A mathematics teacher is requesting approval to attend in-service courses at SUNY Stony Brook to earn continuing education credits. The courses consist of lectures given by visiting scientists on topics in geology, astronomy, physics, and biology. Each lecture is followed by demonstrations in the research lab or observatory. The teacher has found the lectures provide new ideas that can be used in teaching mathematics, as the topics make use of trigonometric functions, conic sections, differential equations, and regression models. The teacher proposes attending eight lectures over the coming semester.

1. Memorandum
To: Whom It May Concern
From: A. Jorge García, Mathematics Teacher
Re: SUNY Stony Brook Inservice
Date: 6/20/2006
Attached, you will find descriptions of several in-service courses offered at
SUNY Stony Brook for Spring 2006. Similar courses are offered each semester.
There are 4 such courses relating to Geology, Astronomy, Physics and Biology. Each
course meets on a Friday night in the Earth and Space Sciences Auditorium. These
courses consist of 3-4 Friday night lectures each. For each lecture different
scientists are invited to share their research. The lectures are at least 60 minutes
long followed by a 30 minute Q&A. Attendees are then invited to the research
scientists’ lab for demonstrations of some of the results presented in the lecture.
Sometimes this proves difficult, as in the case of a guest lecturer from another
university. After these lectures, we are usually invited to the roof of the Earth and
Space Sciences building for an Astronomy demonstration in their observatory.
I have attended a few of these lectures and find that they contain many new
ideas I can use in teaching mathematics. The Geology talks make extensive use of
trigonometric functions to describe seismic activity with real data from local
seismographs. The Astronomy lectures very often deal with conic relations
describing the orbits of satellites and near Earth black bodies. The Physics
presentations make use of differential equations whose solutions are instrumental in
modeling real world phenomena. Finally, the Biology course deals with population
growth models using exponential and logistic regression curves.
There are 12-15 lectures each semester. Each talk is approximately 2 hours
long. I propose to attend 8 such talks this coming semester for 2 in-service credits.
Sincerely,
A. Jorge García
Applied Math & CS
Baldwin SHS & Nassau CC
http://calcpage.tripod.com
calcpage@lycos.com
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