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California Mathematics Council Community Colleges

California Mathematics Council Community Colleges

California Mathematics Council Community Colleges

Fall 2015 Conference at Monterey, Dec 11-12

The 43rd Annual Fall Conference was held in Monterey on Dec 11-12, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa.

Friday Ignite Session

Five-Minute Speedy Presentations with the "Ignite" motto being Enlighten us, but make it quick!

Saturday Keynote Speaker: Erica Flapan, Pomona College
How I Developed My Teaching Style

I spent much of my early career trying to find the algorithm for how to be a good teacher. I read articles about pedagogical techniques and talked to successful teachers about their methods. But nothing seemed to work quite as well for me as it did for the person describing it. Then I began to compare being a good teacher with being a good parent. I had never sought an algorithm for good parenting, so why should I expect there to be one for good teaching. In fact, there is no teaching technique that will work at all institutions, for all teachers, all classes, and all students. Rather, each person’s teaching methods should fit their personality and their mathematical preferences as well as the needs and goals of their courses and their students. In this talk I will describe some pedagogical techniques that have worked for me and others that have not.

Erica Flapan joined the faculty at Pomona College in 1986. Since 2006, she has been the Lingurn H. Burkhead Professor of Mathematics at Pomona College. In addition to teaching at Pomona College, Flapan has been teaching regularly at the Summer Mathematics Program for Freshmen and Sophomore Women at Carleton College. In 2011, Flapan won the Mathematical Association of America’s Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. Then in 2012, she was selected as an inaugural Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. She is currently a Polya Lecturer for the MAA. Erica Flapan has published extensively in topology and its applications to chemistry and molecular biology. In addition to her research papers, she has published an article in the College Mathematics Journal entitled “How to be a good teacher is an undecidable problem", as well as three books. Her first book, entitled "When Topology Meets Chemistry" was published jointly by the Mathematical Association of America and Cambridge University Press. Her second book entitled "`Applications of Knot Theory," is a collection of articles that Flapan co-edited with Professor Dorothy Buck of Imperial College London. Most recently, Flapan co-authored a textbook entitled "Number Theory: A Lively Introduction with Proofs, Applications, and Stories" with James Pommersheim and Tim Marks, published by John Wiley and Sons. She is currently at work on a new book intended for first-year college students that will be entitled "Knots, Molecules, and the Universe: An Introduction to Topology."

Other Events

Preconference Day on Math Accessibility

The High Tech Center Training Unit of the California Community Colleges will be giving a workshop on math accessibility from 9:45 am to 4:30 pm on Friday, December 11. They have funding to provide a stipend for attendees.

Schedule of the Saturday Concurrent Sessions

Presentations provided can be found below.

Room/Session Session 1
9:00 am - 10:00 am
Session 2
10:30 am - 11:30 am
Session 3
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Session 4
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Regency I
General Interest
Students and Shortages
Cliff Nelson
College of Marin
Presentation
Responding to Disruptive Student Behavior: Experiences Common to Math Classes
Lalu Simcik
Cabrillo College
Teaching Math or Stat Online? Building a Community for Faculty
Barbara Illowsky
DeAnza College
Presentation
Get All Your ACCCESS Pass!
Leslie Banta
Mendocino College
Regency II
Issues and Panel
The MAA-CSPCC Study: Two Year College’s Finding
Helen Burn
Highline College
Mathematics in Non-Mathematics Classes
Larry Green
Lake Tahoe Community College
Presentation
Flipping the Gradebook: Concept Based Grading
Phil Smith
American River College
Presentation
The Importance of Discovery and Reflection in Developmental Mathematics
George Woodbury
College of the Sequoias
Presentation
Regency III
Developmental Ed
Making Sense of Solving Linear and Quadratic Equations with Mapping Diagrams
Martin Flashman
Humboldt State University
Innovation + Inspiration = Math Academy = Student Success
Ken Rand and Johnny Perez
Hartnell College
Learning to Learn in Developmental Mathematics Courses
Wade Ellis
West Valley College
Presentation QRPS
Using Math Symmetry Operations to Solve a Problem in Elementary Physicsitle
Marc Frodyma and Sandy Rosas
San Jose City College
Presentation
Regency IV
Precalculus and Above
The Chaos of the Real Numbers
Tim Melvin
Santa Rosa Junior College
Presentation
Investigating the Effects of Instructional Practices on Student Outcomes in Developmental Mathematics
Kevin McCandless
San Jose City College
Presentation
Teaching Differential Equations the SIMIODE Way
John Thoo
Yuba College
Creating an iPad Classroom for Redesign and Innovation
Lynn Marecek
Santa Ana College
Presentation
Regency V
Technology
Yes, You Can Make the Whole Math Class Tweet
Linda Hoang
Cosumnes River College
Reclaiming Comp Sci with Stroustrup’s Programming Principles and Practices
Geoff Hagopian
College of the Desert
Presentation
Best Practices in Using Social Media in the Mathematics Classroom
Howard Blumenfield
Las Positas College
No Session
Regency VI
Statistics
What’s the Big Deal With Big Data? The Rising Importance of Training New Data Scientists
Robin Donatello
California State University Chico
Presentation
Using Student’s Stats to Verify Meanings of a Confidence Coeff. and Level of Significance
Gene Sellers
Sacramento City College
Title: Did You Sample the Relevant Population? Subtitle: Why Are Handsome Men Such Jerks?
Charles Barnett
Las Positas College
Presentation
No Session

Future CMC3 Conferences

Information about future conferences is available. For conference information, contact the Conference Chair. For registration information contact the Membership Chair