I read this thread with great interest. Why? From January 2021 to May 2022 I served as a volunteer assistant leader for a local middle school mathematics club. And since December 2017 I have served as an elected member of my local school board. A couple thoughts:
- We should remember that the COVID-19 pandemic changed the universe of K-12 education - especially public education - in the U.S (and, I imagine, in the rest of the world - but I can't speak to that).
- Partly due to the pandemic, but mostly (in my opinion) due to widespread and prolonged involvement of young people with social media, there is a major mental health crisis among our young people.
- Having been confined (sort of) for the whole of the pandemic, young people are now making the most of their (newfound) abilities to be out and about, sometimes with not-so-positive outcomes (https://www.phila.gov/2023-06-02-curfew-reform-in-philadelphia-and-other-cities/).
- OR/MS/Analytics professionals have been doing cool stuff with technology for decades. Wouldn't it be great is we, as a group, could redirect some of our young people's current interest in technology into interest(s) that provide rewarding and well-paying careers?
It turns out that the folks in the K-12 subcommittee of the Education Outreach Committee have been thinking about these things. We have scheduled a panel session at the Annual Meeting in Phoenix and would like to invite anyone interested in making better futures for our young people to join us:
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October 15, 2023, 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM
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CC-ECC 212B
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Description
In March 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic brought a sea change to K-12 education in the U.S. Every school district was forced into virtual learning overnight. Now that the pandemic is fading into the rear-view mirror, those who value the success of K-12 students have the opportunity to begin anew K-12 education outreach projects. Successful, sustained programs will simultaneously work within longstanding constraints facing public education in this country and leverage new opportunities resulting from pandemic response. Lessons learned from first-hand experience will be discussed.
https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/?__hstc=194041586.7c95eda546a883014ae5c99a44646bb5.1691510973043.1691510973043.1691510973043.1&__hssc=194041586.15.1691510973043&__hsfp=1777561390&hsCtaTracking=8f511889-324a-41b3-a438-37ad295392e9%7C0c80c5d7-cc8d-4989-9b70-52de4c44b90b#!/10856/session/1185
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Neil Desnoyers
ndesnoye@sju.eduAdjunct Professor
Saint Joseph's University
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-05-2023 13:17
From: David Hunt
Subject: Promoting analytics careers
That's a disturbing story John. I'm a fan of the arts, but it's helpful if math teachers are passionate about math. I was the engineer at my local school years ago during a career day. My memory is the students were comparing professions and I got more questions about how much money an engineer makes rather than about the nature of the work.
I like the concept of encouraging INFORMS members to reach out to the local schools to show the practical uses of math, and then sharing best practices within our community. Irv's example is wonderful. I have a copy of the Ken Chelst and Tom Edwards book "Does This Line Ever Move" which introduces OR to high school students through problems like speedy delivery services (shortest path), manufacturing sports shoes (LP), being stuck in a line (queuing), selling hotdogs at a high school (simulation), and choosing a college (decision analysis).
The examples are the easy part. Where we need to share best practices is in how to direct students if they are interested. We can show up for 15 minutes and try to spark an interest, but then we leave and the teacher has to return to the curriculum. For students that really have an interest, how can we best direct them to on-line material, mentors, and other resources so they have an opportunity to build on that spark. There are resources out there, but would be good if we are prepared with them before walking into a math class.
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David Hunt
Vice President
Oliver Wyman
Princeton NJ
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-05-2023 10:05
From: John Milne
Subject: Promoting analytics careers
At a high school parents' open house, I had a conversation with a math (geometry? algebra?) teacher that went something like this...
Teacher: your daughter is an excellent artist
Me: uh, you teach math, right?
Teacher: Yes. She creates wonderful drawings while I'm teaching.
.....
Me: would you like me to come to class some day? to explain how knowing math can be helpful?
Teacher: Yes. maybe it would motivate (inspire?) the students. help them see the connections between learning math and something useful.
Kara: I can't say my spiel with the students was a tremendous success. I did not prepare any slides, nor coordinate/integrate with the topics the math teacher was teaching at the time, and instead talked for maybe 5-10 minutes.
One can imagine analytics professionals as guest speakers in high school classes, using visuals like Irv did with grade schoolers. If the OR topics could integrate with topics the high school teacher is covering that may lead to a lasting relationship, or even the high school teacher knowing enough so that he/she can teach the OR. For example, it may have been high school when i learned to solve with a set of multiple equations. That may flow naturally into the simplex method (not so much the algorithm perhaps, but rather applications of it to practice problems). If a handful (dozen?) INFORMS professionals tried this at their nearby high school, maybe a best practice (or two) would emerge, with materials shared with other INFORMS members for them to do the same.
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John Milne
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY
jmilne@clarkson.edu