We are pleased to announce the launch of our member Beatriz Navarro’s seminar series initiative at UNIGE, entitled Mathematics Education Seminar. Today’s first seminar will be "Ask. Don't tell".
About Beatriz:
I am currently an exchange mathematics PhD student at the University of Geneva with a SwissMAP grant. I have been teaching mathematics at the University of Toronto for the past 6 years in different capacities: as a teaching assistant, lecturer and course coordinator. During this time, together with my mentors Alfonso Gracia-Saz and Jason Siefken, I have actively participated in teaching innovation. I have also worked training teaching assistants on topics related to providing formative feedback and teaching mathematical writing for the past two and a half years.
About the Seminar Series:
I want to bring my teaching experience and enthusiasm to the University of Geneva and to SwissMAP. I want to get people interested in teaching innovation and engage them in the discussion about teaching university level mathematics. Topics will include active learning, inquiry based learning, giving feedback to students, teaching proof writing, designing teaching materials, and other current research topics in mathematics education. We plan to have a one-hour long seminar once every two weeks, at least at the beginning. The aim is to make the seminars interactive and filled with discussions. Everyone is welcome to attend and contribute!
For more information, you can visit the seminar webpage
Information on today’s first seminar:
SPEAKER: Beatriz Navarro Lameda
TITLE: "Ask. Don't tell"
ABSTRACT:
When a student asks for help with an exercise, ideally we shouldn't just give them the answer. Instead, we should help them identify the confusion, guide them to resolve the confusion, so that they can solve the problem themselves. But how do you actually do it in a real classroom with an actual student? What if the student isn't cooperating? What if they just keep saying "I don't know", and they just expect you to solve their problem or just give them the answer? The easiest thing to do is to give them the answer, but it is also the worst thing to do.
In this interactive seminar we will focus on how to get students to think and answer their own questions. We will use examples drawn from questions of actual students in actual situations.
Based on a talk by the same title by Alfonso Gracia-Saz.
