Mathematics is a beautiful and valuable subject, but girls are often
deterred from the many benefits of mathematics by societal pressures and
the lack of sufficient training. In an attempt to alleviate this problem,
Mississippi University for Women received a Mathematics Association of
America/Tensor Foundation grant to offer a Math Camp on the MUW campus
this summer, June 4-9, 2000. The grant will support 20 rising high school
freshmen girls who will be going into Algebra 1 in the fall. The Math
Camp participants will stay in the residence halls and eat in the
cafeteria, supported by the grant. During the camp, MUW Assistant
professors Dr. Bonnie Oppenheimer, Clare Boothe Luce Professor Dr. Jane
Wenstrom, Dr. Dorothy Kerzel, MSMS teacher Dr. LeRoy Wenstrom, and Weir
Attendance Center National Board Certified teacher Carol Wright will offer
fun and fascinating mathematical activities. Both Dr. L. Wenstrom and
Mrs. Wright were recipients of RadioShack Teaching Awards this year.
Quality education for women has been implicit in the W's mission since its
inception. We find that many girls have already limited their involvement
in mathematics by choosing to take fewer and lower level mathematics
courses than boys do while in high school. The W already hosts a Sonia
Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day, where high school girls are
brought onto campus for a day of mathematical activities. The MAA/Tensor
Foundation grant provides a similar opportunity for younger students,
bringing them on campus for a more extensive time to appreciate the
beauty, utility, and fun in mathematics.
Founded in 1884 as the first public college for women in America and
admitting men since 1982, Mississippi University for Women currently is
ranked the number one regional public liberal arts college in the South by
U.S. News and World Report. This is the third consecutive year that the
university has received this ranking and the sixth consecutive year that
the university has been in the top 10 among its peers for academic
reputation and campus diversity.
Located on 104 acres in the heart of residential Columbus, Mississippi, 24
of The W's more than 60 buildings are listed on the National Register of
Historic Places. As high-tech as it is historic, The W features a
fiberoptic backbone that links every residence room, classroom and office
to the Internet, interactive videoconference classrooms, state-of-the-art
computing facilities and a satellite uplink.
Dr. Bonnie Oppenheimer, Assistant Professor of Mathematics in the Division
of Science and Mathematics at Mississippi University for Women, is the
project director for the Math Camp. Dr. Oppenheimer has worked with the
Mississippi State University (MSU) math camps as a mathematical consultant
and presenter. She has taught Grades 6-12 for more than a decade, and
spent three years with the Delta Mathematics Project, presenting
manipulatives and their usage to thirty school districts in the
Mississippi Delta. Dr. Oppenheimer will be assisted by Dr. Jane Wenstrom,
the Clare Boothe Luce Professor in the Division of Science and Mathematics
at Mississippi University for Women, who runs MUW's annual Sonia
Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day each spring. Dr. Dorothy Kerzel is
an Assistant Professor of Mathematics in the Division of Science and
Mathematics at Mississippi University for Women. She has presented on
probability and statistics at various teaching-oriented conferences, and
has presented workshops for Sonia Kovalevsky High School Mathematics
Day. Dr. J. Wenstrom and Dr. Kerzel wrote material for and taught at a
week-long enhancement program for in-service middle school teachers as
part of an Eisenhower grant. Dr. LeRoy Wenstrom, mathematics teacher at
the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, has helped with
several of the Sonia Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Days. He also
helps run professional development workshops for in-service middle and
high school teachers. Carol Wright, National Board Certified mathematics
teacher at Weir Attendance Center, worked at the MSU math camps with
Dr. Oppenheimer. Ms. Wright maintains an intensive presentation schedule
while continuing to teach high school mathematics.
Girls will arrive on campus during the afternoon of June 4, and will
depart campus after an award ceremony the afternoon of June 9th. Some of
the planned activities include instruction with Algeblocks or algebra
tiles, how to use TI graphing calculators in algebra, ideas from
probability and statistics, and looking for patterns (like Pascal's
triangle and the Fibonacci sequence). Computer programs will be used to
illustrate chaotic behavior, properties of vectors, and mathematical
quilting. Students will build tetrahedron kites, do algebraic activities
with geoboards and tangrams, create tessellations, and enlarge pictures.
Contact will be maintained with the students and/or their school
counselors to track the mathematics courses chosen by the girls attending
camp throughout their high school careers.
Applications forms can be obtained by contacting Dr. Bonnie Oppenheimer,
Box W-100, Columbus, MS 39701, by calling (662) 329-7239, or by e-mail
request at boppen@muw.edu.
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