Recruiting and Preparing Teams and Improving Student Learning Outcomes

Saturday, October 10th, 2009
at
The University of Wisconsin - La Crosse

We invite you to join us in La Crosse for a workshop focusing on aspects of team administration, team balancing, and team preparation.

Each February, undergraduate students from institutions around the world compete in an international mathematical modeling contest sponsored by the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (COMAP).  The Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) gives undergraduate students the opportunity to apply their math skills to real world problems. In teams of three, students spend 96 hours developing and testing a model and composing a formal report on their findings.

It is often difficult for faculty advisors to convince their students to take part in such a contest since it requires a large amount of individual determination and a considerable time commitment.  Additionally, because participation in the contest is widespread, students receive little direct feedback from the contest judges. 

The purpose of this workshop is to:

  • explore strategies to recruit and prepare students for mathematical modeling contests;
  • examine techniques for building self-sustaining and successful MCM programs;
  • discuss ways to use the MCM as a learning opportunity for students;
  • identify other mathematical modeling opportunities for students.

Invited Speaker

Dr. Murphy Waggoner -- Simpson College, Indianola, IA

Dr. Waggoner has recruited and advised over 70 modeling teams from Simpson College in the span of 12 years.  During that span, eight Simpson teams have earned “meritorious” rankings (putting them within the top 15% of all submissions) and 25 have earned "honorable mention" rankings (putting them within the top 40-50% of all submissions). This is an impressive feat, considering that the enrollment of Simpson College is less than 1500 full time students!  Dr. Waggoner has also served as a ‘triage’ judge for COMAP, reading and ranking submissions for the contest.

Interested in Participating?

More information about this workshop can be found by reading the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and the schedule. An informational flyer is available here. If you have additional questions or comments, please contact me.