6A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ENVIRONMENT
FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2009
Educating on global warming through mathematics
BY MICOLE ARONOWITZ maronowitz@kansan.com
maronowitz@kansan.com
The department of mathematics at the University of Kansas is taking an active role in global warming and climate change by educating students through workshops, speakers and a math competition.
April is Mathematics Awareness Month and this year's theme is mathematics and climate. On Saturday more than 300 students from area elementary, junior high and high schools will compete in a math competition sponsored by the mathematics department. Mathematics graduate students will be teaching elementary students how math pertains to the climate through interactive presentations.
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, chairwoman of Math Awareness Month and mathematics professor, said math is used as a basis for solving the issues of climate change and in particular, global warming.
She said mathematicians try to model those uncertainties and make predictions based on that information.
"Calculus, differential equations, probability and statistics are just some of the areas of mathematics that are used for the understanding of the oceans, polar ice caps and the complex interactions among all those systems," Pasik-Duncan said.
"In climate change you can better predict catastrophes such as earthquakes, flooding, tornadoes
and storms," Pasik-Duncan said.
For students who are interested in math, science and technology, this is an opportunity to thrive, she said.
"This kind of situation, math ematics and climate is supposed to make students aware that there is so much that they can contribute to as far as problem solving." Pasik-Duncan said.
Tim Dorn, mathematics graduate student, along with other graduate students, is organizing a workshop for sixth graders from Hillcrest Elementary, 1045 Hilltop Dr., on April 15, to show how math is used in their everyday lives.
"Math is a language used to translate real world problems into something all students can understand." Dorn said.
He explained how animals are affected by climate change, specifically polar bears.
"Climate change causes animals to move to different habitats because their habitats are slowly deteriorating," Dorn said. "How long until there are no more polar bears?"
Dorn said plans for the workshop are still in development, but they would have other projects for students to participate in this month.
He said there would be nine graduate students assisting in the workshop.
and had 40 minutes to answer them. Pasik-Duncha said students' focus should not necessarily be on getting the right answer, but on logical thinking to reach the answer. She said their interests was in how students derive solutions.
Pasik-Duncan said. "We want to know what kind of students we will have when they are out of high school. We want to know how they think."
Yengulalp, graduate student, will do a presentation showing students how two opposite points on the globe will have the same temperature at a particular time.
"They are trying to come up with fun things that the kids can actually grasp and that have a wow factor to it," Brecheisen said.
Edited by Sam Speer
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