Mini-Courses

for mathematics teachers who want to learn physics content at an introductory level and potentially bring this new content to their mathematics classrooms. While this course is best for mathematics teachers, all are welcome!

Courtney Ferrell is an MƒA Master Teacher and mathematics teacher at New Design High School in Manhattan.

Marieke Thomas is an MƒA Master Teacher and science teacher at the Bronx High School of Science in the Bronx.

Andrew Wallace is an MƒA Master Teacher and science teacher at World View High School in the Bronx.

Proof Through Play: Exploring Axiomatic Systems and Proof With Games

Facilitators: Philip Dituri, Ph.D., and MƒA Master Teacher Paul Gray, Ph.D.

WEDNESDAYS, FEB 15, MAR 1, MAR 8 MƒA

 MATHEMATICS

Students of all levels struggle to justify their claims using deductive reasoning and generate their own proofs. Tinto (1988) suggests that students even fail to comprehend the general idea of proof and its role in mathematics. According to her research, many secondary school students think that proof is used only to verify already known facts. But what if we could start over in a simple yet unknown “math-like” space where we, like most of our students, are novices? This course aims to give teachers a (re)introduction to the structure of mathematical proof and axiomatic systems through playing and strategizing around simple combinatorial games like tic-tac-toe, NIM, and sprouts. By starting with structures that teachers and students are familiar with and looking at them through a mathematical lens, we hope to help teachers better understand the nature of mathematical proof and provide them with a possible framework for how to approach proof with their students—all while having fun! This course will appeal to educators interested in demystifying proof, exploring its role in mathematics, and thinking critically about how our students experience it. Likewise, this course hopes to provide possible activities teachers of proof could employ with their students.

Dr. Philip Dituri has taught and inspired educators and children for over 20 years. He is currently an educational consultant to various schools and districts and the Director of Education at the not-for-profit Financial Life Cycle Education. He served as a Visiting Professor at Fordham University and was a teacher and mathematics instructional coach at a public school in downtown Manhattan. While in public school, he was a three-time Math for America Master Teacher and a Big Apple Award finalist. Phil has a B.A. in Mathematics from NYU and a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from Columbia University. His research interests include proof and reasoning, problem-solving, collaborative learning, personal finance, and remote learning.

Dr. Paul Gray is an MƒA Master Teacher and mathematics teacher at New Design High School in Manhattan.

Race and Evolutionary Biology: The Legacy of Misuse and Misinterpretation p Facilitators: Kaia Tombak, Ph.D., and MƒA Master Teacher Caitlin Samuel

TUESDAYS, MAR 7, MAR 21, APR 4 MƒA

 SCIENCE

Long before Darwin, evolutionary ideas were brewing and built upon by both Western and non-Western thinkers. When Darwin published On the Origin of Species, social change in the West slowly allowed evolutionary ideas to become more acceptable to the public, but only in an altered form that justified the social order as a natural one. Unfortunately, evolutionary biology is still misused and misinterpreted today—even by some scientists—to fit racist biases. While racism is sufficiently unjustified on moral grounds, it is helpful to understand the pressure points of the logic of a biological concept of race. First, we will discuss what evolution is (and what it isn’t). Then, we will delve into how evolutionary principles were twisted to give rise to the biological concept of race. Finally, we will break into small groups to discuss how these misconceptions and manipulations have fed justifications for racism throughout history and today and brainstorm ideas to develop anti-racist curricula. The course is best suited for middle and high school life science teachers but is open to anyone interested in how a better understanding of evolutionary biology can stop pseudoscientific justifications for racism in their tracks.

Dr. Kaia Tombak is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Anthropology at Hunter College and a Junior Fellow at the Simons Society of Fellows. She holds a MSc from McGill University and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University. Her main line of research investigates the evolution of social behavior, including how egalitarianism or hierarchies emerge in primates and what social and ecological factors determine group size in zebras. Her postdoctoral research investigates how nutritional ecology and food competition may have shaped the social evolution of great apes. She is passionate about incorporating anti-racism and social justice into teaching and research practices in academia.

Caitlin Samuel is an MƒA Master Teacher and science teacher at Hunter College High School in Manhattan.

Race, Space, and Time: Mathematical Identities and Mattering p

Facilitator: Grace Chen, Ph.D.

WEDNESDAYS, APR 26, MAY 10, MAY 24, JUN 7 ONLINE  MATHEMATICS

+PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A FOUR SESSION MINI-COURSE.

How does your racial identity affect how you show up in the mathematics classroom with and for your students? Where is your mathematics classroom— and what was there before it? How did you get to be a mathematics teacher in 2023? In this course, we’ll explore race, space, and time in our work as mathematics teachers through a mix of readings, discussions, and personal/historical research, including interviewing fellow teachers. Consider this a critical (in both senses of the word) update to the classic mathematics autobiography—a chance to situate ourselves more deeply in our work’s social, political, ecological, historical, and mathematical contexts and to figure out how this informs our teaching and student relationships. There will be some independent