Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Why Math?


Continuing with our STEM Speaker series, Judy Dolan, a math teacher at Newton South and Emma's Mom, prepared a terrific powerpoint on "Why Math?".


30 comments:

  1. Thank You so much for coming to our classroom! I enjoyed your presentation a lot. The problems we did were really fun and interesting. Thanks so much!
    Susannah

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  2. Thank you Judy for coming to our class. I loved the problems that you gave us to take home and do. I also loved the ferris wheel and all the other problems that you showed us were so interesting. Thank you again for coming to our class.
    Gil

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  3. Thank you so much for coming to our class and teaching us about what you do. I learned a lot from you presentation. All the problems you showed us were really cool. The ferris wheel was one of my favorite parts of the presentation. One question I have is, how long have you been teaching high school math?
    Jordan

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jordan,

      I have been teaching math for about 18 years. (I know, sounds like a lot but time passes really quickly when you like what you do.) Thanks for letting me visit your class. I really enjoyed working with you.

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  4. Ms. Dolan thank you so much for coming to our class and for preparing an amazing slideshow for us! I was very surprised that cricket's chirp can help you figure out the temperature. Also I loved the ferris wheel questions and the real model of a ferris wheel was fantastic. Thank you again!
    Noy

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  5. I really learned a lot from your presentation. Math is now more important to me than it was before. I thought the map problem that you talked about was really interesting. Thank you for coming in!
    Ben

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  6. Thanks so much for coming in. I Really enjoyed your presentation, I learned so much such as, math technicians and tricks.You even Inspired me to be a math teacher just like you. :)


    Thanks so much,

    Irene

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    Replies
    1. Irene,
      That is awesome! Let me know if I can ever be of any help.

      Delete
  7. I enjoyed your presentation and now I know more about why math is so important. I wonder what was the hardest problem you have ever done?

    Benji

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    Replies
    1. Hi Benji,

      I don't know if I remember the hardest problem that I have ever done. Sometimes problems seem impossible but once you work on it and "get it" they don't seem that bad.

      The hardest class I ever took was Non-Euclidean Geometry. This type of geometry looks at figures on a sphere instead of a plane. I just couldn't get past "conventional" thinking that parallel lines never meet because in spherical geometry they do! My professor kept talking about ants walking around a globe but it never made sense to me. While I certainly appreciate the exposure to a new form of geometry, it was really hard to grasp the concept.

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  8. Thanks very much for coming in, Mrs. Dolan. I really enjoyed the problems that you gave to us to think and talk about. It left me thinking about a lot of different things and wanting to try more! I thought that the problems about the least number of colors you could have on a map, and the one where you had to figure out how many squares there were, were very interesting.

    ~Abigail

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  9. Dear Emma's mom, thanks for doing a presentation on math for team 6-4. It's was very nice of you, to show us different ways to solve a math problem. It's was helpful and interesting, thanks again.
    Karen

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    Replies
    1. Hi Karen,

      Thanks for your help with the power point. You did a great job.

      Delete
  10. Thanks, Mom, for coming to team 6-4 and talking to us about why you chose math as your career! I thought that the difference in noises of crickets on a hot day and a cold day was rally interesting!

    -Emma

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    Replies
    1. Maybe counting chirps would make a cool summer "project." What do you think!

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  11. Celine Y: The problems were fun to do. I liked the ferris wheel! Thank you so much!!!

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  12. Ms. Dolan,
    It was great having you tell us about your stem career, being a math teacher. Its so amazing how you can tell the temperature with how many crickets a cricket makes!! Thank you so much! :)
    Isabela P.

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  13. Thank you for coming in! I love the ferris wheel! I have the same one at home! I found the cricket problem interesting and learned that you only need 4 colors to color in any map with no colors touching.
    -Isabel

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  14. Thank you for coming to our classroom! I really enjoyed trying to solve the question with the squares! I also find the cricket problem really cool! Where did you find that out?

    Thanks again!
    -Elaine

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    Replies
    1. Hi Elaine,

      I think I first found it in a textbook and thought it was interesting. I wasn't sure if it was one of those made up textbook problems that have "pretty" answers or if it actually worked. I researched it and the model works. It gives a really good approximation of the temperature. I think it is pretty cool too. I am glad you enjoyed it.

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  15. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit our classroom! I learned a lot about why math is so cool-- and I really liked the problems you showed us. I especially like the problem with all of the squares!
    Thanks again,
    Elizabeth

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  16. Thank you so much for coming in.I learned a lot of new things like why there is only four colors on a map.I also liked the cricket problem.
    -David

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  17. Dear Mrs. Dolan,
    Thank you so much for coming into our class and explaining what skills we needed in order to be a successful problem solver. Also, I thought those problems were really interesting! I especially enjoyed the cricket theory.
    Sincerely,
    Ella

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  18. Thank you so much for coming! The problems were fun to do, and I loved the ferris wheel. I feel like I learned a lot from your company in our class.
    -Nazareth

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  19. Thank you for coming to our classroom to talk about your job! I thought it was really interesting when you said that you can use crickets to tell the teamperature outside. Also, I had never knew that you only needed four colors to color any map without the same color touching until you came in. Thanks again for coming!!!
    Maya

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  20. Thank you for coming in. I really liked the ferris wheel you brought in. I also enjoyed the problems that you showed to us.


    Andrew

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  21. Thank you so much for visiting our classroom, Mrs. Dolan! I learned that crickets can tell the temperature and I thought that was really cool! Also, I never knew that you could color a map with only four colors. Thanks again!

    Sincerely,
    Yordi

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  22. thank you so much for coming I thought it was really cool that you could tell how warm or cold it is using the crickets voice.

    Jack

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  23. Thank you so much for coming in, the coolest part was the ferris wheel and learning about the crickets so interesting i really enjoyed it well, thanks again.
    ~Olyvia

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  24. dear ms. dolan,
    thank you soooo much for comeing in and presenting your slide show! your slideshow made me appreciate math soo much more! i loved the ferris wheel! It is amazing how much problem solving can be! thank you again! i will try to count the crickets chirps this summer!
    thanks,

    Jenny Lipof

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