Colloquium

Teaching Applied Mathematics Through Open-Ended Projects

Kelly Cline Carroll College

At Carroll College we have redesigned several upper division courses in applied mathematics, such as numerical methods, statistics, and optimization, to focus on open-ended projects. These projects can present students with many of the ambiguities and complexities that appear whenever we use mathematics in the real world, thus offering the students a variety of possible approaches, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. We have found that these projects teach students to become systematic in their explorations, more aware of the different methods that they are forced to choose from at each stage in the project, and that regular peer review helps them to view their own work more critically.

Thursday, 23 September 2004 4:10 p.m. in Math 109

Fall 2004 Colloquium Schedule          Mathematical Sciences | The University of Montana