FYMSiC News
Announcements
Nyoung haseyo FYMSiC! 🙂
Another fantastic educational event to share with FYMSiC thanks to Bethany White (Toronto):
Last Call for IASE 2023 proposals – due Jan 30, 2023
Dear FYMSiC friends,
The proposal deadline for the International Association for Statistical Education (IASE) 2023 satellite conference is quickly approaching. If you’d like to share work related to the conference theme “Fostering Learning of Statistics and Data Science”, please submit your proposal by January 30, 2023: PROPOSAL FORM LINK (https://bit.ly/IASE_IASC_2023_ProposalForm)
IASE 2023 is a *hybrid* conference taking place the University of Toronto in Toronto (and online) from July 11-13, 2023. Please visit the conference website (https://iase2023satellite.github.io/) for more information and share this message with anyone you think may be interested in participating in this conference.
Sincerely,
Bethany White (on behalf of the IASE 2023 organizing committee)
Let’s participate, FYMSiC !!! 🙂
Nǐn hǎo FYMSiC! 🙂
We have an exciting educational event to share thanks to Chantal Buteau (Brock):
In-person symposium on Coding, Computational Modelling, and Equity in Mathematics Education at Brock University, April 26-29, 2023.



Let’s support this great event, FYMSiC !!! 🙂
Hola FYMSiC! ☺
And yet another fantastic education event happening to be shared with all during this wonderful season of giving, thanks to Bethany (Toronto):
Dear FYMSiC Friends,
The International Association for Statistical Education (IASE) satellite conference is coming to the University of Toronto (and online) July 11-13, 2023!
The IASE 2023 theme is “Fostering Learning of Statistics and Data Science”. Presentation/poster proposals may be submitted until January 30, 2023 through this form: PROPOSAL FORM LINK (https://bit.ly/IASE_IASC_2023_ProposalForm)
Please check out the conference website (https://iase2023satellite.github.io/) for more information and share this message with any colleagues you think may be interested in participating in IASE 2023.
Thanks! Wishing you a happy holiday,
Bethany White (on behalf of the IASE 2023 local organizing committee)
HAVE A MAGNIFICENT HOLIDAY, FYMSiC!☺
Salute FYMSiC! 🙂
Another great job opportunity is being passed along by our dear FYMSiC friend Kseniya (UFV). Please spread the word to anyone searching! 🙂
Job Posting: Assistant Professor, Mathematics & Statistics – UFV
Good luck to all who apply! 🙂
Congratulations
Wes Maciejewski secured an Instructor position in the Donald School of Business, Science, and Technology at Red Deer Polytechnic.
Congrats to Anton Musonov (Lecturer, University of Waterloo) for receiving the WUSA Excellence In Undergraduate Teaching Award (2021). Press release: https://wusa.ca/congratulations-to-the-winners-of-the-wusa-excellence-in-undergraduate-teaching-award-2021/
Asmita Sodhi secured an Assistant Teaching Professor position in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Victoria.
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 …
♦ Tuesday, February 7th, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. (EST)
Zoom: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/81060057912
Passcode: fymsic
Title: Where are we on the mathematics and statistics education hype curve? ENCORE [from 2022 CMS Winter Meeting presentations]
Presenter: Dan Wolczuk (Waterl00)
Abstract:
Dan Wolczuk (Waterloo)
Fact, Fiction, or Fad?
As we seek to improve teaching and learning in mathematics and statistics, we encounter a constant stream of innovative ideas. For any of these ideas, it is generally easy to find some sources that support them and some other sources that refute them. Thus, evaluating whether these methods will be effective for our students is a challenging endeavor.
In this presentation, I will discuss a strategy for determining if an educational approach is fact, fiction, or fad. I will also share what I’ve learned after having applied this strategy over the last 7 years.
Dan’s presentation was fantastic at the 2022 CMS Winter Meeting Education Session, Where are we on the mathematics and statistics education hype curve? (https://www2.cms.math.ca/Events/winter22/abs/waw#dw), in December 2022, organized by Diana Skrzydlo (Waterloo) and Andie Burazin (UTM).
Definitely worth hearing the talk! It was a huge hit! 🙂
Most recent meet up …
♦Thursday, November 24th, 2022
Title: End of Term Check-in !!!
Abstract:
How was it coming back this Fall term to your classes in person on campus? How did the students feel and your teaching team this term? Did you find a happy balance of online and in-person components? Did you try something new that you want to share with everyone in your courses? What are you looking forward to in the 2023 Winter term? Let’s have a discussion. 🙂
Save the date …
♦ Tuesday, February 28th, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. (EST)
♦ Tuesday, March 21st, 2023, at 2:30 p.m. (EDT)
♦ Tuesday, April 4th, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. (EDT)
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
♦ June 1-3, 2023: United States Conference on Teaching Statistics (USCOTS 2023), The Pennsylvania State University [In Person]: https://www.causeweb.org/cause/uscots/uscots23
♦ July 11-13, 2023: International Association for Statistics Education (IASE) Satellite Conference 2023, University of Toronto [Hybrid]: https://iase2023satellite.github.io/
♦ July 27-31, 2023: Bridges Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia [In Person]: https://www.bridgesmathart.org/b2023/ [submissions dates start as early as February 2023]
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, Blake Madill (bmadill@uwaterloo.ca) and Zack Cramer (zcramer@uwaterloo.ca).
FYMSiC Newsletter
Latest issue …
Issue 11 – October 10th, 2022
Our twelfth issue is coming out in February 2022. 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 eleventh newsletter issue, the contribution deadline is on Friday, February 3rd, 2022, 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 …
Sharing the fantastic course resources from Asmita’s (Victoria) meet up presentation about her life science calculus course. C-H-E-C-K I-T O-U-T !!! ☺
Course Resources: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BXTJBfejTiCoaUgOcjRpfmeFHF3kZhbL?usp=sharing [Google Doc]
FYMSiC Recent Publications
- Chow, A. (2022). From the Lecture notes of…, Crux Mathematicorum, 48(6). Retrieved from:
https://cms.math.ca/publications/crux/issue/?volume=48&issue=7 - Jungić, V. (2002). Two-Eyed Seeing: Mathematics and Indigenous Traditions and Cultures, Maple Transactions 2(1), Article 15186.
- Jungić, V. (2022). Math Catcher Outreach Program, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 69(8), 1369-1375.
- Jungić, V. (2022). An introduction of van der Waerden’s theorem through examples and exercises, Part I, Crux Mathematicorum, 48(7), pp. 412-420.
- Jungić, V. (2022). On density of planar sets avoiding unit distance, U(t)-Mathazine, 7, pp. 2-5.
- Lewitzky, R. A. (2022). Creating communities of inquiry in research and scholarship via online videos. Scholarly & Research Communication, 13(2). Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.22230/src.2022v13n2a425
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.