Lawrence High School (February 2012 – May 2012)

It has been a long time since I post anything on this blog. Spring like winter-break passed by, enjoyed two spring breaks which felt like summer breaks. However, there were many events happened during this time, added Geometry class along with AP Stats class, lesson plans, and three conferences (NSF GK-12 Last Meeting at DC, UMass Lowell Symposium and ASEE conference.)

Starting with Geometry class, I have to say I am glad to be in that class with Mr. MacDonald. Advanced Placement Statistics class is amazing, but there is a huge difference between Geometry and AP Stats class. In AP Stats class, all the students are juniors and seniors. In Geometry class all the students are mixed together including sophomores and freshmen. Also Geometry class is much bigger than AP Stats class, which gave me a wide range of audience to talk to. There was a student teacher, Ms. Miles, from Boston University joined us in these classes,  which helped us a lot in coming up with different in-class activities and organization.

In Geometry class, I found out that some of the students were lacking basic math skills. I had a chance to help them out in their homework as well as class work. Some of them asked me questions regarding how hard college is and how can you prepare for college. I explained them that high school prepares students to go to college, just like middle school prepared them to come to high school. So every activity or homework that you do in high school, prepares you to go to college. I also explained them how to make index cards, by showing them my old undergraduate physics index cards. When I showed them my index cards, they were amazed by the equations that I had. Compare to circumference and area of a circle equations, these equations were hard for them. So I told them that if you can remember and understand these basic equations, then when you go to college, you can be able to tackle these so called “hard” equations. I was amazed how small things can make a difference and inspire them to work hard.

That brings us to lesson plans. For couple of weeks, I was observing students in Geometry class, and trying to figure out which level of understanding they have about math in general. However during that period, I did a lesson plan in AP Stats class. They were covering the topic about the central limit theorem, so Mr. MacDonald asked me if I can come up with the MATLAB demo which shows how different distributions can converge to normal distribution when they are added together. When I was preparing the demo, Prof. Chandra saw me and asked me if I can tell them the history of CLT and explain this important concept in detail. So I found some historical information as well as mathematical derivation of mean and variance. I started the class with the definition of central limit theorem, and then showed them a demo, where different distributions were used as an example. After that I showed them the mathematical derivation of mean and variance. Then I asked them a question about adding distributions with different means and variances. The answer was explained based on the previous mathematical derivation. Students were amazed by the visualizing the convergence to normal distribution, and started explaining how helpful this demo is compare to book’s figure in order to understand CLT.

In Geometry class, students were learning about polygon when I joined, then they were going to learn about circle. So Mr. MacDonald and I decided to come up with a MATLAB demo which connects these two topics. I made a MATLAB demo as well as wooden stick experiment which showed that by increasing number of sides of a polygon, that polygon looks like a circle. During the class, Mr. MacDonald went through some basic circle definitions such as radius, diameter, etc. Then students were given a sheet of paper and 10 wooden sticks with velcro on them. They had to follow that worksheet and construct different shape of polygons with those sticks. It was a good exercise for some students to review the material they learned in previous classes. Then they answered the question that as the number of stick increases, the polygon looks like a circle. Once they were done with that exercise, some students started creating a big circle with large number of sticks. At the end they realized that it looked like a circle.

Then I showed them a MATLAB demo, where they can input as many sides as they can to estimate the circle, and they saw the transition from a polygon to a circle. However, I told them that it would be better to compare the simulated value of pi with the given value of pi. So they observed that polygon with 75 number of sides were needed to achieve the value of pi with more than two numbers after the decimal points, 100 sides for 3 numbers after the decimal place, 200 sides for 4 numbers after the decimal place, and 400 sides for 5 numbers after the decimal place. So in order to estimate the value of pi with higher accuracy, higher side polygon is needed. Since my netbook was slow, it took some time to estimate the value of pi, however, they all gathered around the front of the classroom and waiting and watching if the value of pi can be reached at 3.14159. Usually when there are few minutes left in the class, they get ready to leave the class, but this time they all stuck around until the program was over. After two weeks when I came back from the spring break, many of them remembered the value of pi to be 3.1415. And I was happy to see that result.

American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) North East Conference

Three days after the UMass Lowell Symposium, on 27-28^th April, there was American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) North East conference. Students from other colleges around the north east region came to presents their research papers and posters. There were many workshops going on, however, those workshops were held at the same time as poster session, so we couldn’t be able to attend many of them. However, Anthony and Nick went to NSF Performamatics Workshop on Interdisciplinary Teaching, more information can be found on Nick’s blog http://gk12net.uml.edu/blog/nickmisiunas/ . However, we had good time at the poster session and at the dinner. Not only that but also the poster that I presented, “MATLAB Computing and Modeling: Analysis of Weather Data,” won the best graduate student poster award. The only thing that I regret is that I couldn’t be able to attend Molly’s, NSF GK-12 fellow, talk on “Computing and Simulation in the High School Classroom.” However, it was a good experience over all. I met with couple of students from Daniel Webster College at New Hampshire and University of Bridgeport at Connecticut.

15th Annual Student Research and Community Engagement Symposium

There was UMass Lowell Research and Community Engagement Symposium on April 24^th, Mr. MacDonald and all the students from AP Stats class were invited to present their weather project there. There were many UMass Lowell undergraduate and graduate students presenting their research in different areas such as Electrical, Biomedical, Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Science, Liberal arts. I was glad to see Mr. MacDonald and two students from AP Stats class, Danny and Shareef. I asked them to look around the symposium and observe how other students were presenting their research. Barbara showed them what she was working on, which was pretty interesting. Since Danny would be attending UMass Lowell and was interested in Civil Engineering, so I introduced him to Zach, who is doing his MS in Civil. Zach also presented his research to them.

Since Danny had to submit his registration and dorm fees, we all went to South campus, East Campus and North Campus. So basically we had a brief tour of UMass Lowell campuses. Unfortunately we were running out of time, so Mr. MacDonald and Shareef left, however Danny decided to stick around for a while until the conference ends. After the symposium ended, Danny and I went back to North Campus with all the other students from my lab. Then we saw Barbara on our way, and she took me and Danny to show her lab, part of Civil Engineering Department. Danny met with other Civil Engineering students who were working in the lab, including Zach. Then Barbara and Zach showed us other civil engineering lab. Then Barbara and I gave Danny a brief tour of North Campus. On our way back, we saw Gary Howe, Civil Engineering staff, and he showed us his lab where students build concrete canoe. Then he met with all the students at CACT lab, and showed him my work bench. After that I drove him back to his house. Overall he enjoyed the whole day. He also got e-mail addresses from Barbara and Zach, so when he starts from next semester, he will have other students to help him out throughout his college life. I wish if other high school students had come, they would have same experience as him, however, next time Mr. MacDonald and I will try to get everyone.

NSF GK-12 Annual Meeting at Washington, DC

There was NSF GK-12 Annual Meeting at Washington, DC from March 16-18. Prof. Chandra, Nick, Ibrahim and I attended that conference. Nick, Ibrahim and I drove down there which was a fun ride. The weather was pretty nice, felt like summer, during this weekend. We arrived there in the evening, met Prof. Chandra, and registered at the Hyatt Hotel for the conference. Then we all went out to get dinner at nice Indian cuisine and walked around DC to get night view. Next day we had nice breakfast, and went to poster presentation, where students from all around the US were there presenting their GK-12 program. We set up our poster as well as looked around to see what other programs were presenting. Many graduate students, professors, high school teachers and other professionals were also exchanging their ideas. Two high school teachers and a graduate student who teach math and science in New Jersey came by to our poster and asked questions about how we are using MATLAB in classrooms, and shared the tools that they are using in their classrooms. After the poster session, Nick, Ibrahim and I went out to explore DC. Since it was a St. Patrick’s Day, there was a marathon going on and many roads were blocked, so we had nice and quiet environment to see historical buildings and monuments. We enjoyed the whole day at the conference as well as walking around Washington DC. Next day we drove back to Boston with a nice lunch at the Jordanian place in New Jersey.

Lawrence High School (Nov. 21st – Dec. 19th, 2011)

This whole month passed by really fast to prepare students for their math fair as well as the upcoming UMass Lowell Symposium on April 24, 2011. At first, I created a MATLAB GUI, which plots different correlated plots such as Temperature (°F), Relative Humidity (%), Dew Point (°F), Wet Bulb (°F), Wind Speed (mph), Wind Chill/Hi (°F), Barometric Pressure (“Hg), Rain Rate (in/hr), Temperature Rate (°F/hr), Humidity Rate (%/hr), Pressure Rate (“Hg/hr). It also gives the correlation coefficient and linear regression line. I asked students to analyze all the different possible plots, and to find out which ones are more correlated and which ones are not. Once they figured out this information, they had to explain the results. Since they had little time left for the project due to other extra curriculum activities, they only analyzed few plots for their math fair project. However, the final project came out really good.

The last day of the class before the Christmas break, we were back to probability lessons. We did couple of experiments that Barbara did last year, as well as the new ones that I came up with. We had 8 balls with 3 green and 5 red in one box, 10 sticks with 4 red and 6 black in another box, deck of cards, two playing cubes with letters and drawings, and two coins. Students were divided into two groups and asked to do different experiments, and to find out different possibilities. Once they were done with the experiments, they had to discuss their results with other group. Once the class was over, they were asked to pick a candy or candies, and had to guess based on their experiments, the probability of picking a certain type of candy.

Lawrence High School (Oct. 25th – Nov. 21st, 2011)

This month was interesting. It started with unexpected nor’easter, which caused power outages throughout north-east regions. However, Lawrence didn’t have wide spread power outages, and high school was held on regular basis. Almost all the teachers were without power, but came to teach students, which showed their dedication. I was about to conduct my lesson plan on that day, but fire alarm went off, and couldn’t get a chance.

However, in the next meeting, I covered the almost all the materials. At first I showed them a youtube video about the history of radio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOzOapTAuoo Then asked them which major components are included in designing a radio. There were questions about how the volume control and tuning works in a radio, and explained them how the variable resistor and capacitor are used. Also explained them about the difference between the AM and FM radio, one is amplitude modulated and another one is frequency modulated.

Next week they were going over their homework assignments, and getting ready for the upcoming exam. However, I helped them to explain a problem which uses different types of plotting models. These models include exponential, logarithmic, power, quadratic and linear model. Next day I brought them different types of resistors, capacitors, transistors, diodes, and operational amplifiers. I drew the symbols for each component on the board, and I asked them to separate them out based on their knowledge. Once they did, I showed them the correct answer and explained them how they all function and can be used in developing a radio. Then I gave them two tables to identify the values for a resistor and a capacitor, and showed them how to read the value for those components.

When they were studying about randomness, one student told me that random numbers that are generated in a computer are not random; however, he wanted to know how it is possible. So I explained to them how the random numbers are generated in MATLAB, and by setting the same seed, same numbers can be generated. However, the seed can be set random by making it equal to the current date and time. Also thanks to Nick, I told them that true random number can also be generated using the atmospheric noise. Here is the link: http://www.random.org/  During this month, one student asked me about different types of areas in Civil Engineering. And thanks to Zach, I can provide that information.  And that said the month ended with a thanksgiving break.

Lawrence High School (October 17th – 21nd, 2011)

Linear Regression topic was covered during this week. There were many different terms introduced such as linear regression, residual, correlation coefficient etc. MATLAB demo was made to cover this topic. Students had freedom to choose mean of X, mean of Y, std of X, std of Y and correlation coefficient. Once they input those parameters, they can see how the data points are distributed. So I asked students to come and play around with these parameters, and explain the results. They also had option to find the regression line and compare it with the actual answer, which can be generated in MATLAB. Nick also found a link, where there are many statics demos made in Java, http://www.math.csusb.edu/faculty/stanton/m262/index.html. Mr. MacDonald showed it whole class. Then I showed them my current research and how am I using the correlation coefficients to detect the signal. I also showed them a video about cognitive radio, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3W43pyEgSk, and explained them what it is and how can it revolutionize the communication industries.

Lawrence High School (Sept. 14 – Oct. 14, 2011)

It has been a month since I started going to Lawrence High School. I am working with Mr. MacDonald in his AP Statistics class. My goal throughout this school year is to combine the course materials with my research, and come up with some exercises to help students understand the subject as well as my ongoing research. 

Week 1:  

On the first day, I went to high school about an hour early. Thanks to Nick, I arrived there without any trouble. I also found a place to park my car. I was surprised to see this high school, it was bigger than I expected.  I had hard time finding a class room, since there are multiple buildings and divisions. However, with the help from security and some teachers, I found Mr. MacDonald’s class room. I still had couple of minutes left to look around and get comfortable.

Beginning of the class, I welcomed and talked to some students. Then I did my power point presentation about myself such as where in India I used to live, my high school experience in India as well as here in the United States. I also explained them where and how did I received my bachelor’s degree. Furthermore, I told them what type of research I am doing. They asked some questions about my research and my high school experience. Once it was done, Mr. MacDonald gave out an assignment to work on, and I moved around the class to help out some students. Overall it was a pleasant experience.

Next time I went there, I gave them notebooks to write classroom activities. I showed them how to use it and how to write in there. I showed them my engineering lab notebook and organic chemistry lab notebook, and explained them how the logbook is used in different fields. I also showed them MATLAB demo about Distracted Driving exercised that they were working on. And explained them how the software like MATLAB are useful to do multiple and long iteration in a short time.

Week 2:

This week I asked every student to answer “Which major(s) do you want to pursue in college?” I also showed them, one more time, how to write in a logbook; also we went over the MATLAB demo about distracted driving. With that demo, I explained them the importance of having enough samples (neither too little nor too many number of samples) for their experiment. At the end of the class, I collated their notebooks, and found out which major(s) they want to purse in college. I am glad to find diversity in their interest areas.  Their interests include: Mathematics, Engineering, Finance, Literature, Education, and Healthcare.

In the next meeting, I did my presentation about my college major, Electrical Engineering. I also explained them different area in Electrical Engineering. When I showed them the information about renewable energy and nano-engineering, they started asking questions. From their questions, I assumed that they were interested in that area. I also showed them some educational videos about different disciplines.

Week 3-4:

This week I showed the MATLAB demo about skewness. Demonstrated them left and right skewness, and different types of modality such as unimodal, bimodal, multimodal and uniform distribution. I also explained them about standard deviation and z-score, as well as how to use z-table. Then they went through the pre-test with Mr. MacDonald.

Week after that I made a MATLAB model, in which they can plot multiple Gaussian curves as they change mean and standard deviation. I also had some exercise, where they had to put some z-score value and MATLAB draws a line to that corresponding point. It was a fun exercise, since they understood the concept of mean, std, variance, and z-score. I also explained them the importance of Gaussian curve in my research.

ITC San Francisco 2011

I attended 23rd International Teletraffic Congress at San Francisco. Nick and I presented poster, Wideband Spectrum Sensing Experiments in Indoor Wireless Channels. Since I had never attended any conference before, I was excited and nervous. However, it turned out to be an interesting trip.  There were people from US, Italy, Rome, Germany, Australia, Austria, New Zealand, Jordan, Japan, China, India, etc. Almost all of them were professors, researchers in industries, MS/PhD students. They presented many different topics that there were working on, which gave us some understanding of what the new era of telecommunication and networking will look like.

Conference is also a good place meet new students or professionals who are working on the same or similar research topics. We met couple of PhD students from South Africa, Italy, Rome, Germany and Jordan. We shared our research interests and explored San Francisco. We also exchanged our e-mail addresses and connected through facebook.

GK-12 Workshop Day 2

Today the main topic was about assessing students. We started discussing the lesson plan that we created based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Helium Stick experiment was done, which tells that even the easiest task becomes hard when it is done in a group with different requirements to follow. Then we watched a video about misconception about change in seasons. And discussed how to address those misconceptions. Also different class scenarios were given out, and learned how to tackle students in those situations.

Question: How to handle students if a teacher is absent?