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Consejos: Advice from a Mathematician

11/30/2020

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Answered by: Catherine Douglas

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Peggy, 65 asks: What are a few ways to excite young children, birth to age 8, and playing with math?
The best activities for young children are hands on activities which allow them to use math. These activities allow them to make the connection to math and the real world. Games are also helpful. Children like games. Make up math based games and challenges. It is important to start simple and build on what they know. A good website is Adapted Mind:   https://www.adaptedmind.com/  
 
Anonymous asks: What suggestions do you have for teachers that want to get students excited about mathematics?
Hands-on projects and competitions. Teach students to work together in groups. Have them explain concepts they understand to the rest of the class or other students who may be struggling. Incorporate activities that address all students' learning styles. Have them do activities which indirectly incorporate math - art projects, games etc.
 
Anonymous asks: What do you find most interesting about Math? It seems really confusing and hard to me.
I love the challenge of Math and showing students it is not as hard as they think. Math to me is like a puzzle - you need all the pieces to solve a problem. Math is also a language! If you are not familiar with the words, the symbols of math, how can you understand math? 
 
Kevin, 17 asks: How does one study effectively?
To study effectively, it is important to understand how you learn. Are you a visual learner, auditory learner and kinesthetic learner. All methods of studying do not work for all people. Some people can stay for hours studying or some people need to do it in short bursts over many days.  However, if you really want to learn and understand class material it is important to build on your familiarity with the concept. That means taking the time think about the concept and  explaining to yourself your understanding of the concept, taking notes, reviewing our notes immediately after class, obtaining clarification for the things you don't understand through asking questions or doing your own research to find the answer, practice working out problems/ watching video explanations, setting up specific time in your day dedicated to studying. Doing all these things helps to exercise your brain and build your knowledge.
 
Learning Assessment; http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/index.shtml
 
Sal, 25 asks: Hi Cathy!!! What led to your decision to pivot from a career in STEM to a career in outreach? And what advice would you share for someone who would consider doing something similar down the line in their career?
I wanted to impact students at an earlier age, allow them to believe that they can be good at math and hopefully they would pursue college majors in math based fields. I also wanted the opportunity to develop programming to address students' access to resources to develop skills which will allow them to excel in STEM based majors.
 
If you are interested in doing something similar, I would suggest tutoring privately, volunteering for outreach programs, partnering with outreach programs to plan and host outreach events. This allows you to learn what students are struggling with directly from students and gives you insight into how to address the needs of students.
 
Jocelyn, 19 asks: What advice would you give to an aspiring women of color mathematician?
Always look for opportunities to further develop your knowledge, teach/tutor math ( it helps you to better develop your understanding of math and how to teach it to others). I do puzzles and brain teasers to develop problem solving and critical thinking skills. Practice, Practice, Practice.!  In my math classes, I would do questions beyond the assigned homework to practice. I would work through all the examples in the chapter presented in class, to understand what was being done and why when solving the problem. I find that students tend to overlook worked examples. Don't be afraid to fail/make mistakes it is the only way you gain understanding and learn!

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My STEM Journey: Catherine Douglas

11/19/2020

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By: Catherine Douglas

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I always liked math in school. Even though I excelled in math in middle school, for some reason I was not recommended to advanced math class for high school.  I never let those things bother me…when people underestimated me. I knew they would eventually find out. The opportunity came in the 10th grade. My school had a grade wide math test to assess students’ knowledge in order to place students in their 11th grade math class. Everyone was stressing about the test. I decided to take a few days to review the math. I don’t remember being stressed. On the day of the test, I took the test and did my best. When the results were released, I received the highest score on the test.  I did better than the students in the advanced math class. The teacher met with me and wanted to know what I did to achieve the highest score. I told her I studied.

Even though math came easy to me, it was not a subject I pursued. I thought I was going to become a doctor. In college, I struggled with my Introductory Calculus class. My instructor was speaking a foreign language – limits, deltas, epsilons, limits, derivatives etc. Uggh.  I wanted to do well so I paid a tutor but I still struggled.  I eventually reached a crossroad when I was taking an Organic Chemistry class and a Calculus class. I disliked the Organic Chemistry class and was struggling in the Calculus class. However, I would spend hours trying to figure out the math but was not interested in learning Organic Chemistry. Then it dawned on me, if I was willing to spend so much time trying to learn math, I might as well major in Mathematics. So I switched my major to Applied Mathematics. 

Throughout my college career, I always tutored students and worked with outreach programs. After struggling with math, I realized one of the reasons I struggled in math as I progressed to advanced math classes was because sometimes the instructors were not able to explain the concepts in terms I could understand.  I figured out a way to explain math in terms that related to my everyday life. It was very rewarding when a student realized that math was not as hard as they thought.  I knew I wanted to help students learn that they can excel in math based majors and careers and thought the best way to do this was to become a math professor.
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After working for NASA maintaining satellites for 4 years, I applied to grad school to pursue a doctorate in Applied Mathematics with a focus on Math Modeling using Differential Equations. At a point during my journey, I came to understand there were not many students of color excelling in STEM major – Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering in particular. I also understood that to increase the numbers of students of color in these majors we had to reach these students at an earlier age. Therefore, I made the decision to pivot and focus on developing and implementing programming to introduce students, particularly students of color, to STEM through hands-on projects and develop their mathematical, problem solving and critical thinking skills. This led to me working full-time for the UCLA Samueli Engineering Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity (CEED) Program. Through my work in the CEED Program, I learned more about the problem and how to develop programming to address those problems at the pre-college and undergraduate levels. I also built relationships and partnered with other professionals doing the same work. Over the years, I progressed from a pre-college program coordinator to the Associate Director of CEED’s Pre-College Program and was recently named the Director of the Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity. In this position, I will continue to provide and develop programming to address student needs on the pre-college, undergraduate and graduate level. My plan includes on the Pre-College level:
  • Exposing students to STEM through hands-on projects
  • Developing students’ STEM identity
  • Preparing students to be competitively eligible pursue and succeed in STEM majors with a focus Engineering and Computer Science
  • Increase the number of students of color applying to and being admitted to schools of Engineering. 

On the Undergraduate level:
  • Support undergraduate students academically
  • Help Students grow their professional network
  • Encourage and provide students to research and internship opportunities
  • Develop Students leadership skills 
  • Encourage pursuit of graduate school 
Ultimately, my goal is to increase the number of students of color who are prepared for success and leadership positions in the engineering and technology workforce.

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