SBU Mathematics students present workshop sessions

Southwest Baptist University News Release

Contact: Charlotte Marsch, Director of Marketing and Communications

(417) 328-1803 / cmarsch@sbuniv.edu

SBU Mathematics students present workshop sessions

BOLIVAR, Mo. — Two Southwest Baptist University students presented workshop sessions at the 30^th annual Rose-Hulman Conference on Undergraduate Mathematics April 19-20 at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.

Weston Herrington, a senior computer science and mathematics major from Carthage, presented “Analysis of the Impact of the ALEKS Learning Tool on Undergraduate Mathematics Students.”

“For several years, the ALEKS online learning tool has been used as part of the curriculum for PreAlgebra courses at my university, but it had not yet been proven as to whether this was beneficial for the students,” he wrote. “This semester, I analyzed the data that this professor and the ALEKS system had gathered about student behavior. Through this research, I was able to apply both correlation analysis and creation of statistical models to real world data in order to find the most important factors in student performance.”

Luke Abbott, a senior Computer Science and Mathematics major from Roach, presented “Generalizing of Complex Fractals.”

“The purpose of this presentation is to illustrate the generalizing of complex fractals, specifically the Mandelbrot Set, into hypercomplex space,” Abbott wrote. “This presentation will explain and illustrate how complex numbers in fractal expressions can be replaced with hypercomplex numbers (such as quaternions, bi-complex numbers, octonions, etc.) expanding the dimensions of the fractal far beyond the original two. Using dimensional slicing these hyper-dimensional shapes can be displayed in three-dimensional space, creating a wide variety of three-dimensional representations of any fractal. This generalization could very easily lead to the discovery of extraordinary hyper-dimensional fractals that have never before been encountered.”

Dr. Stephen Bowling, Professor of Mathematics, accompanied the students to the conference.  Dr. Bowling also served on the committee for deciding the three candidates for the Best Presentation Competition.

Some of the schools attending were Illinois College, Calvin College, Rose-Hulman, Illinois Wesleyan, Missouri Baptist, Purdue University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Taylor University, with 108 attendees and 33 student presentations.

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Southwest Baptist University is a leader among private universities in truly integrating Christ-centered academic pursuits with comprehensive professional programs at an affordable price. At SBU, the faculty and staff create a caring, academic community to prepare students to be servant leaders in a global society. For more information, visit www.SBUniv.edu.

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SBU math professors present at national conference

Southwest Baptist University News Release

Contact: Charlotte Marsch, Director of Marketing and Communications

(417) 328-1803 / cmarsch@sbuniv.edu

SBU math professors present at national conference

BOLIVAR, Mo. — Southwest Baptist University mathematics professors Dr. Bob Glasgow and Dr. Kevin Hopkins presented programs during the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual meeting April 17-20 in Denver. The meeting is the world’s largest gathering of mathematics educators.

Dr. Glasgow co-presented “Doctorates in Mathematics Education: A shortage continues and jobs exist.” He presented research on job opportunities and suggestions of factors to consider when choosing a doctoral program, as well as challenges of K-12 classroom teachers returning as graduate students and then transitioning into a career in higher education. He presented with Robert Reys of the University of Missouri–Columbia and Christa Jackson of the University of Kentucky–Lexington.

Dr. Hopkins presented “Calculus animations with GeoGebra,” a session for 9-12 and higher education mathematics teachers. GeoGebra is a free, Web-based software that does dynamic geometry and graphing that can illustrate many topics in calculus. He showed some animations he has used and featured instruction on how to create animations that the audience suggests.

SBU’s Department of Mathematics pursues excellence and offers quality instruction from a Christian perspective to non-majors to broaden their mathematical skills and awareness and to majors to prepare them for career success or further study in mathematics. For more information, contact Hopkins at (417) 328-1675 or khopkins@sbuniv.edu.

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Southwest Baptist University is a leader among private universities in truly integrating Christ-centered academic pursuits with comprehensive professional programs at an affordable price. At SBU, the faculty and staff create a caring, academic community to prepare students to be servant leaders in a global society. For more information, visit www.SBUniv.edu.

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SBU hosts regional math competitions

Southwest Baptist University News Release

Contact: Charlotte Marsch, Director of Marketing and Communications

(417) 328-1803 / cmarsch@sbuniv.edu

SBU hosts regional math competitions

BOLIVAR, Mo. — The mathematics department of Southwest Baptist University hosted a regional contest site April 13 for the 28th Annual Missouri Elementary Student Mathematics Contest and 7-8 contest, both sponsored by the Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

The elementary contest included 129 students from 14 schools: Bolivar Intermediate School, Bolivar Middle School, Branson Elementary East, Branson Intermediate, Buffalo Prairie Middle, Fair Grove, Hollister, Joel E. Barber, Logan-Rogersville Upper Elem, Mallory Elementary-Buffalo, Marion C. Early, Marshfield, The Summit Preparatory School and Trinity Lutheran.

Winners placing first, second and third in each of two events (Concepts and Problem Solving) are eligible to compete in the State Finals Contest held at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg April 27. 

The 7-8 Contest included 64 students from 11 schools: Ava Victory Academy, Bolivar Middle School, Buffalo Prairie Middle, Camdenton, Fair Grove, Fordland, Logan-Rogersville Middle, Osage Middle School, St. Agnes, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Summit Preparatory School.

The first-, second- and third-place winners in each of the individual contests and winners in the team competition will compete in the State Finals at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg April 27.

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Southwest Baptist University is a leader among private universities in truly integrating Christ-centered academic pursuits with comprehensive professional programs at an affordable price. At SBU, the faculty and staff create a caring, academic community to prepare students to be servant leaders in a global society. For more information, visit www.SBUniv.edu.

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Glasgow helps train Missouri mathematics teachers for new state standards

-->Southwest Baptist University News Release

Contact: Charlotte Marsch, Director of Marketing and Communications

(417) 328-1803 / cmarsch@sbuniv.edu

Glasgow helps train Missouri mathematics teachers for new state standards

BOLIVAR, Mo. — Dr. Bob Glasgow, professor of mathematics at Southwest Baptist University, has been helping to prepare public school math teachers for changes coming in Missouri and across the country as a result of the new Common Core State Standards.

“The Common Core State Standards are a national set of standards for mathematics and language arts developed by the State Governors Association and adopted by 46 of the 50 states,” Glasgow said. “Missouri has adopted the standards and is calling them Core Academic Standards. The project that I worked on is called CASE (Core Academic Standards Experiences) workshops and is sponsored by the Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics as well as the Missouri Council of School Administrators.”

Glasgow has worked with 12 other university professors, teacher leaders and professional development coordinators in the state to develop and provide professional development experiences for classroom mathematics teachers in grades K-12.

Schools paid to send teachers to three days of professional development throughout the year with more than 350 teachers from across the state participating.

“The sessions presented mathematical activities related to new concepts within specific grade bands as delineated in the new standards,” said Glasgow, who worked with teachers in grades 6-8.

He also presented some of the same activities at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Interface Conference Saturday, Feb. 24. About 60 participants attended the presentation titled “Looking at Systems of Equations from a Different Angle.”

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Southwest Baptist University is a leader among private universities in truly integrating Christ-centered academic pursuits with comprehensive professional programs at an affordable price. At SBU, the faculty and staff create a caring, academic community to prepare students to be servant leaders in a global society. For more information, visit www.SBUniv.edu.

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SBU hosts 700 area students for math contest

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Southwest Baptist University News Release

Contact: Charlotte Marsch, Director of Marketing and Communications

(417) 328-1803 / cmarsch@sbuniv.edu

BOLIVAR, Mo. — Southwest Baptist University’s Mathematics Department hosted more than 700 elementary and middle school students in Bolivar Jan. 19 and 26 as they competed in a math contest that is designed to promote the enjoyment of math and help students prepare for bigger math competitions later in the school year.

“The MathCounts competition is in February, and we are a regional host site for the Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics competition in April,” said Dr. Kevin Hopkins, chair of the SBU Mathematics Department. “While those competitions limit the number of students who can participate at each grade level, this competition that we organize each year in January allows everyone to participate. We also provide more immediate feedback with the tests, making the event a better learning experience for the students.”

The competition for students in third through eighth grades included 704 students from 48 schools from Kansas City, Carthage, Dallas County, Fairview, Fordland, Greenwood Lab School, Neosho, Nevada, School of the Osage, St. Lawrence Catholic School, Summit Prep, Thomas Jefferson, Aurora, Bolivar, Branson, Camdenton, Oak Ridge, Nixa, Springfield, Joplin, Lamar, Logan-Rogersville, Marshfield, Rolla and Wheaton.

“The students who excel in mathematics get very few opportunities to shine in a sports town,” said Lori Herring with Marshfield Schools. “The contest at SBU offers a venue for math enthusiasts to ‘shine.’” Her students said the contest was a fun way to learn math concepts that would not have reached yet in the classroom.

Third- and fourth-graders complete individual tests in concepts and problem-solving. Fifth- and sixth-grade students compete in those tests, as well as a team test. Seventh- and eighth-grade students complete the two individual tests, as well as a test formatted similarly to the MathCounts program and a team competition.

“The Southwest Baptist University mathematic's staff, along with SBU mathematics majors and Dr. Hopkin's family, does an excellent job of putting together this contest,” said Charles McCalla, who brings a group of students from Kansas City each year. “Every time a student takes a timed test it is an excellent opportunity to test their skills and improve on their test-taking skills. Whether they win or lose in the competition I believe every student is a winner in that they have learned test-taking skills and they get an evaluation where their mathematics skills are in relation to other students in this area.”

The program also introduces young students to the atmosphere of a college campus. Beth Grabowski, gifted education instructor at Bolivar Intermediate School, said her youngest students enjoyed eating ice cream while eating lunch in the University’s cafeteria and others expressed excitement about the competition and being on the SBU campus.

“One third-grader said, ‘I was going to go to another college, but now I think I might come to SBU,’” she said. “And another, on finding out his picture would be in the newspaper after the school awards assembly, said, ‘We are going to be famous!’”

About 10 SBU students assisted with grading competition tests.

SBU will host a Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics regional competition April 13. Hopkins also will host three one-week Math Contest Camps for students entering fifth-12^th grades this summer. For more information about either event, contact Hopkins at 328-1675 or khopkins@sbuniv.edu. Go to sites.google.com/site/sbumathcon/math-contest-camp-2013 for more information about the camps.

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Southwest Baptist University is a leader among private universities in truly integrating Christ-centered academic pursuits with comprehensive professional programs at an affordable price. At SBU, the faculty and staff create a caring, academic community to prepare students to be servant leaders in a global socity. For more information, visit www.SBUniv.edu.

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