FYMSiC News
Announcements
After reflecting over the holiday break . . . a warm and vibrant message from FYMSiC . . .
Thank you very much for all your support over the years! We are slowly reaching *FOUR* years of existence, and we could not have made this grassroots movement this far without you all! We have done so much to bring together the mathematics and statistics educators across Canada and beyond through various initiatives.We truly appreciate this wonderful and friendly community with its always refreshing dialogue around teaching and learning. We hope you feel that you are a part of something special and belong to one happy and proud family which will continue to grow and be merry! 🙂
– Veselin, Miroslav, Lauren, Michael, and Andie
Have a great Winter 2022 term, folks! 🙂
Dear FYMSiC,
Our valued colleague, Derek Postnikoff (Saskatchewan), asked to pass along this fantastic online colloquium talk. All information is below, and we hope you join and enjoy! 🙂
University of Saskatchewan Department of Mathematics & Statistics Colloquium AnnouncementDate/Time: Friday, January 21 @ 3:30 PM CST Speakers: Dr. Cathy Marks Krpan and Dr. Gurpreet Sahmbi, OISE, University of Toronto(Professor Marks Krpan is the 2021 recipient of the Margaret Sinclair Memorial Award from the Fields Institute recognizing innovation and excellence in mathematics education)Title: Arguing for access: Teachers’ perspectives on the use of argumentation in elementary mathematics and its impact on student successAbstract: Argumentation is a critical skill for deepening mathematical thinking. However, explicit argumentation tasks, in which students are invited to prove or disprove mathematical ideas, are not widely used in elementary classrooms. During our presentation, we will share findings from our research that explores elementary teachers’ perceptions of the explicit implementation of argumentation in their mathematics programs. We will share and discuss student work samples and video footage of elementary students engaged in argumentation tasks. In addition, we will explore the possible implications of our findings for intermediate, secondary, and post-secondary mathematics.Zoom Link: https://usask-ca.zoom.us/j/99456436400?pwd=WCtWbW02SStqUE10UU1EMnpaNitCdz09 Please feel free to share this link responsibly with anyone you think would be interested in attending the talk. This talk is the intellectual property of the speaker and must not be redistributed in any form without their explicit permission.Please contact colloquium@math.usask.ca if you have any questions. We hope to see you on the 21st!Colloquium CommitteeUniversity of SaskatchewanDepartment of Mathematics and StatisticsFind us on Facebook @uofs.math.stats and Twitter @UofS_Math_Stats
Zdravo FYMSiC!
Our dearest FYMSiC friend, Kseniya (UFV), asked us to pass along a wonderful space and place to share your fabulous, inspiring, and thought-provoking mathematics and statistics questions used in your teaching. Check out the message below! ☺
Have a nice problem that you use in your courses and want to share it with others? Looking for some inspiring problems to “steal”? This year, Crux Mathematicorum (a problem solving journal published by the Canadian Mathematical Society) is introducing a new column “From the lecture notes of…”, which will feature 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 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
MSLMA: Make Students Love Math Again! ☺
Hello FYMSiC folks,
Our dear FYMSiC friend, Sean Fitzpatrick (Lethbridge), has a wonderful mentorship opportunity. Please see below the message from Sean:
My colleague Habiba Kadiri, who chairs the CMS EDI committee, needs help to promote a program that aims to get more Black and Indigenous students into STEM PhD programs. They also need mentors for this program.
Below is what I received from Habiba (I am consolidating a couple of emails here).
If you are interested (or know someone who might be), it sounds like you can apply at the links below, or contact Sam Lawson for more info.
Thanks, Sean
Regarding mentorship:
Regarding the mentorship, we got a bit more details from the admin of the program for what they are looking for:
“As it stands right now, we have 17 fellows; they will be engaging in a matching process, where they will choose who they would like to work with for their first year. As such, there will not be a fellow matched to every mentor this coming January when the process begins. That being said, this program is rapidly growing, and the number of fellows will quickly multiply in the coming year or two – as such, we are actively recruiting to ensure our needs will be met as our numbers grow. Also, the fellows will have a different mentor every year to ensure they receive a variety of perspectives along the course of their doctoral degree. The application form can be found here: https://ibetphd.ca/be-a-mentor/“
The FAQ also is enlightening:
“Mentors are typically PhD holders working in academia, industry, and government institutions; however, there are no definite conditions. Anyone working within STEM fields is encouraged to apply for a mentorship position. You can apply to be a mentor here, and you will be added to our diverse pool of mentors from across North America.”
For more information or questions, I found Sam Lawson (snlawson@uwaterloo.ca) has been very responsive.
Regarding the Program:
Website https://ibetphd.ca/
“In a nutshell, the IBET PhD Project aims to remove the financial barriers of receiving a doctoral degree in engineering and computer science for Indigenous and Black-identifying students by providing approximately $30,000 of support in the form of the IBET Momentum Fellowship every year for four years. We hope that, by providing this assistance, we can diversify STEM fields in Canada and provide more role models for younger Black and Indigenous scholars looking to enter STEM. This fellowship also includes a component which will pair fellows with a different mentor every year who is currently working in industry or academia, thus helping them through the difficult process of obtaining a PhD. This will also allow fellows to build a professional network prior to graduation and increase career opportunities. Internships are also available.”
While the site does contain quite a large amount of information, you may contact:
snlawson@uwaterloo.ca
Sam Lawson, MA (she/her)
snlawson@uwaterloo.ca
Administrative Assistant, IBET & EDI
Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo
Bonjour FYMSiC,
From our colleague and friend Frédéric Gourdeau (Laval), a wonderful job posting:
We have succeeded in obtaining a position at our Department for someone who would be interested in devoting a significant part of their energy towards the mathematical (including statistical) education of pre-service teachers. The ideal candidate would also be active in research in either mathematics or statistics. The full description is attached, in both French and English.
Job Posting (Laval) in English
Good luck to all applicants !!! ☺
Dear FYMSiC colleagues,
Passing along a fantastic opportunity to be a part of the UW Teaching and Learning Conference in April 2022. Do not miss out!
Thank you Diana Skrzydlo (Waterloo) for sharing !!!
As members of FYMSiC, I encourage you to submit a proposal for University of Waterloo’s 13th annual Teaching and Learning Conference taking place on April 27th and April 28th, 2022. Our 2022 conference theme is “Fostering Partnerships in Pedagogy”. We are excited to welcome Dr. Alison Cook-Sather, Mary Katherine Woodworth Professor of Education and Director of the Teaching and Learning Institute at Bryn Mawr College, as our keynote speaker. Additionally, the Igniting Our Practice plenary session will feature two inspirational University of Waterloo instructors demonstrating a successful instructional approach to showcase some of the excellent online teaching that has been happening on our campus over the past year and a half.
You are invited to submit proposals for presentations, panel discussions, workshops, poster presentations, and items for a teaching and learning showcase, that share your practices and research related to how we can foster the many kinds of pedagogical partnerships that benefit teaching and learning in our university community. The deadline for proposals is January 26, 2022. You can read the Call for Proposals here and learn more about the conference at the UWTL Conference website. Please note that like last year, this conference will be held primarily online. There will however be opportunities for in-person engagement.
Dear members of the FYMSiC community,
We would like to invite you to contribute to a new open-access (no page charges either) journal, Maple Transactions, which aims to publish on topics of interest to the Maple community. Use of Maple is not a prerequisite for publication in Maple Transactions. This journal is made possible through the sponsorship of Maplesoft and of Scholarship Western, and is online only, using Open Journal Systems. The particular focus of Maple Transactions is on computer-assisted research in mathematics, applications, and education: a broad focus, to be sure, but we want to make it clear that education is very much a priority for us.
For more information, please visit Maple Transactions: Call for Contributions.
Salute FYMSiC friends,
Our FYMSiC colleague, Fok-Shuen Leung (UBC), has asked to pass along a great job opportunity! Please see below:
The UBC Math Department is advertising for up to two “Teaching Project Postdoctoral Fellow” positions, which are designed for people interested in teaching-faculty positions in Math. The positions are described on Mathjobs at https://www.mathjobs.org/jobs/list/18155
Good luck to all applying !!! ☺
Congratulations
Miroslav Lovric (Professor, McMaster University) was awarded the HEQCO Skills Consortium Grant for his project “Evaluation of the numeracy course “Numbers for Life” at McMaster University to measure learning gains and to explore possibilities for wider adoption of numeracy curriculum”.
Jerrod Smith (Instructor, University of Calgary) received the Faculty of Science Teaching Excellence Award (Early Career). Details here.
Michael Liut (Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, University of Toronto Mississauga) received the Outstanding Faculty Guidance & Support Award (U of T Student Life). Details here.
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 …
♦ Stay tuned for Winter 2022 !!!
Most recent meet up …
♦ Thursday, November 25th, 2021 at 12 p.m. (EST)
Theme: It is a good conversation topic about teaching, trust us 🙂
Save the date …
♦ Stay tuned for Winter 2022 !!!
Three (3) action items which are short and easy to do before we kick off Winter 2022 FYMSiC Online Teaching Meet Ups:
- Doodle Poll: We would like you to fill out your availability for the Winter 2022 term by Friday, January 14th, 2022, so that we can figure out a great time to host the online teaching meet ups. The plan is to have four (4) online teaching meet ups and have them run for about 90 minutes – come for 5 minutes or for the entire time we are together! 🙂 Dates and times will be announced. And now, the Doodle poll: https://doodle.com/poll/6udgdzptdrdnfrh5?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
- Call for Topics or Moderating or Even Sharing: Would you like to organize a meet up with the theme of your choice? Do you want to present something that you are dying to share with everyone? Do you have a cool topic or idea to discuss and explore? Email us, and we will try to entertain it with bells on! 🙂 Deadline: On-going.
- FYMSiC One-Day Online Conference: Should we or should we not have a FYMSiC One-Day Online Conference in May 2022? In-person, we do believe that it is out of the question. We prefer that everyone be safe and sound in their own space rather than FYMSiC being reported by Canadian and worldwide media (we are elitist!) as the next hotspot. However, we do not want to flex too much into your time. We have some good ideas to entertain, but it is totally up to FYMSiC to decide. Oh yeah, the conference is FREE. Please fill out this very short and anonymous Google Form by Friday, January 14th, 2022: https://forms.gle/eZyLDHptk1Zkn6eg8
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
♦ May 27-30, 2022 Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group Conference [information to come]
♦ June 3-6, 2022 Canadian Mathematical Society Summer Meeting, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador [information to come]
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 8 – October 11th, 2021
Our ninth 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 eighth newsletter issue, the contribution deadline is Friday, February 11th, 2022 by 11:59 p.m. (PST).
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 …
A free Zoom hack to get our students more interactive during class time? 🙂
Thanks to our wonderful FYMSiC friend Amenda Chow (York) for sharing this awesome teaching resources passed along by her colleague, Ada Sze Sze Chan (York):
Po-Shen Loh (a mathematician at CMU) has developed a zoom hack to help online classes more interactive.
Here [Youtube] is the video describing how it works, and the hack is free.
FYMSiC Recent Publications
- Bruni, C. (2021). A Graduate Student Instructor Training Seminar. Canadian Mathematical Society Notes, 53(6). Retrieved from: https://notes.math.ca/en/article/a-graduate-student-instructor-training-seminar/
- Burazin, A., Jungic, V., & Lovric, M. (2021). Growing Pains: Becoming a University Student. Canadian Mathematical Society Notes, 53(5). Retrieved from: https://notes.math.ca/en/article/growing-pains-becoming-a-university-students/
- Burazin, A., Jungic, V., & Lovric, M. (2021). A Cultural Challenge: Teaching Mathematics to Non-mathematicians. Maple Transactions, 1(1).
- Burazin, A., Jungic, V., & Lovric, M. (2021). Open letter to my soon-to-be student: Math likely tops the list of things you worry about, but there is good news, Academic Matters. Retrieved from: https://academicmatters.ca/open-letter-to-my-soon-to-be-student-math-likely-tops-the-list-of-things-you-worry-about-but-there-is-good-news/
- Burazin, A. (2021). What teaching issues we need to think about as we transition back to in-person learning. University Affairs. Retrieved from: https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/what-teaching-issues-we-need-to-think-about-as-we-transition-back-to-in-person-learning/
- Jungic, V., & Burazin, A. (2021). On Experimental Mathematics and Mathematics Education, American Mathematical Monthly, 128(9).
- Kondratieva, M. (2021) Trusting Your Own Eyes: Visual Constructions, Proofs, and Fallacies in Mathematics. In: Danesi M. (eds) Handbook of Cognitive Mathematics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44982-7_38-1
- Liut, M., & Petersen, A. (2021). Incorporating Resubmission into Skills-based Courses at the University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference (UWTL). YouTube Video.
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.