Mathematics of Social Justice: Course Development Workshop

Posted by on February 17, 2006

The Mathematics of Social Justice
A Course Development Workshop
Lafayette College, May 23-25, 2006

Contemporary society is filled with political, economic, and cultural issues that arise from mathematical ideas. This workshop will aid faculty in mathematics and related disciplines to develop undergraduate general education courses for their home institutions, courses that engage students in understanding the connection between quantitative literacy and social justice.

Topics addressed will be set by the participants, however possible topics include voting rights, voting fraud, gerrymandering, and one person/one vote; the impact of opinion polls on the democratic process; financial exploitation of the quantitatively illiterate; statistical misconceptions and their consequences in politics and policy; mathematics education as a determinant of economic status; and statistics in public health, health care, and health policy.

The workshop will provide an opportunity to identify and clarify topics, and to explore the available materials. Then they will disperse to pursue topics individually but communications will be maintained by email and blog. At the end July, preliminary materials will be collected and shared amongst participants teaching the course in the fall. Successive revisions of the materials will be collected to support subsequent course offerings. The participants will gather again at a math conference sometime after the 2006-07 academic year, to present the results of their courses using materials developed by the workshop, and the presentations–including bibliographies, syllabi, and class activities–will be assembled for all participants to have.

The workshop will be co-hosted by Pennsylvania Campus Compact, and held at Lafayette College in Easton, PA from Tuesday, May 23, till noon of Thursday May 25. Lodging will be provided, however participants and their home institutions will be expected to cover transportation and food costs. Participants will be expected to provide preliminary curricular materials developed for the workshop at the end of July to support those teaching a course in the fall. Revised materials will be made available to each participant as they teach a course requiring those materials. Eventually the participants will gather at a professional meeting to make presentations regarding their experiences in courses arising from the workshop.

Application for participation can be made by completing and returning the form available at the workshop web site:

http://www.lafayette.edu/~math/Rob/MathOfSJ

Applicants already accepted need not reapply. In general applications will be accepted first-come, first-served, however priority will be given to applicants who are (1) planning to teach a course using materials developed by the workshop (2) in the coming academic year. Participation requires a commitment by you and/or your institution to cover the costs of transportation and food for the workshop.

For further information, or to apply for participation, contact
Rob Root
Department of Mathematics
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042-1781
ROBROOT@LAFAYETTE.EDU
(610) 330-5280 (Office)
(610) 330-5721 (Fax)