Recently I had a birthday. My family kindly bought me a set of mathematical presents, including a Tippe Top, a Rattleback and a Gaussian gun. I show these and my other presents in action (the mathematical ones, at least) in the following video.
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- The window wasn’t all on screen for one person, so a smaller window would be helpful.
- To keep the puzzle definition on screen while trying to solve it would be an advantage.
Reflections on a short puzzle in Elluminate
Stephen Lee (MEI) approached me regarding a ‘Virtual IMA Branch talk’ which would be delivered by Elluminate. The advantage is that anyone can access this, even those who cannot access a standard Branch talk. We agreed I would give a puzzles talk.
Last week we did a short practice run, with a couple of volunteers, @christianp and @SundayTeaTime (Thanks!). I did a couple of river crossing puzzles. Here it is, followed by some reflection:
I found it strange to know how to pace the talk with no real audience feedback. When we allowed multiple microphones to be active the system had an enormous lag, so we set it to what I’m thinking of as walkie-talkie mode, where I had control of the mic until I released it to Stephen. This was strange, partly because you might say something and expect a laugh or a murmur from the audience (perhaps at the start when I blame Stephen in advance for it all going wrong) and you don’t get that, and also because I am used to recording a two-way conversation via Skype for the Math/Maths Podcast, where Samuel Hansen and I tend to interrupt each other.
I found it strange having no visual clues to how well the audience was understanding what I was saying. I have given this puzzle before a live audience seven times from years 11-13 (what’s that? 15-19?) to undergraduate and university staff. Then, it is relatively straightforward to get an idea of whether people are following or not but here it wasn’t so easy. I think this caused me to under-explain a few things, like the precise definition of the puzzle while we were trying to solve it, and I think it caused me to rush a bit.
Specific feedback given at the end that I need to address for the real thing:
Watching the puzzle back seems to me a little slow, but then I know what’s coming and I’m not playing along at home. When I’ve asked a question it is hard to know how long to leave it to wait for a response. Again, when I’m talking to Samuel dead air is to fill, but here you need to give people some time to think about the problems. I would be very interested to hear in the comments how you found watching it back.
My puzzles stall
As I am leaving the IMA (didn’t know? You haven’t been listening to the Math/Maths Podcast!), I am trying to document what I do. I am videoing some bits that might be useful for my successor to see what I do and see if they like it for their own use. In the middle of this, a request came in from Hazel Kendrick, Project Officer for the HE STEM Programme at the IMA, who is looking to develop a small kit of resources for a maths stand at a careers fair or science fair aimed at 11-18 year olds. Although my small kit of puzzles is used at university careers fairs, I thought sharing this might be useful. It is much easier to video myself showing the puzzles than trying to describe each one, so here we go. It’s 12 minutes long, so split over two YouTube videos (below).
My strategy at a careers fair is to provide an experience which is different from the employers. I want to mark the IMA out as different. Sometimes students ask me what jobs the IMA is offering and I have to explain we aren’t a graduate recruiter. I do puzzles because I think they are enticing – and everyone who I entice leaves the stall with a Maths careers flyer and a copy of the IMA Careers Advice Booklet – and to give the students some break out time in what can be an intense process (sometimes hours spent talking to potential employers). I also usually give everyone a copy of the dots puzzle in the second video, in the hope they will find it the next day and have a go at solving it, remembering as they do that the IMA exists. I’ve been complimented several times by organisers of careers fairs for my approach.
Slider puzzle
I had a play with a site called fyrebug.com and made a slider puzzle using the Travels in a Mathematical World podcast image. I mention the slider puzzle in the 14-15 puzzle form in my puzzles talk and you can read about the history of it at Archimedes’ Lab. You can play the Travels in a Mathematical World version here:
Mathematics Today August: University Liaison Officer’s Report
Enthusiastic individuals and persistent institutions
Recently, on Twitter no less, I came across the following quote:
“Without individuals, nothing happens; without institutions, nothing survives.”
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
This quote attracts me for two reasons. Firstly, I recently met a young mathematician interested in meeting others with similar academic interests. When I suggested he might want to join a learned society he told me “oh no, the learned societies are just for old people and I don’t want to be part of anything like that.” I consider this a tragic statement. Without being so specific as to identify him, I will say this person was a dynamic, enthusiastic person and precisely the sort of “individual” able to make things “happen”. It is a real shame he didn’t feel the natural step was to align himself with an established “institution” to ensure the fruits of his enthusiasm “survive”.
I do not know how widespread this viewpoint is but I have had others tell me that membership bodies (in general) are going out of fashion. This is sad: in and of itself, that an organisation which does good might not survive; that the enthusiasm of individuals may not be carried forward and amplified by affiliation with an organisation; and, in the case of the IMA, that membership of a professional organisation might decline at a time when individual professional development is increasingly well valued by employers.
We have to do all we can to rout this viewpoint among young mathematicians. If those with enthusiasm and similar outlook and aims to the IMA don’t feel it is worth joining then there is trouble ahead. This is broadly what I am trying to do as ULO, to improve the chances a student has heard of the IMA and some of the benefits of joining before they graduate. I believe that if they understand the benefits it is a natural choice for many to join. I can’t personally see every graduate and every young mathematician in employment so this is where I ask you as a member to evangelise on behalf of the IMA. This is a valuable organisation for mathematicians to be a part of and it benefits from a strong membership. The IMA Younger Members activities are the envy of representatives I have spoken to from professional bodies in other subjects and attendance at the Younger Mathematicians Conference (next in Birmingham in November) is an excellent first step into IMA activities for a graduate just starting their career in mathematics. There is presumably a barrier in communicating this information to the enthusiastic individual I met and others like him. You might find inspiration for your evangelising in the latter half of my careers talk slides, available through www.ima.org.uk/student
The second reason this quote spoke to me is I have met some extraordinary young mathematicians and mathematics students in my time as ULO. The students with the drive to set up or revive a university student mathematics society at the same time as completing their studies are always pleasing to meet. I have rarely seen an organised collective effort to set up such societies; rather such societies owe a debt to the work of enthusiastic individuals. There is a piece in the Student Section from one such person, Mike Ross of Heriot-Watt University, with his tips for others thinking of setting up a university mathematical society.
Of course, the nature of student life means the enthusiast who set up the society will move on very quickly. Usually first year students are not sufficiently well established to set up or run a society until later in the year and final year students have other issues about which to worry (there are exceptions). I know several individuals who have been the driving force behind student societies who are moving on this year. The problem becomes: how do they ensure the continuity of their work?
The successful model is usually to find a group of younger students who are willing to form an organising committee and take this on – forming a persistent “institution”. Sometimes this works and sometimes the enthusiasm decreases in the following year. A model I have seen work well is to involve a postgraduate student or member of staff in the organisation of the society. As they are generally better established and around for longer they can usually provide continuity and drive that a one year student committee might otherwise lack. Societies who manage this transition well can enjoy years of activities that are to the benefit of the students and the whole department. Such societies often include an element of peer support and community spirit which can help a department with issues such as retention. Departments that act to ensure a healthy society able to capture and build on the enthusiasm of individuals are to be commended.
Of course, funding can be an issue and the IMA can help here. University Liaison Grants are available to university societies to support their activities. If you are interested in supporting your students to set up or revive a mathematical society this is an ideal use of a University Liaison Grant. If there is already a society then a grant may help extend their range of activities. An application form which includes some guidance on the types of activity that this money may be applied for is available through the website at www.ima.org.uk/student
Activities May-June 2009
The post-Easter period is an interesting one. A majority of universities have finished or are finishing teaching and the appetite for a careers talk was reduced. However, the student societies are looking for fun activities to take a break from revision for exams. I gave my talk on spin in ball games followed by playing on the Wii at the Universities of Newcastle and Sheffield.
An exception to the semester-based system is the University of York, who were at the start of the third term. I went to York and gave an evening lecture on puzzles to the Mathsoc and opened the Maths Careers Fair with my careers talk and ran a stall (pictured are students “having a go” after my talk). The attendance for the careers talk was so great people were sitting in the aisle and others had to be turned away so I gave a second sitting of my talk for those students. I received positive feedback on my talk from staff and students. Other stallholders at the Careers Fair told me the students came out of my talk with enthusiasm and with a real pragmatism about what they needed to do, qualities the stallholders felt they didn’t usually see in undergraduates. The maths-specific careers fair format is a valuable one that I think works much more effectively for mathematics students than an untargeted fair.
I attended and spoke on my activities at the 10th IMA Younger Mathematicians Conference in Oxford which was, as usual, a useful and enjoyable occasion. I spoke at an event on new technologies for maths promotion to the Maths Promoters Network. I gave an introduction to the day and spoke about use of social networking (mostly Twitter) and gave a podcast live recording demo with Matt Parker (which can be heard in episode 31 via www.travelsinamathematicalworld.co.uk). I was joined to speak on social networking (Facebook) by Noel-Ann Bradshaw of the University of Greenwich and on podcasting by Marianne Freiberger of Plus. Also speaking were Zia Rahman of more maths grads and Richard Browne of MEI who both spoke on online videos and DVDs.
I made a visit to Kingston University to meet careers staff and postgraduates and attended the NUMS EGM at University College London. I ran a stall at a postgraduate conference at the University of Surrey. The University is in Guildford where Alan Turing lived as a child and he is honoured by a bronze statue outside the Austin Pearce Building where the conference took place (pictured).
I had my 6-monthly meeting with my steering group in May and am happy to report this went well.
Puzzling over careers in York
Last week I spent two days in York giving talks. Firstly I gave an evening lecture to the York University Maths Society (YUMS) on Puzzles. I found this highly enjoyable. I think was the first talk I have written that I was looking forward to giving rather than being preoccupied with anxiety on its first outing. I gave a number of puzzles for the audience to work through, talked through a little of the history of puzzles and then we had a session at the end with my collection of puzzles for the audience to play with (pictured below). Following this, YUMS and I retired to the bar for some beer and darts.
The following morning I went to the maths department (pictured below) for the careers fair. One of the students told me that when I offered to give my careers talk to the department the staff asked the students if they wanted a maths careers talk. The students said they did, and a maths-specific careers fair as well. It is nice to know that I inadvertently started the event! The day was organised jointly by the Careers Service and the Department of Mathematics, and advertised by YUMS as well. I think this combination really helped because the turnout was excellent. I was to give my careers talk to open the day. All the seats were gone and there were people sitting and standing at the back and in the aisles, and they were turning people away! I gave my talk and I think it went well, then we arranged I would give it again for the people who had been turned away. In total my helper for the day, York undergraduate Yi Ding, counted 80 students in the two sittings. As well my stall was hard at work without me; the organisers told me it was one of the most popular stalls even without me attending to it!
The best part of the day for me was when I was speaking to the lady from the TeachFirst stall. She said that usually when she comes to university careers fairs she finds the students naïve about the nature of the jobs market. She told me the students coming out of my talks were clued in and motivated to explore possible careers options. She said they kept telling her about the talk they’d just been in and what I had said about skills and employment prospects. This is brilliant to hear, a huge ego boost.
A Millennium of Mathematical Puzzles
On Wednesday night I attended a talk by Robin Wilson at Gresham College on mathematical puzzles. Gresham have videoed the talk and made it available online: “A Millennium of Mathematical Puzzles”, as well as a large number of other talks of mathematical and other interest available from the same site.
Plus don’t forget you can attend the events live too.