Colleges disappearing Entry #118 23 Sep 2017 2:16 am Brian Winkel 0 comments We have been working on building emailing lists to contact folks around the country (indeed, world) about our Student Competition Using Differential Equation Modeling – SCUDEM to be held on 21 April 2018. We are trying to line up host sites for SCUDEM 2018 and so we are working on...
What do you do on your first day of class? Entry #117 30 Aug 2017 1:38 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments I invited my son, Doan Winkel, to share what he does in his Entrepreneurship class on the first day of class. Doan is The John J. Kahl, Sr., Chair in Entrepreneurship, at John Carroll University in Cleveland Heights OH USA. Here is what he does. --------- **** ---------- What...
Chinese Approach of Mastery Learning Gains Acceptance in Britain and Elsewehere Entry #115 06 Aug 2017 7:37 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments In a 5 August 2017 New York Times article by Amy Qin entitled, "Britain Turns to Chinese Textbooks to Improve Its Math Scores," found at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/05/world/asia/china-textbooks-britain.html the account suggests that Britain is adopting a more creative...
This says it all - student feedback Entry #113 25 May 2017 9:06 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments Just check this out from Math in the City at University of Nebraska home page. First line under Student Feedback: "I liked the fact that we didn't know what we were capable of doing until we did it." This says it all. Makes it worthwhile. End of Blog Entry
Differential Equations in Biology and Agricultural Sciences - Resources and Reviews Entry #112 24 May 2017 4:57 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments We received an email today from Professor Chris Rawlings, Head of Computational and Analytical Sciences, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, about resources and application areas for differential equations. There are many many applications of differential based...
Grateful to MAA FOCUS Entry #111 18 May 2017 11:53 am Brian Winkel 0 comments We are very grateful to Jacqueline Jensen-Vallin, Editor of MAA FOCUS, for publishing our article, Let's Do It: Using Modeling in the Classroom, in the April/May 2017 issue of the magazine. The piece can be found (along with all the other newsy and rich articles in ALL the other online...
How to Run Effective Meetings Entry #110 17 May 2017 7:29 am Brian Winkel 0 comments In our profession of faculty members (most folks who are reading this blog) we attend our share of meetings - I can hear the groans in the ether coming across the miles and into the speakers of my desk computer! Well, Adam Bryant, who writes the weekly Corner Office column in The New York Times...
Student Competition Using Differential Equation Modeling – SCUDEM Entry #108 10 Apr 2017 11:57 am Brian Winkel 0 comments The SIMIODE organization, Systemic Initiative for Modeling Investigations and Opportunities with Differential Equations, is excited to announce a new program for undergraduate students: our national Student Competition Using Differential Equation Modeling (SCUDEM). At this time, we are seeking...
Mindfulness at Work Entry #107 15 Mar 2017 5:16 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments In a helpful piece entitled "Achieving Mindfulness at Work, No Meditation Cushion Required," in the New York Times, Job Market section of 24 April 2016, Matthew E. May suggests that we can do just that and furthermore it will make us a better contributor at work and a person richer in...
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) for you and your students Entry #106 13 Mar 2017 10:09 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments In this time of awareness blitz there are groups that can really make a difference in what they offer us as teachers in undergraduate mathematics. One of these is the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). I have been a member of SIAM for almost as long as I have been a member of...
Learning how to ask questions - a valuable skill Entry #105 25 Feb 2017 12:56 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments Under the story title, “The Power of ‘Why?’ and ‘What If?’” Warren Berger writes in The New York Times #NYTimes on 2 July 2016 about the importance of asking questions. In talking to a senior manager she told him, “They were smart, experienced, competent....
Your Students Crave Moral Simplicity. Resist. Entry #101 08 Feb 2017 12:00 am Brian Winkel 0 comments Lyell Asher, an Associate Professor of English at Lewis & Clark College, has written a very fine piece, "Your Students Crave Moral Simplicity. Resist." in The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10 February 2017 issue, pp. B3-B5. The theme of the article surrounds his assignment...
The UMAP Journal Entry #100 07 Feb 2017 5:54 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments In a recent correspondence with Paul Campbell, of Beloit College, Beloit WI, who is the Editor of The UMAP Journal, Paul said that he hoped SIMIODE community members would take note of the opportunity to share modeling activities in the journal's Model Reality Check section. One...
What makes it great? Entry #99 07 Feb 2017 11:33 am Brian Winkel 0 comments My wife and I attend many musical events each year. One series we like is entitled, "What Makes It Great." These lecture/concerts are held in the Merkin Concert Hall of the Kaufman Music Center in Manhattan, New York City. Each of the four events is two-part. For the first hour or so...
A sock came back from "the other side" Entry #97 19 Dec 2016 7:15 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments I had four pairs of compression socks per my doctor's suggestion so that circulation in my legs would be better. They are not cheap, but do they make me more comfortable as they keep down the swelling. Several months ago one of the socks went over to "the other...
"I don't ask questions any more . . . Entry #96 13 Dec 2016 12:49 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments . . . because I don't like the answers I get." That is what a woman of a certain age said to the receptionist at the doctor's office today while I was waiting in the waiting room. I got to thinking about what causes us "not to ask...
The real meaning of what we produce and do Entry #95 13 Dec 2016 2:02 am Brian Winkel 0 comments Tonight my wife and I attended a lecture performance on Dimitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 as a part of the “What Makes It Great” series offered by Rob Kapilow at the Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. We tend to shy away from twentieth century music because of it...
Issues of coverage raised all the time Entry #94 08 Dec 2016 12:03 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments We recently re-examined the 3" by 5" feedback cards we collected from attendees at our JMM 2016 SIMIODE Open House and we share them with our thoughts with you. Under the theme "Issues to Overcome" we found the following: How do you fit it in? What do you drop? Do...
Students generating examples Entry #93 02 Dec 2016 12:46 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments In the current (15 November 2016) posting of the MAA Teaching Tidbits Blog, Dana Ernst, Northern Arizona University, writes, “Who generates the examples?” Dana is suggesting that students can demonstrate their knowledge very well by creating examples and problems. He...
Let go and take risks Entry #92 02 Dec 2016 12:30 pm Brian Winkel 0 comments "Let go and take risks." Advice we give our students on occasion, advice our parents suggested to us (sometimes in frustration and with anxiety), and advice we need to take ourselves. As professors we are always doing just that, "professing." This is a kind of preaching...