How many times is a toilet flushed in New York City during a commercial break of the Super Bowl?
If you’re the type of person who would ponder a question like this, chat with a colleague about it, or even scratch out some calculations on a piece of paper during a conference break, then the BC Association of Mathematics Teachers (BCAMT) conference might be for you.
Pat Nelson is just this type of teacher, and he travelled all the way from Fort Nelson to Whistler for the 63rd annual Northwest Mathematics Conference this fall. He’s been before and was looking forward to the experience. For Pat the conference provides a chance for him to explore his passions in math education, namely sharing the beauty of math with his students. Pat’s love of math came from his father, whose love of math games, cards, and competition helped shape his life. This year’s conference provided Pat with a new lens on trigonometry and how to connect with his secondary students, as well as a chance to reconnect with colleagues he’s met over the years.
For Diane Weins, Tamara Shand, Tony Domina, and Shannon Downey, the math conference was a reunion. They are part of a Master’s cohort of students at UBC studying how to teach and learn math in community, and for them reconnecting and digging into how to inspire curiosity through math for elementary students is a key part of their own professional learning. In a workshop on using senses to learn about data, this group took information they gathered comparing eating habits across the globe and prepared yogurt bowls that matched the nutritional intakes based on country. They were able to compare and contrast eating habits, make inferences about agriculture and food security, use weight and measurement concepts, all with a tub of yogurt, some blueberries, and some granola.
Maggie Lai’s path at this provincial specialist association conference was to learn all she possibly could about AI. As a Math 8 teacher from Surrey, she knows that embracing AI is important. She wants some fresh ideas to bring back to the classroom: “I’m really focusing on AI and how I can use that to enhance my teaching. It’s really important that our students know how to use this new tool.” Maggie went on to say, “For me, a lot of times students say, ‘Oh I’m not really good at math,’ but seeing their growth and helping them build confidence in math is the best thing.”
With close to 100 workshops available over three days, teachers from BC, Washington, and Oregon explored curricular math concepts, inclusion, Indigenous ways of knowing math, and how to create rich classroom experiences for math students no matter the age or ability—and more!