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Lee University students and faculty recently presented at the annual meeting of the Tennessee Mathematics Teachers Association (TMTA). The annual fall conference was hosted by the Smoky Mountain Mathematics Educators Association at Webb School in West Knoxville.

The TMTA seeks to encourage the study of mathematics and to improve the teaching of mathematics in all schools and colleges in the state of Tennessee. It is a state affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, a national organization which supports teachers of mathematics through vision, leadership, professional development, and research to ensure learning of the highest quality for all students.

Jeremy Newton, a junior mathematics major, and Jonathan Clark, a senior mathematics major, presented a project titled “Hands-On Conics: Connecting 2-D and 3-D Representations” with Dr. Jeneva Moseley, assistant professor of mathematics at Lee. During their presentation, the group encouraged participants to investigate conics with wax paper, Wikki Stix, cheese, thumbtacks, flashlights, and string to make conic sections “come to life.” In this talk, Clark revealed a focus-tracing curve he derived using linear algebra.

Lisa Heath, a mathematics instructor at William Blount High School said of the presentation, “The session on conics was enlightening. I am definitely going to share activities and information that I learned during the class. I anticipate that my Honors Geometry students will finally see the algebraic and tangible relationships between the conics.”

Kristen Ellyson, a senior mathematics education major, and Clark presented a project titled “Creepy Crawly Critters: Modeling with Live Insects,” along with Moseley. This workshop offered teachers an opportunity to play with live bugs, model their paths, and collect ideas for algebra, geometry, or trigonometry classes.

Sharon Rasch, a teacher at Fulton High School, said “I love being able to incorporate unexpected creative ‘tools’ to demonstrate mathematical relationships.”

Amy Wells, a junior mathematics education major, and Caitlin Almazan, a junior interdisciplinary studies and middle grades education major, presented a project titled “Using Archimedean Solids to Teach Geometric Concepts” with Dr. Laura Singletary, assistant professor of mathematics at Lee. The project was an overview of Platonic and Archimedean solids, combined with practical ways to teach geometric concepts.

“Their presentation of activities using Platonic and Archimedean solids to teach geometry concepts was professional, informative, and engaging. I left with some great ideas I will be using in my Geometry for Teachers class next semester,” said John Smith, a math teacher at Pellisippi State Community College.

Moseley presented “Creating Visual Metaphors or Dialogic Interactions about Calculus.” “Because many students learn visually, teacher-created cartoons or illustrations can help students’ conceptual understanding by bringing common metaphors to life,” said Moseley.

Dr. Caroline Maher-Boulis, associate professor of mathematics at Lee, presented interactive teaching tools she has been using in her lower as well as upper division math classes. She included tools shown to be successful in creating a collaborative and dynamic classroom environment.

“We all stuck together, and the presentations went well,” said Clark. “The experience was rewarding to everyone involved.”

For more information about Lee University’s Department of Natural Science and Mathematics, call (423) 614-8115.

For more information about the TMTA, visit www.tmta.info.

Pictured here are (upper left) Kristen
Ellyson, center, assisting math teachers modeling the path of a
millipede;
(upper right) Area math
teachers use trigonometry to describe the typical path of a
bug;(bottom left) Lily, a
conference attendee, made a parabola by folding wax paper; and (bottom right) Jeremy Newton
demonstrates creating conic sections via plane intersection.