Math Colloquium: Understanding Students’ Experience in the Transition to Proof

The Mathematics and Statistics Department welcomes V. Rani Satyam at the first Colloquium of 2021, on Thursday, February 11, at 3:40 p.m.

The Mathematics and Statistics Department welcomes V. Rani Satyam at the first Colloquium of 2021, on Thursday, February 11, at 3:40 p.m.  Dr. Satyam is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.  She will deliver a presentation entitled: "Understanding Students’ Experience in the Transition to Proof."

Learning how to prove is known to be difficult. The change from largely computation to proof-based mathematics naturally translates to a transition in student experience as well. We’ll examine some facets of this transition in experience, from a methodological project about asking students to graph their emotions & confidence, to a more pragmatic one for the classroom about the use of and notion of templates as a form of instructional scaffolding. We see graphs and templates as helpful tools when used judiciously to help students respectively communicate and make sense of their experiences while learning.

For an invitation to the virtual meeting, contact Nathan Sunukjian at nss9@calvin.edu.

Location details

NH 276