Math Department Members Present at 2015 WVCTM Conference

Fairmont State University Math Department faculty members, along with FSU pre-service mathematics teachers, attended the West Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Conference on March 13 and 14 at the Stonewall Jackson Resort.

The two-day conference focuses on learning from other mathematics teachers in West Virginia about ways to improve mathematics instruction.

All four of the FSU math faculty members presented at the conference:

• Dr. Brian Blackwood described the process of writing a paper during his talk, “Writing in an Abstract Algebra course.” He also shared several papers written for the FSU writing intensive course.
• Dr. Susan Goodwin presented, “Divide and Conquer,” which explained the concepts behind division of fractions and how to help students understand the operation. Participants used various math manipulatives to aid in the division of fractions.
• Dennine LaRue presented “Reflect on This.” Participants explored reflections across lines to discover the six basic transformations and determine invariant points and lines of each. Math manipulatives were used.
• Dr. Robert Niichel presented on his research conducted for a NASA grant concerning first-semester calculus teaching trends in West Virginia colleges and universities.

The seven pre-service mathematics teachers in attendance were Trevor Fancher, Hannah Ludwick, Sierra Lamb, Sara Morris, Janalee Poe, Jeff Rush and Jennifer Rush.

Dennine LaRue was re-elected for another two-year term as the WVCTM College Vice President.

Stephanie Jones, FSU math/math education graduate, received the WVCTM Outstanding Secondary Mathematics Teacher of the Year Award.

 

About the photo:

A subset of the FSU attendees are pictured wearing their Pi shirts to celebrate the “Pi day of the Century” 3-14-15 at 9:26:53.

Mathpre-serviceWVCTMLaRueGoodwinBrian BlackwoodNiichelCollege of Science and TechnologyMathematics