First-Year Math & Stats in Canada

 

FYMSiC News

Announcements

Dear FYMSiC community,

First-Year Math and Stats in Canada (FYMSiC) is organizing another FREE one-day online conference, titled “Am I convinced? Research and Evidence in Mathematics Education”. We want to stir the pot again and reflect. We hope for the following during our conference:

What counts as evidence in mathematics education when it comes to research on teaching and learning? How does one implement something meaningful in their teaching, or select a topic to engage with when conducting research? What gives us confidence that a particular teaching strategy that is claimed to be effective by the authors of a research paper would work in our classroom? How far apart are mathematics education research and teaching practice in university mathematics? These questions are important to think about, and the FYMSiC conference will be an opportunity to explore, discuss, and share thoughts and experiences.

The one-day online FYMSiC conference will be held on Thursday, May 8th, 2025, starting at 11:00 EDT and ending at 17:00 EDT.

The event will be hosted on Zoom with a link provided to registered attendees a week before the conference, as well as on the FYMSiC website (www.firstyearmath.ca). 

The plan is to have five sessions. Join one session or stay for the entire event!

Conference Schedule (Toronto times – EDT):

11:00 — 11:10:   Opening Remarks

11:10 — 12:15:   Session 1: Keynote and Q&A

Am I convinced the student understands this proof?

— Chris Sangwin (University of Edinburgh, Scotland)

12:20 — 13:25:  Session 2: Keynote and Q&A    

Connecting Research and Practice: Opportunities and Partnerships to Engage in the Study of Our Own Work

— Trena Wilkerson (Baylor University, USA)

13:25 — 14:00:   Break

14:00 — 14:40:   Session 3: 10-minute talks (5 minutes transition)

14:45 — 15:50:   Session 4: Keynote and Q&A

On bumpy roundtrips between teaching and research

— Rina Zazkis (Simon Fraser University, Canada)

15:50 — 16:20:   Break

16:20 — 16:50:   Session 5: Open Discussion

16:50 — 17:00:   Closing remarks

The conference itinerary will be provided before the conference.

To register for the conference (for free!) and to sign up to give a 10-minute talk (if you wish), please visit the following link: https://forms.gle/dUWm4YskByQVTuQ17 

Please note that 10-minute-talk topics should align with the conference theme, “Am I Convinced? Research and Evidence in Mathematics Education”. The 10-minute talk signup deadline is Tuesday, April 8th, 2025.

Registration Deadline: Open

We hope that you join us and contribute to our wonderful FYMSiC community! 🙂

 

It is that time of year . . . for some early Spring cleaning of your FYMSiC Profile! 🙂

FYMSiC Profiles are a good way to look up our members for collaborations, common interests, advice on teaching a course, and so much more.

We have over 100 FYMSiC members who signed up. Let’s make that number bigger. 🙂

If you already have a FYMSiC Profile: 

  • Take a few minutes to update it with anything new you have to share! (e.g., New courses? Outreach Activities? Publications? Projects? Interests?)

If you do not have a FYMSiC Profile:

  1. Please visit www.firstyearmath.ca .
  2. In the toolbar at the top of the page, click on ‘Register’. (Note that if you registered for a FYMSiC account prior to April 2024, you will need to register again to access FYMSiC profiles as we started on a clean slate.) 
  3. On the Create an Account web page, fill out Account Details (username with no spaces, email, and password) and Profile Details (full name, position/job title, institution/company, state/province/territory, and country). After filling in all required fields, click on ‘Complete Sign Up’.
  4. You will have to wait about 48 hours or less to be verified. Once the FYMSiC Team checks your Account and Profile Details, you will receive an email that you are approved.
  5. After the email, you can log into your account and fill in your profile with as much information as you feel comfortable sharing: courses taught, research interests, research projects, publications, and resources. Please think of keywords that would be easily searchable. For example, you can write the course code, but this may not mean anything to someone at a different institution. So, provide a short description of the course such as ‘several variables calculus’. Check out the FYMSiC Profiles of the FYMSiC Team to see how you might want to format your FYMSiC Profile.
  6. You can edit your information at any time when logged into your account. We will contact individuals to do an update ‘spring-cleaning’ once or twice a year.
  7. If you wish for your FYMSiC Profile to be deleted, please email: Andie Burazin a.burazin@utoronto.ca 

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Andie Burazin: a.burazin@utoronto.ca

We will send out a reminder in two weeks if you have not busted out your mops with buckets, brooms, dust cloths, vacuums, and soap on your FYMSiC Profile.

Thanking PIMS and CMS for their support!

YAY for FYMSiC Profiles! 🙂

 

Heileo FYMSiC!

Happy Pi Day! 🙂

Thanks to our wonderful FYMSiC friend, Jennifer Hyndman (Northern British Columbia), a great job opportunity is being spread to FYMSiC. Check it out!

Please see the job posting: Assistant Professor Term Posting

Be green, FYMSiC! 🙂

 

Dia duit FYMSiC! 🙂

Just passing along a math education conference in Ireland (!!!) thanks to our fantastic FYMSiC friend, Maria Meehan (University College Dublin):

MEI 10 Mathematics for a Connected World: Integration, Challenges, and Possibilities 

10th Conference on Research in Mathematics Education in Ireland

October 17th and 18th, 2025

Venue: Dublin City University

MEI 10

The 10th Conference on Research in Mathematics Education in Ireland (MEI 10) is scheduled to take place on Friday and Saturday, October 17th and 18th , 2025. Established in 2005, the MEI conference serves to promote and facilitate discussion on mathematics teaching and learning across the continuum from early childhood education through  third level education and beyond. The organising committee is delighted to invite contributions from all sectors of mathematics education, both nationally and internationally, to create a collaborative and productive forum to address the conference theme, Mathematics for a Connected World: Integration, Challenges, and Possibilities. 

Mathematics for a Connected World: Integration, Challenges, and Possibilities 

MEI 10 is a significant milestone for the mathematics education research community in Ireland. Documented in the pages of previous conferences are the evolving policy and practice landscapes to which our research responds. The conference theme: Mathematics for a Connected World: Integration, Challenges, and Possibilities, offers the opportunity to reflect on progress, on ‘sticky problems’ and possible ways forward in a changing, and complex, world. 

The conference theme challenges researchers to consider how the ideas of integration and connections play out in relation to mathematics and its teaching. Specifically, MEI10 offers an opportunity to consider the following interconnected issues: 

  • Disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching and learning; the role of mathematics across subjects and real-world contexts (Maass et al., 2019) 
  • The role of mathematics education as a response to contemporary challenges, including ecological (Barwell et al., 2022) and societal issues (Bartell, 2018)
  • Evolving educational and policy landscapes (NCCA, 2024)

The milestone of MEI 10 is a moment to reflect on progress and envision the future.

Call for Papers

We are delighted to invite the submission of papers from all sectors within the field of mathematics education. We welcome papers from both practitioners and researchers. Papers may be empirical or theoretical in nature, and could include qualitative, quantitative, evaluative, reviews, position papers, and policy perspectives. Papers will be received via our conference website. 

Submissions;

All submissions must be accompanied by a separate title page prepared using the MEI 10 style template and comprising:

  • A concise title
  • The name(s) of the author(s)
  • The affiliation(s) of the author(s)
  • The e-mail address of the corresponding author
  • If available, the 16-digit ORCID of the author(s)
  • An abstract of 150 words
  • 3 to 5 keywords.

Research Papers: 

Research Papers should be 4-6 A4 pages in length and must be prepared using the MEI 10 style template, which is available on the conference website [www.meiconference.ie].

Research Posters:

For the presentation of a Research Poster at the conference, a paper submission is required. The paper should be 2 A4 pages in length and must be prepared using the MEI 10 style template, which is available on the conference website. You may, however, omit the brief abstract and begin the paper below the author information if you prefer. Authors of accepted poster submissions will be required to prepare an A0-size academic poster for display at MEI 10.

Research Symposia:

Proposals for research symposia at MEI 10 are also welcomed. A symposium should include a collection of 3-4 papers, each 3-4 pages in length and prepared using the MEI 10 style template. The symposium should be focused on a central theme, research area or research project, providing a coherent set of papers for discussion. The symposium contributors may be from the same or different institutions; however, each paper must have a different lead author. A symposium submission should also include a one-page abstract offering an overview of the theme/focus of the symposium. The symposium leader should upload all documents for review though the ConfTool system. All symposia proposals will be peer reviewed, and the papers of accepted symposia will be included in the conference proceedings. 

Paper Submission Deadline: Monday April 28th

Peer-Review Process

All papers will be peer reviewed, and a decision on the review process will be shared with the authors in June 2025. Authors will be requested to engage in the review process, ensuring that all papers presented at the conference have been peer reviewed by the MEI 10 community. Accepted papers may require revisions; the final submission of the revised papers will be required by the end of June 2025. For accepted papers to be included in the conference proceedings, the presenting author must register in full for the conference and commit to presenting the paper during the assigned session of the conference.

Registration and Conference Fees

All registrations for the conference will be through the conference website. It is not necessary to complete the registration process to submit a paper for review. A concessionary fee will be available for full-time students and retired colleagues. The registration fee will include lunches and refreshments provided during the conference. 

Conference Dinner

The MEI 10 conference dinner will take place on the evening of Friday, October 17th, 2025.

Contact

Please email mei@dcu.ie with any questions or inquiries about the conference. 

Alternatively, you can contact Lorraine Harbison, Miriam Ryan or Siún Nic Mhuirí.

Lorraine Harbison | lorraine.harbison@dcu.ie 

Miriam Ryan | miriam.ryan@dcu.ie 

Chair of MEI 10 Organising Committee

Siún Nic Mhuirí | siun.nicmhuiri@dcu.ie 

Chair of MEI 10 Scientific Committee

Mailing List

Please click here to join the MEI 10 mailing list for the latest information on the conference. 

Bartell, T. (2018). Toward equity and social justice in mathematics education. Research in Mathematics Education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92907-1 

Barwell, R., Boylan, M., & Coles, A. (2022). Mathematics education and the living world: A dialogic response to a global crisis. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 68, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2022.101013.

NCCA (2024). Background Paper and Brief for the Review of Leaving Certificate Mathematics.https://ncca.ie/media/e4ldnxr0/lc-mathematics-background-paper-and-brief.pdf 

Maass, K., Geiger, V., Ariza, M. R., & Goos, M. (2019). The role of mathematics in interdisciplinary STEM education. ZDM, 51, 869-884. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-019-01100-5 

GOOD LUCK, FYMSiC! 🙂

 

Ya’at’eeh FYMSiC! 🙂

Calling on good math problems for a CMS journal publication!

Thanks to our fantastic FYMSiC friend, Kseniya Garaschuk:

Call for Submissions to the Column of CMS Crux Mathematicorum

Have a nice problem that you use in your courses and want to share it with others? Looking for some inspiring problems to “steal”? Crux Mathematicorum (a problem solving journal published by the Canadian Mathematical Society) is reviving its column “From the lecture notes of…”, which features our favourite problems from first and second year undergraduate courses, problems that are non-standard, elegant or unexpected. 

If you have a problem you would like to share (and it fits on one-ish page), please send it along with its solution and a description of the course/audience it is intended for to Kseniya at crux.eic@gmail.com

Be curious, FYMSiC! 🙂

 

Kumusta FYMSiC! 🙂

Passing along information to participate in a study, thanks to our wonderful FYMSiC friend Ana Duff (Ontario Tech). Please check it out!

Study Inquiry: Illuminating Target Voices: Unmasking Workplace Bullying in Canadian Universities 

This email is being sent on behalf of Dr. Hannah Scott and doctoral student Amy Webster in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University. We are interested in recruiting Canadian university faculty members to participate in a survey detailing their experiences of workplace bullying in academia.

The purpose of the study is to understand tenured or untenured faculty members’ experiences of workplace bullying in Canadian universities. We specifically do not ask for respondent names or where they work to protect the privacy of respondents. Participation is voluntary, anonymous, and confidential. All data received will be cleaned to remove any identifiable information provided by individual respondents. The survey should take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete, depending on the amount of detail participants wish to include.


As a study participant, your insights will enhance our understanding of the various forms of workplace bullying experiences among university faculty while also estimating the prevalence. The findings may also offer valuable suggestions for reducing workplace bullying in the field of higher education.

To participate, please click on the following link: https://erehwon.uoit.org/limes/index.php/691211?lang=en

This study has been reviewed by the Ontario Tech University Research Ethics Board [REB file #17686] on March 1st, 2024.

If you have any questions, please contact

Amy Webster at amy.webster@ontariotechu.net or

Dr. Hannah Scott at hannah.scott@ontariotechu.ca.

Be strong, FYMSiC! 🙂

 

Bonjour, FYMSiC! 🙂

Thanks to our fabulous FYMSiC friend, Thierry Duchesne (Laval), we have an exciting new position to share! See below in French and English. 🙂

We have a new postdoc opportunity in my department.

Bonjour à toutes et tous,

Le Centre de recherches mathématiques (CRM) et l’Université Laval sont heureux d’annoncer la création d’un poste de stagiaire postdoctoral pour une jeune chercheuse ou un jeune chercheur en mathématiques ou en statistique pour l’année académique 2025-2026.

La bourse postdoctorale CRM-Laval est attribuée à une chercheuse ou un chercheur prometteur qui a récemment obtenu ou prévoit d’obtenir un doctorat en sciences mathématiques ou en statistique. La bourse offre une allocation annuelle d’au moins 42 000 $ CAN pour un an, avec possibilité de renouvellement pour une deuxième année. Les gens peuvent en savoir plus sur cette opportunité et postuler à l’adresse suivante jusqu’au 16 mars : https://www.mathjobs.org/jobs/list/26248.

Merci de diffuser cette annonce aussi largement que vous le pourrez.

Cordialement.

——

Hello to all,

The Centre de Recherches Mathématiques (CRM) and Université Laval are pleased to announce the creation of a postdoctoral fellowship position for an early-career researcher in mathematics or statistics for the 2025-2026 academic year.

The CRM-Laval Postdoctoral Fellowship is awarded to a promising researcher who has recently obtained or expects to obtain a Ph.D. in mathematical sciences or statistics. The fellowship provides an annual stipend of at least CAD 42,000 for one year, with the possibility of renewal for a second year. People interested can learn more about this opportunity and apply at the following address until March 16: https://www.mathjobs.org/jobs/list/26248.

Please share this announcement as widely as possible.

Best regards.

Go Canada, FYMSiC! 🙂

 

Congratulations

Awards

Petra Menz (Senior Lecturer, Simon Fraser University) received the 2024 Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Award at Simon Fraser University.
Press release: https://www.sfu.ca/science/news/2024-news/2024TeachingAwards.html

Jerrod Smith (Associate Professor (Teaching), University of Calgary) received the 2024 Killam Undergraduate Mentorship Award at the University of Calgary.
Press release: https://www.ucalgary.ca/news/killam-research-and-teaching-awards-recognize-outstanding-mentorship-education

Vincent Bouchard (Professor, University of Alberta) received the 2025 Canadian Mathematical Society Excellence in Teaching Award.
Press release: https://cms.math.ca/news-item/dr-vincent-bouchard-to-receive-the-2025-excellence-in-teaching-award/

Annoucement

Amenda Chow is now an Associate Professor Teaching Stream in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Toronto.

 

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 Meetups

Online Teaching Meetups are a great virtual space to have a conversation about math and stats teaching and learning with students and educators. Each meetup 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 meetup …

♦ Thursday, March 20th, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EDT

Zoom: https://mcmaster.zoom.us/my/zoomwithmiroslav?pwd=YThCVlNoMEtKU09mUXlCUGdURlgrZz09  [no passcode needed]

Title: Universal design for large classes: Works?

Presenter: Nicholas Kevlahan (McMaster University)

Abstract:
Over the past 25 years the proportion of accommodated students has increased steadily from a few percent to as much as 20% (and growing!). Appropriately implementing accommodations is one the main sources of increased workload and stress for both instructors and students. The problem is compounded by the fact that class sizes have also been growing rapidly over the same period. The result is that today most instructors teach classes with dozens of students requiring a wide range of accommodations. In this talk I will present the results of implementing a suite of universal design principles in an 800-student second-year engineering math class, with the goal of automatically handling the vast majority of accommodations. I will also talk about my experiences advocating for universal design and pushing to make it accepted and widely available to all instructors.

Biography:

Nicholas Kevlahan did his BSc in physics at UBC and his PhD at the University of Cambridge before continuing to a Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He has been a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at McMaster University since 1998 and was President of the McMaster University Faculty Association in 2021-2022. 

 

Most recent meetup …

♦ Tuesday, February 25th, 2025

Title: Canadians Teaching in the US 

Presenters: Schinella D’Souza (University of Michigan) and Anton Mosunov (Cornell University)

Presentation Title & Abstract:

Schinella D’Souza (University of Michigan)
Teaching at U(M)
In this talk, I will describe my teaching experience in the introductory math sequence at the University of Michigan. These courses are large and coordinated, but with the unique quality of each instructor having a section of around 18-20 students. We teach our introductory courses using a flipped classroom and class time is primarily spent using active learning (such as group work and presentations at the board). I will discuss course structure, delivery, training, and support.

Anton Mosunov (Cornell University)
Teaching Foundational Mathematics Courses at the University of Waterloo and Cornell University
In this talk, I will reflect on my experiences teaching foundational mathematics courses at UW and Cornell. More precisely, I will talk about my experience teaching engineers in both universities, as well as about teaching Calculus I. I will compare classes, their sizes, structures of courses, supports available to students, etc.

Speakers’ Bios: 
Schinella D’Souza is a sixth year Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan (UM). She has been an instructor of record for precalculus, differential calculus, and integral calculus and she has co-coordinated a calculus course. Schinella has co-organized a teaching workshop, a directed reading program, and was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award by the UM graduate school. Prior to joining UM, Schinella did her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Anton Mosunov earned his Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Calgary (2014) and his PhD in Pure Mathematics from the University of Waterloo (2019). Anton worked as a Lecturer at the University of Waterloo from 2019 to 2024. In 2024, he joined the Department of Mathematics at Cornell University as a Lecturer. His pedagogical interests include creation of digital assets and outreach.

 

Save the date …

♦ End of Summer 2025 . . . stay tuned

 

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

 

Other Math & Stats Education Events

♦ May 8th, 2025 [Online]: 2025 FYMSiC One-day Online Conference: Am I convinced? Research and Evidence in Mathematics Education

♦ June 6th — June 9th, 2025 [In Person]: 2025 Canadian Mathematical Society Summer Meeting, Quebec City, Quebec

♦ 2025 Weekly Spring/Summer [Online]: Computer Programming for math learners (and educators!)

♦ June 13th — June 17th, 2025 [In Person]: 2025 Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group 49th Annual Meeting, Lethbridge, Alberta

♦ August 18th — 21st, 2025 [Online]: 2025 MACAS (Mathematics and its Connections to the Arts and Sciences), University of Moncton, Moncton Campus, New Brunswick

 

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 Chelsea Uggenti. 

 

FYMSiC Newsletter

Current issue …

Issue 16 – February 25th, 2025

Our seventeenth issue is coming out in July 2025. 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 seventeenth newsletter issue, the contribution deadline is on Friday, July 11th, 2025, by 11:59 p.m. (PST). 

 

FYMSiC Latest Share ….

From David Martin (Red Deer Polytechnic) fun game from an online teaching meetup (Jan 28th):

bit.ly/MathGlue

Read the instructions and have fun with NUMBERS.

See how high you can count in the game, FYMSiC! 🙂

 

FYMSiC Recent Publications

  • Burazin, A., Carter, R., DeDieu, L., Jungić, V., & Lovrić, M. (2024). What is FYMSiC?, Ontario Mathematics Gazette, 62(2).
  • Jungić, V. (2025). Contemporary Math Research for Artistic Undergrads, The Art of Mathematics Podcast.
  • Jungić, V. (2024). On the Language Diversity in the Mathematical Community, Maple Transactions, 4(4).
  • Jungić, V. (2024). No Strangers at This Party, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 71(10).
  • Jungić, V. (2024). Farewell Teaching, Notes of the Canadian Mathematical Society, 56(5).
  • Jungić, V. (2024). A Poetic Visualization of the Process of Mathematical Discovery, Maple Transactions, 4(2).
  • Listiarini, L., & Jungić, V. (2024). An Intersection of Haida Culture and Mathematical Exploration, U(t)-Mathazine, 9, 23.
 
For previously announced Publications, please visit the T&L Resources page.

 

Supported by …

 

             

Thank you! Merci!