Sometimes you’re just minding your own business, trying to get a little science done, and a little art pops out at you all unexpected.
What?!? You want to know where this comes from? All is revealed beneath the fold…
Tags: evolution, evolutionary computation, genetic programming, graphics, Mathematics, Research, Science, symbolic regression
It actually took me a second to get it - how annoying that a web comic would actually be subtle enough to challenge a little :-).
Tags: bias, discrimination, Education, feminism, Mathematics, ScienceA wonderfully nerdly performance of mental arithmetic. I found his use of word mnemonics to remember large numbers quite cool.
Tags: Mathematics, performance, TED, VideoThis wonderful little video (produced by some U of M Twin Cities mathematicians) has apparently been viewed over 1 million times now, which is a lot more views than it would ever get in class. I frequently run into faculty that are very intent on holding on to their teaching ideas and techniques, and certainly not sharing them openly with the world. They see those ideas as “their property”, to be guarded and controlled as much as possible. It’s a weird attitude, because almost none of them will ever see any money from those ideas, and the potential for wider viewing and usage is just so much greater if they open up (as in this case).
A good video like this takes a lot of time to produce, but faculty often put in huge hours on their lectures, labs, and demonstrations. Get it out there!
Tags: Creative Commons, Education, Mathematics, open education, open source, teaching, University of Minnesota, Video
Pharyngula has a nice discussion of report looking at the impact of high school math and science classes on performance in university science courses. The short version? Definitely take math, as that improves performance in all the sciences in the study (biology, chemistry, and physics). Taking science in high school tends to help performance in that science in college, but doesn’t help much in the other sciences.
They don’t say anything about computing (but, sadly, most high schools don’t offer much in the way of meaningful computer science courses), but my experience suggests that much the same is true there: A solid math background is a definite win. Have some programming experience can help, but it can also get in the way if you end up needing to unlearn a lot. And any advantage one has from prior programming experience tends to wash out within the first yer (sometimes the first semester), while some solid math background continues to be an advantage all through the major.
The error bars are pretty huge, which isn’t entirely surprising given the variable quality of both instructor and student (both in high school and university). It would be interesting to better understand what role the quality of the high school instruction plays in the correlations. Does, for example, a bad science class actually have the potential to hurt you later on?
No tag for this post.
WeatherGirl tipped me to an Observer article entitled “Names really do make a difference“, and I keep wavering between “Oh, surely not!” and “Well, duh, that was pretty obvious”. Apparently giving a girl a “girlie” name significantly reduces her likelihood of studying math and science:
Both subjects [math and physics], which are traditionally seen as predominantly male, are far more popular among girls with names such as Abigail, Lauren and Ashley, which have been judged as less feminine in a linguistic test. The effect is so strong that parents can set twin daughters off on completely different career paths simply by calling them Isabella and Alex, names at either end of the spectrum. A study of 1,000 pairs of sisters in the US found that Alex was twice as likely as her twin to take maths or science at a higher level.
The (highly speculative) causalities are the reasonably obvious ones: Seeing names like “Barbie” or “Breeze” on the class list or application form brings beaucoup baggage to the party. This is hardly a win, especially since the patriarchy already ensures that females already have plenty of baggage when it comes to science and math. It’s also telling, if not entirely shocking, that giving boys certain names can have similar effects. Seeing “Bubba” on the football roster might elicit a snicker, but likely no surprise; seeing “Bubba” at the math league finals, on the other hand…
So it would seem that some parents have a fair bit to answer for:
‘A name is part of an impression package,’ said Mehrabian. ‘Parents who make up bizarre names for their children are ignorant, arrogant or just foolish.’
In the case of the Zappa family, I’m voting for “arrogant”; Frank certainly wasn’t ignorant.
No tag for this post.I just discovered via Abstract Nonsense that there’s now built-in support for LaTeX in WordPress! Now that’s way cool…
This is arguably a poorly formed concept since its meaning can vary wildly depending on the referent of “you” but, hey, if Mr. Tozier is silly enough to tag me I’ll play along :-).
I just stumbled across the fact that there’s a new Carnival of Mathematics, with their first edition up a bit over a week ago. The next edition is due to be posted on the 23rd on Good Math, Bad Math. Thanks to The Science Pundit for the pointer.
As far as I know there’s no carnival for computing - does anyone know different?
As I mentioned before, I took part in a panel discussion on women in science and math last week. One of the issues that came up in the discussion was the importance of requiring math and science courses, at least through high school, and perhaps into college. The argument was that as long as technical subjects were seen as “hard” and “uncool”, many kids would avoid them even if they had aptitude, and often even if they had interest. This means they come out of their “awkward teenage years” underprepared for and underexposed to science and math, often ensuring that they don’t pursue these subjects any farther later in life.
The situation in the U.S., where math and science requirements are often minimal at best, was contrasted to that in various parts of Europe and Russia, where everyone was expected to take math up to (and perhaps including) calculus, along with several years of science. The public school I attended in Montevideo, Uruguay, when I was an exchange student back in the late 70’s required everyone to take math (they were doing something like pre-calc), physics, and chemistry, whereas most of my classmates in Texas had stopped taking math and science courses a year or two earlier.
And while this obviously has the potential to hurt all kids, it particularly affects groups who are already stigmatized in this regard. 13 and 14 year-olds who are being bombarded with with idea that math/science is “hard”, that they (or their group) are “not good at it”, and that it’s “boring” or “nerdly” or irrelevant to their future, are then that much more likely to turn away and do other things.
So, do we require more math and science in junior high and high school in the U.S.? If we agree that it’s important, how do we make it happen effectively?
Tags: Video
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