High school students enjoy first Math@Mac day

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/crispo-magic.jpg” caption=”Dustin Crispo’s magic performance entertained a room full of high school students at the first Math@Mac day. Photo: D. McIvor”]The first Math@Mac day was deemed a success by organizers from the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. On Tuesday, March 7, approximately 130 local high school students accompanied by 15 teachers from a total of 16 schools, visited McMaster for this event.

The day, aimed at inspiring students interested in pursuing math at the post secondary level, included a presentation by David Earn on the Mathematics of SARS and Emerging Diseases and another by Bartosz Protas on Fluid Mecahnics and Flight. Undergraduate volunteers from math, physics and Miroslav Lovric's Teaching Mathematics (2U03) course facilitated an interactive problem-solving session for the high school students.

Math & physics student and 'mathemagician', Dustin Crispo presented a magic show that ensured the entire group left campus with smiles on their faces. Crispo shared his humourous approach to magic with a receptive audience, performing card tricks, rope illusions and even conjuring seven balls from two simply by shuffling a couple of silver cups around on a desktop. Laughter filled the room as Crispo engaged the audience with the principles of math on a magical scale.

Professor Lovric concluded the day's activities with a discussion prompted by students' questions on careers in math, revisions to the grade 12 curriculum, and preparation for first year courses at university. Lovric's message to the students was two-fold. “Take as much math as you can in high school to prepare for university and remember that you are responsible for your own learning.”

For more information on this event, please contact Caroline Burgess at burgcar@mcmaster.ca.