also, you can read a JHU-centric white paper on this issue).  I am on the Steering Committee studying this issue.  There is a lot of talk about active learning, and other alternatives to inspire students who do not benefit from the simple instructor-led lectures.

I definitely agree with the idea that the classroom experience could benefit from a purposeful study of how our students acquire knowledge and an active design approach to how we teach.  However, I was always a bit troubled by some of the criticism leveled at the standard lecture format.  I love lecturing, feel comfortable in leading a classroom this way, and see great value in the experience.

It turns out I am not alone.  Thomas Korner, a mathematician in Trinity College at Cambridge University, has written a defense of the lecture format:

In Praise of Lectures

 I find this essay particularly inspiring.  Give it a read.  It definitely says things that I strongly agree with.

Math in the Media: To save this math class, we must destroy it!

Words failed me (mostly) when I read this article today in the Washington Post:

At Virginia Tech,  Computers Help Solve a Math Class Problem

It is a common problem that the transition from high school mathematics courses to those at university can be quite difficult to make.  Even in courses whose content is basically the same, like Calculus AB in the AP system and what most universities call Calculus I, the treatment of that content is much different here at the university.  Of course, students sometimes do not do well.  And I am sure that sub-standard teaching from some of us up here may be a part of it.  We need very much to analyze how we teach and learn to do a better job!  And many of us are.  IN fact, here at Hopkins, we are devoting a LOT of resources precisely to this problem of how to better and more comprehensively educate our incoming students.

But to help cure the "problem" of not-high-enough passing rates by essentially removing instructor face-time from teaching!?!  That is patently absurd in my book.

Mathematics is absolutely NOT about learning a few techniques to apply to standard problems set up to test those techniques, which is exactly what many unit-based, worksheet driven, math courses seem to be like pre-college level.  Porting that type of course to the university level may in fact raise passing rates.  But without the ability to study nuanced mathematical ideas and relationships via discussion and debate (think Socrates), one never learns how to THINK mathematically.  Only to calculate.

Maybe that is what VTech is looking for.  I, for one, am not.  

Math in the Media: The Scale of the UNiverse 2.

A stunningly beautiful illustration of the scale of the universe, from its largest (it's estimated size) to its smallest (the size of the strings that make up our matter, according to string theory), all in a striking sliding scale video, set to music.

ABC News found this. You must take a look!

'The Scale of the Universe,' by Two Teenage Brothers

Simply amazing!!!

Math (not) in the Media: Girls in STEM?

A huge waste of amazing potential talent...!


Created by: Engineering Degree

Math in the Media: Flipping a Lecture???

Here at Hopkins, we are engaging in a project to better understand the general purpose and success of how the large-lecture, so-called, Gateway Science classes (the calculus, chemistry, physics, biology, etc.) in preparing students for the higher-level, specialized study of their future majors. It is a huge affair, and taken as a holistic, university-wide endeavor, has the potential to transform the general curriculum here at JHU in far reaching ways.

But more on that later. There is an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education on turning the standard lecture-type model for university instruction into a much more interactive and enriching experience. The article

How 'Flipping' the Classroom Can Improve the Traditional Lecture

is a very good read. Eric Mazur, a physicist from Harvard, gave a talk here at Hopkins recently on his efforts to enliven the classroom experience. Engaging, he was, and his notion of peer-instruction, whereby students learn by active discussion with their peers while under the direction of the instructor, is just one aspect of the search for new models to engage students and promote a better, deeper sense of learning.

If you are here at Hopkins, you WILL see more of this in the years ahead. For now, give the article a good read.