Math 371 Technology for STEM Educators

My colleague, Dr. Matt Biesecker, decided to play with ChatGPT as he was preparing the Probability & Statistics final exam.  He asked ChatGPT, “ What is a good exam problem involving conditional probability? ” Below is his exchange with ChatGPT: ChatGPT:   A jar contains 5 red balls and 5 green balls. A ball is drawn at random from the jar. What is the probability that the ball is red, given that it is not green? Dr. Biesecker: What is the solution to the problem you told me about ? ChatGPT:  The solution to the problem is that the probability that the ball is red, given that it is not green, is 4/10. Dr. Biesecker:  Could you explain your solution to me? ChatGPT:  The solution to the problem is that the probability that the ball is red, given that it is not green, is 4/10. This is because there is a 4/10 chance that the ball is red, and a 6/10 chance that the ball is not red. Dr. Biesecker:  I think you are incorrect, because if the ...

Making math fun for kids, rather than work is a huge task that a lot of math teachers have taken on over the years. “When am I ever going to use this?” “Ugh! Why did our math teacher assign so many problems?” “Math is so boring.” These are all comments I have either heard during my time in grade school or personally said myself. I am sure teachers are getting sick of hearing it, as I am sure students are tired of doing textbook assignments with no color or taste. Well, there is a solution to that: gamification. Gamification, in the classroom, is the incorporation of games into learning which allows teachers to better engage students.  Math is one of those subjects that students typically either understand or don’t. For those that don’t understand it, it is typically because they fail to find interest or appreciation of the subject. Using gamification when teaching math allows the students to see math in a different way, a more fun way if you will. Studies have shown that within cla...

With the introduction of more and more technology into our lives, classrooms have adapted to this change of technology over the years to better suit the students, which has led to many cool programs, apps, games, and practices being used in the classroom.  It has also led to some controversy as math calculators and help tools become widely more popular as every day passes.  But why, and what are the effects of using these calculators?  In the year of our lord 2023, there are dozens, if not hundreds of different math calculators and math help tools available to anybody with a computer and Google.  Typing in simple phrasing like “polynomial calculator”, “integral calculator”, and “inverse calculator” into Google can give a student many results that are not only helpful, but some consider to be downright cheating.  In my humble opinion, math apps and calculators are fair game, just as long you don’t use them just to get homework done, but to actually learn the ma...

Many math teachers might struggle with finding the right problems for their students to work on during class. For new teachers in particular, this task may seem daunting or nearly impossible to do. However, at the South Dakota STEM conference, Sharon Rendon did a presentation that provided tools to help ease this process. The presenter talked about five practices that a teacher can use to help find problems that would help develop math discussions that are productive, not destructive. The five practices she mentioned are anticipating, monitoring, selecting, sequencing, and connecting. First is the anticipating step. In this step, the teacher should do the problem themselves to try and make sure the problem is appropriate for the students. The teacher can use their technology to see if they want students to use specific websites like Desmos for coming up with the solution. Another part to this step could be anticipating what the students might get out of the problem or reviewing wheth...