Next up were two of our more tech-savvy colleagues Samuel Hansen (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) and Peter Rowlett (University of Birmingham), who introduced us to the world of Mathematical podcasting. Samuel and Peter performed a great double act, sharing their experiences of Mathematical podcasting with us in a very entertaining style. They also divulged some of the tricks of the trade, and encouraged us all to try it out.
On the second day of Young Researchers in Mathematics 2011 at the University of Warwick I gave my second of two talks, this time on 'Technology in mathematics HE teaching & learning'. This is a demo of some ways people are including technology in their teaching, learning and assessment. This follows the talk on the first day, 'Innovation in mathematics HE teaching & learning', which was a lively discussion about university teaching.
A recording is below:
There are many ways in which technology can be used to benefit students in mathematical sciences HE teaching and learning that you may wish to explore during your academic career. However, there are also ways in which technology can be misused, or a lot of effort can be undertaken to little or no benefit. This talk discusses developments in HE curriculum particularly relating to technology in teaching, drawing on examples from work funded by the Mathematical Sciences HE Curriculum Innovation Project, and discusses the process of determining when innovations are needed and whether they are effective. Recorded at Young Researchers in Mathematics 2011, 15th March 2011, University of Warwick. The Mathematical Sciences HE Curriculum Innovation Project is operated by Peter Rowlett, MSOR Network as part of the National HE STEM Programme.
I am at the conference Young Researchers in Mathematics 2011 at the University of Warwick and last night I gave the pre-dinner talk on 'Innovation in mathematics HE teaching & learning'. I recorded this and it is available below.
Here is the abstract:
There are many issues in mathematical sciences HE teaching and learning that, if you are just setting out on an academic career or hoping to, you will need to address during your time as a lecturer. A lively discussion considered mathematics HE teaching and what might be expected from graduates of mathematics degrees. The talk gave developments - recently undertaken or that may be needed - in HE curriculum, drawing on examples from work funded by the Mathematical Sciences HE Curriculum Innovation Project, including from a high level Summit convened in January 2011 to discuss priorities in curriculum development in HE mathematical sciences. Details are given of a £150,000 funding call for curriculum innovation projects in mathematical sciences which is currently open to bids. Recorded at Young Researchers in Mathematics 2011, 14th March 2011, University of Warwick. The Mathematical Sciences HE Curriculum Innovation Project is operated by Peter Rowlett, MSOR Network as part of the National HE STEM Programme.
The Hidden Science Map has been created to show how much science goes on all around us.
The best way of understanding how the map works is to have a play with it. (If you haven't already.)
The more science, technology, engineering and maths people, and organisations, who put a profile on using our profile questionnaires, the more pins there are to explore, and the more interesting the searches will be.
It's for school students, parents, and anyone who's curious about science and its applications to be able to see that 'science' goes on all over the place. It's not just in university laboratories, and it's being done by all sorts of people, not just ones wearing white coats. (You should be on the map too though, white coated university science people.)
In case you're wondering, that's why it's called 'Hidden' Science Map. A lot of science, engineering, technology and maths jobs frankly don't get the profile they deserve. If someone has trained as a science person but uses the skills in other sorts of jobs, that's even harder to visualise. The map should serve to bring all this out into the open to inspire the next generation of science people.
It will be around for at least six months from March 2011. This is the pilot phase to see if this type of application is popular both with the science people of the UK, and the map's visitors.
I am interested in a recent paper from the Science Council. This discusses the different roles scientists have in society beyond actually researching cutting edge science. For example, I would feel strange about describing myself as a 'scientist' (perhaps in the news media sense of: "Scientists have discovered...") but when I see the Science Council descriptions of "The Communicator Scientist" and "The Teacher Scientist", I would happily be described as a "Teacher/Communicator Scientist". This would mean I am involved in enthusing and training "the next generation" of scientists.
I believe a lot of people graduate mathematics thinking that if what they are doing isn't at least as hard as third year undergraduate maths then it isn't 'real' maths and, by extension, while they did maths at university, they aren't now a mathematician. Even when what they are doing for a living is mathematical, it's just not cutting edge research.
Here is a record of everything with Samuel Hansen and I from the week Samuel came to visit me in the UK in November 2010. Chronological order of recording. Ish.
Math/Maths Live recording at MathsJam on Saturday 13th November 2010. A special episode with no news but views from the floor at MathsJam. Special guests this week (who gave their names): Colin Wright, Rob Eastaway, Bubblz the Mathematical Clown, Hugh Hunt, Dan Hagon, Jeff Morley, Timandra Harkness, Alex Bellos, James Grime, Phil Ramsden, Andrew Jeffery, Colin Graham and Sara Santos.
Samuel hosted and Peter appeared as a guest with Matt Parker and James Grime in this episode of Samuel's (doesn't mind its language) podcast, Combinations and Permutations.
Nottingham is the burial place of the Byron family and particularly Ada Lovelace, regarded as the world's first computer programmer, who worked with Charles Babbage on his Difference and Analytical Engines. Nottingham was also the overseas manufacturing plant for Burroughs Adding Machine Company, a precursor of modern computers, which became one of the eight major United States computer companies and ultimately joined a merger to form worldwide IT brand Unisys.
When Samuel Hansen visited Peter Rowlett in Nottingham, Peter took Samuel on a mathematics and computing history tour of the city. In this video, Peter shows Samuel some of the sites related to this story in Nottingham, following a clue from David Singmaster's Mathematical Gazetteer of the British Isles, and Samuel tells Peter some of the relevant history of computing.
George Green (1793-1841) was a miller in Sneinton, Nottingham who worked in his spare time to develop mathematics that, although unrecognised in his own lifetime, has been very useful to mathematics since. His work was rediscovered by Lord Kelvin and applied first to electromagnetism, later even to Nobel Prize-winning work in quantum theory, and continues to be useful to physicists and mathematicians today.
When Samuel Hansen visited Peter Rowlett in Nottingham, Peter took Samuel on a mathematics and computing history tour of the city. In this video, Peter takes Samuel to visit some of the sites from Green's life in Nottingham, including Green's windmill, Nottingham's mathematical playground, Nottingham High School and the Bromley House Library.
Albert Einstein visited Nottingham in 1930 to give a lecture on his new theories of relativity at University College, Nottingham. The blackboard he used was varnished over and preserved, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings is full of stories.
When Samuel Hansen visited Peter Rowlett in Nottingham, Peter took Samuel on a mathematics and computing history tour of the city. In this video, Peter takes Samuel to the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham to see Einstein's blackboard and find out what happened when Einstein came to town.
This episode recorded live at the University of Greenwich. This week Samuel and Peter spoke about: Android phone solves Rubik’s cube in 12.5 seconds; Edmonton Eulers; Relativistic trading; American math achievement; Russian maths problem teaches students who's really in power; NASA's Metric Failure; quantum error threshold; Top Five Utterly Incomprehensible Mathematics Titles; Your own maths theorem for £15; and news & stories (including stories from MathsJam) from the floor at Greenwich. Special guests this week: Mitch Keller, Tony Mann, David Singmaster, Nic Mortimer and Noel-Ann Bradshaw.
Video recording made by audience member James Clare of first 8 minutes of the Math/Maths Podcast recording at Greenwich.
Samuel Hansen's visit to the UK and associated activities were supported by: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Greenwich, University of Leicester Mathsoc, Nottingham Trent University, MathsJam, Nottingham High School, Bromley House Library and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. We are grateful also to the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham for letting us film there.
(Not that it's any way to judge anything, but I make that 1:59:58 of audio and 35:36 of video for you to listen to and watch.)
When Samuel Hansen visited me in Nottingham I took him on a maths and computing tour of the city and we filmed content for three videos. Here is the third, on a visit to Nottingham in 1930 by Albert Einstein.
Albert Einstein visited Nottingham in 1930 to give a lecture on his new theories of relativity at University College, Nottingham. The blackboard he used was varnished over and preserved, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings is full of stories.
When Samuel Hansen visited Peter Rowlett in Nottingham, Peter took Samuel on a mathematics and computing history tour of the city. In this video, Peter takes Samuel to the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham to see Einstein's blackboard and find out what happened when Einstein came to town.
Listen to Samuel and Peter on the Math/Maths Podcast, a weekly maths news roundup from Pulse-Project.org.
Samuel Hansen's visit to the UK and associated activities were supported by: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Greenwich, University of Leicester Mathsoc, Nottingham Trent University, MathsJam, Nottingham High School, Bromley House Library and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.
