Bringing Higher Level Math to Middle School Students in Rural Alaska
By continuing my own study of mathematics, I will model my own enthusiasm for learning math and help my middle school students see the "big picture" of where our study of math is headed. Middle school students are naturally inquisitive and want to know not only how something works, but why we do what we do. By taking calculus courses, I hope to expose students to how the math they are studying is a starting point for advances in medicine, engineering, and many other fields of study. Can higher level math be useful in local industries such as the fishing industry here in Kodiak, Alaska? Though I teach math to middle school students, I hope that through my own further study of advanced mathematics I will be able to broaden my students' understanding of how higher level math can be applied to their world.