First-Year Math & Stats in Canada

 

FYMSiC News

Announcements

Kia ora FYMSiC! 🙂

And yet another one. We the best, FYMSiC! 🙂

Nicholas Harland (Manitoba) is graciously sharing with us another fantastic job opportunity. Check it out!

The Department of Mathematics at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg is seeking a new hire with at the rank of Instructor 1.

Applications are due by January 4th, 2024.

Potential applicants can find the job postings at the following link: https://www.mathjobs.org/jobs/list/23903

Best of luck to all applicants! 🙂

 

ᎣᏏᏲ FYMSiC! 🙂

Another two (2) fantastic job opportunities, thanks to our dear FYMSiC friend, Vanessa Radzimski (Fraser Valley), for sharing:

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of the Fraser Valley is seeking two new hires with a passion for teaching and learning at the undergraduate level. The positions are at the rank of Assistant Professor (tenure track), with one in Statistics and the other in Mathematics. Applications are due by January 1st. Potential applicants can find the job postings at the following links:

Statistics: https://ufv.njoyn.com/CL3/xweb/XWeb.asp?tbtoken=Z1tRQh5bDVACZ3QHRFBVFU9KeGMqaVVYdlxMWikFenlZK0ppXEEadWV9BUQYGhBUSHRgF3U%3D&chk=ZVpaShM%3D&clid=56144&Page=JobDetails&Jobid=J1123-0593&BRID=247636&lang=1

Mathematics: https://ufv.njoyn.com/CL3/xweb/XWeb.asp?tbtoken=Z1tRQh5bDVACZ3QHRFBVFU9KeGMqaVVYdlxMWikFenlZK0ppXEEadWV9BUQYGhBUSHRgF3U%3D&chk=ZVpaShM%3D&clid=56144&Page=JobDetails&Jobid=J1123-0594&BRID=247803&lang=1

Best of luck to all those who apply! 🙂

 

ສະບາຍດີ FYMSiC!

Spreading the word about two (2) great job opportunities, thanks to our FYMSiC co-founder, Veselin Jungic (Simon Fraser):

The Department of Mathematics at Simon Fraser University invites applications for two half-time Lecturer positions starting May 1, 2024.

For more information, please visit: https://www.sfu.ca/math/about/careers.html

The job posting will remain open until December 20th, 2023.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL APPLYING !!! 🙂

 

Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication
to mathematics and statistics education!

For past FYMSiC News, please visit the Past News.

 


FYMSiC Online Teaching Meet Ups

Online Teaching Meet Ups are a great virtual space to have a conversation about math and stats teaching and learning with students and educators. Each meet up has a specific theme such as ‘How to teach ‘em math proofs in first-year and beyond?’ or ‘What is CEGEP?’ or ‘Transitioning to university: high school teachers’ experiences and views’, which may be accompanied by a couple of presentations – but for sure, a healthy, therapeutic and cathartic dialogue is always there about teaching and learning!

 

Upcoming meet up …

♦ Thursday, November 23rd, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. (EST)

Zoom link: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/87298243894 

Passcode: fymsic

Title: A three-pronged lesson in differential equations in a calculus course: analytical, numerical and experimental

Presenter: Peter Harrington (UBC)

Abstract: University students often encounter differential equations (DEs) for the first time in their introductory calculus courses, but analytical and numerical approaches to solving DEs are often withheld until integral calculus is well established. Here I will discuss a different, three-pronged lesson taught at UBC for introducing DEs in a differential calculus course at the start of students’ university education. This lesson demonstrates the analytical and numerical approaches in a compressed sequence, and includes a third prong—the experimental approach, which is often consigned to engineering and physics courses. The lesson emphasizes the multitude of methods and their different strengths, incorporates software and programming at low cost, and provides opportunities for active, experiential, team-based learning. This is joint work with Amenda Chow (York) and Fok-Shuen Leung (UBC).

 

Most recent meet up …

Thursday, October 26th, 2023, 5:00pm (EDT) [Slides]

Title: Applying cognitive science principles for effective math instruction

Presenter: Anna Stokke

Abstract:
Principles from cognitive science can help us understand how students learn and retain information, which, in turn, can inform our teaching. This is often referred to as the “science of learning” and has been studied by cognitive scientists for many years. Although I have been teaching for over twenty years, I wasn’t aware of some of this research for most of my career. I became fascinated with cognitive science and how it can be applied to math teaching several years ago, and I have since had the opportunity to speak with and learn from several experts in the area. I will discuss cognitive load theory and some of the principles of cognitive science that are particularly relevant to math teaching and how these can be applied in post-secondary teaching.    

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Anna Stokke is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Winnipeg. She has also been involved in math education outreach and advocacy for over 10 years. She is a co-founder and president of the non-profit after school math program, Archimedes Math Schools. She also hosts a podcast on math and teaching called Chalk & Talk. In 2021 she was awarded a 3M National Teaching Fellowship. Prior to that she won several awards for teaching and educational leadership, including the University of Winnipeg Clifford J. Robson Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence and the 2017 PIMS Education Prize. 

 

Save the date …

More online meet ups coming Winter 2024 term . . . 

 

For past FYMSiC Online Teaching Meet Ups & Events and Resources mentioned and discussed, please visit the Meet Ups page.

To join our emailing list for FYMSiC Meet Up Information and other FYMSiC Updates, please email a.burazin@utoronto.ca.

 


Other Math & Stats Education Events

November 25th & 26th, 2023 [Online]: 2023 Canadian Mathematical Society Online Ed Meeting

December 1st – 4th, 2023 [In Person]: 2023 Canadian Mathematical Society Winter Meeting, Montréal, Québec

 

Fields Institute Mathematics Education Forum

Meeting Information: http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/centres/centre-mathematics-education

The Fields Institute Mathematics Education Forum promotes discussion of issues in mathematics education at all levels, with special emphasis on education in the Province of Ontario. The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences serves as the host of the Forum, but does not determine the agenda or the conclusions of the Forum. It is the goal of the Forum to consider objectively new ideas and diverse views in mathematics education, to facilitate consensus and to promote the enhancement of mathematics education in Ontario and Canada.

The Forum’s mandate is to foster the development of new ideas, methodologies and materials with respect to possible changes that could improve education in mathematics, and to work for the implementation of such changes.

 

University of Waterloo Mathematics Teaching Seminar

The Mathematics Teaching Seminar at the University of Waterloo is a biweekly meeting featuring discussions on undergraduate mathematics teaching. Participants in the seminar include lecturers, research faculty, and graduate students from all four of Waterloo’s mathematics departments and the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, as well as faculty members and teaching enthusiasts from around the world. Those who would like to attend are encouraged to reach out to the organizers, Burcu Tuncer Karabina and Zack Cramer

 


FYMSiC Newsletter

Latest issue …

Issue 13 – July 17th, 2023

Our fourteen issue is coming out in February 2024. If you wish to contribute to our Newsletter, please visit the Newsletter page.

Please send your contributions in Microsoft Word or LaTex (source) formats to: newsletter@firstyearmath.ca 

For the fourteenth newsletter issue, the contribution deadline is on Friday, February 2nd, 2024, by 11:59 p.m. (PDT). 

 


FYMSiC Repository

The First-Year Mathematics and Statistics Courses Repository is a resource supporting an ongoing national dialogue about teaching first year mathematics and statistics at Canadian universities. This shareable dynamic online database contains extensive data collected from mathematics and statistics instructors across the country. Data includes course content, resource and technology used, learning outcomes, modes of delivery, connections with other courses, as well as informal descriptions of various practices in teaching these courses.

It is our hope that instructors (i.e., our contacts at all participating universities, or their colleagues) will keep the database up to date, as well as provide missing, and additional information.

The main purpose of the First-Year Mathematics and Statistics Courses Repository is to provide an open, organized and comprehensive resource of information about first-year mathematics and statistics courses at Canadian Universities. We hope to enrich the content as we move along. 

Slides of the presentation (containing a broader context of our First-Year Math project and information about the Repository) that Veselin Jungic gave at the meeting of Canadian Mathematics and Statistics Department chairs in Ottawa, March 2019.

 

To access the FYMSiC Repository, please Register (if you have not already) and Log In.

 


FYMSiC Teaching & Learning Resources

Latest share …

Anna Stokke’s (Winnipeg) recommended reads and listens:

  • Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How you Can Make it Easy, Daniel Willingham
  • Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning, Pooja Agarwal & Patrice Bain
  • How Teaching Happens, Seminal Works in Teaching and Teacher Effectiveness and What They Mean in Practice, Kirschner, Henrick, Heal
  • How Learning Happens, Seminal Works in Educational Psychology and What They Mean in Practice, Kirschner & Hendrick
  • A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science, Barbara Oakley
  • Uncommon Sense Teaching, Barbara Oakley
  • A Little Guide for Teachers: Cognitive Load Theory, Greg Ashman
  • Good summary: Cognitive load theory: research that teachers really need to understand, Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, NSW Department of Education (2017)
Read & Listen, my FYMSiC pretties! 🙂
 
 
If you wish to add a Teaching & Learning Resource to the FYMSiC Website, please email a.burazin@utoronto.ca.
 
For previous Latest Shares, please visit the T&L Resources page.

 


FYMSiC Recent Publications

  • Chow, A. N. (2023). Hysteresis as an Authentic Mathematics Application, For the Learning of Mathematics, 43(1), 36-39.
  • Burazin, A., DeDieu, L., Jungić, V., & Lovric, M. (2023). Teaching-Stream Faculty in Canada – How are We Doing?, Canadian Mathematical Society Notes, 55(1). Retrieved from: https://notes.math.ca/en/article/teaching-stream-faculty-in-canada-how-are-we-doing-2/ 
  • Burazin, A., L., Jungić, V., & Lovric, M. (2023). On a Class of Integrals related to Wallis Integrals. arXiv:2305.08966. Retrieved from: http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.08966
  • Burazin, A., L., Jungić, V., & Lovric, M. (2023). Wallis m-integrals and their properties, Scientia, Series A: Mathematical Sciences, 33, 61-71.
  • Burazin, A. & Lovric, M. (2023). Which Years are the Unluckiest?, Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group Newsletter, 39(2). Retrieved from: https://view.genial.ly/646d6bbb52b6be00129eee34

 

Support Veselin’s Ramsey Theory Book by contacting your school’s library and suggesting to order the book.
 
 
For previously announced Publications, please visit the T&L Resources page.

 


FYMSiC Related Communities

First Year in Maths is a network of over 200 mathematicians, statisticians and educators teaching in universities, colleges and schools in Australia and New Zealand.

 


FYMSiC Vision

We believe that only by sharing experiences, gathering data, and looking at research-based decisions and strategies, our mathematical teaching community can come up with ideas and initiatives for university faculty and instructors to restructure their programs and to respond to the demands that the realities of today’s living place on us and our students.

It is our belief that the contacts at a national level (such as the Mathematics Education Session at the CMS conference in Waterloo in December 2017, the First Year Conference in April 2018 at the Fields Institute, and the Winter CMS Session in Vancouver in December 2018) will connect, and unite Canadian teaching and research faculty in their efforts to provide the best, and most adequate, post-secondary math education possible, and will provide a forum for all involved to learn about the complexity of issues related to teaching mathematics. We see the national dialogue as an ongoing process that will keep us all connected and strengthen our community.

 


FYMSiC FAQ

1. Who is the intended audience?
All interested faculty in mathematics and statistics departments in Canada, mathematics and statistics department chairs, college instructors, high school teachers (grade 12 mostly) interested in knowing what’s going on in level 1 mathematics and statistics, as well as education developers and publishers.
 
2. How will this information be shared?
The information is shared with approved members of the repository. Those who are interested will fill out a questionnaire. After the application information has been verified by the page administrators, and it has been determined it fits with the purpose of the repository, access (login and password) will be granted.
 
3. How frequently is the data updated?
This would depend on the curators at each institution. As the main purpose of the database is to provide a snapshot of teaching level 1 mathematics and statistics, it would be ideal if the curators visit their part of the database as often as possible, to correct existing data and enter missing data.
 
4. How do I sign up to access the Repository?
Send an email to Veselin Jungic (SFU) [vjungic@sfu.ca] or Miroslav Lovric (McMaster) [lovric@mcmaster.ca].
 
5. Is this done under CMS (Canadian Mathematics Society)?
No. This is a grass roots initiative led by Miroslav Lovric and Veselin Jungic, in part supported by the Fields Institute, Simon Fraser University, McMaster University and the EDC Grants for Exchange.