GRANT RECIPIENTS:

Patrick Bibby – Math – Kendall Campus
pbibby@mdc.edu

 I will invite all Kendall Campus students registered for pre-calculus or above to join a “problem-of-the-week” contest. I will create an email distribution list of interested students. Every Monday during the Fall and Spring terms, I will propose a problem of the week to the contestants and ask them to submit solutions by the following Sunday. All communications will be done through email. I will award points to students who submit solutions. At the end of the semester, the top-scoring students will be recognized.

The purpose of this project is to promote interest in mathematics in general, problem solving in particular, and to foster a positive attitude toward mathematics. Students will apply a wide variety of mathematical concepts to solve these problems, not just concepts from “today’s lesson.” The project will require contestants to engage in critical thinking by applying problem solving strategies. Learning to solve problems is the underlying reason for studying mathematics. Problem-solving skills are the principal mathematical skills that need to be developed by today’s students. Each “problem of the week” will
• Stimulate students’ interest and enthusiasm for mathematics.
• Broaden students’ mathematical intuition and develop their brainpower.
• Introduce students to interesting and important mathematical ideas.
• Allow students to experience the satisfaction, pleasure, fun, and thrill of discovery associated with creative problem solving.

Survey results were extremely positive.  I will send, via intercampus mail, the following documents:

• Contest rules
• Registration instructions
• Contest schedules
• Lists of award-winning contestants
• A sample email to contestants
• A sample email-attached problem
• A sample email-attached solution
• Fall 2005 archives with answers
• Spring 2006 archives with solutions
• A handout provided for one of my presentations at a professional conference.
• Survey results for both contests

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I had several opportunities for dissemination.

1.  Locally, I included interested faculty on the distribution list through which I sent out weekly problems and solutions.  This included faculty from other MDC campuses.

2.  Locally, I handed out information about the contest during the Math Retreat in March 2006.

3.  Locally, I posted contest final results on the Mathematics Discipline Share Point site.

4.  Statewide, I made a presentation “Conducting a Problem of the Week Contest by Email” at the joint meeting of the Florida sections of the Mathematical Association of America and the Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges February 2006 in Jupiter, FL.

5.  Nationally, there were a few individuals who requested to be included on the contest distribution list.

6.  Nationally,  I made a presentation “Conducting a Problem of the Week Contest by Email” at the National Conference of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) November 2005 in San Diego, CA.