The Anja S.

Greer Conference on Mathematics, Science and Technology

Monday June 23, 2014
Featured Speaker: Jonathan Choate The Joy of Exeter
Diana Tunnell for MA901A2

Mr. Jonathan Choate presented at the Exeter Math Conference sharing a summary of the
passion he has found, and shared, in mathematics over the last 30 years of teaching and
speaking at this conference. Mathematics is visual and tactile and should be presented that
way, said Mr. Choate. In his discussion this evening, Mr. Choate presented a number of
tools and applications that allow users to see and manipulate the underlying principles of
mathematics being studied.
Many of the applications presented would typically be presented at high levels of a secondary
math curriculum. Mr. Choate argued that these manipulative tools help to fast forward that
learning for an audience not mathematically mature enough for the abstract alone. We now
have the ability, through technology, to make math come to life.
I found the discussion of how Mr. Choate teaches math to be very provoking with rich
learning opportunities. The integration of problem- design-build applications within his
mixed curricula courses at Groton is interesting. Examples such as design applications to fill
an on campus architectural need, or a combined chemistry/algebra 2 course assigned to build
an optimal solar collector were great ideas fitting nicely into STEM course outline which I aim
to incorporate more of in my courses.
Construction programs such as the freely available Geogebra or other paid programs, such as
Geometers Sketchpad, bring these design options into more classes than the standard
geometry class. One of the first applications Mr. Choate used these programs for was a
problem called Regiomantanus-World Cup-Stanley Cup. In this activity, a mathematical
application (where to hang a painting for the best viewing angle), highlighted literally
hundreds of years ago, was applied to the very current application of interest in the sports
area. Mr. Choate showed how the principles of the viewing angle transferred to locating the
optimal shooting position to score a hockey or soccer goal. With the use of these tools, Mr.
Choate demonstrated connections to parabolas and their foci, hyperbolas, and maximization
problems.
Mr. Choate devotes much of his attention to a long-time personal interest in fractals, chaos
theory and dynamic systems. He has authored books on the topic and worked to develop
manipulative software in these areas. The audience was introduced to a number of related
simulation tools that measured the length of a rough coast, created a Koch curve or a
Serpinski triangle. A novice mathematician would be intrigued with predicting the outcomes
of manipulating various components while a more advanced student could use the same tools
to make sense of exponential and logarithmic manipulations of the measurements.
Through the presentation, I was exposed to a number of software possibilities that would
integrate nicely into all levels of secondary math. Some of which are so new, they are not even
publically available as yet. I was also inspired by the energy, passion and creativity that Mr.
Choate has to make the study of math visual and engaging for our students. As he is, I too,
am excited for the possibilities of what will be available to enhance the study of mathematics
in the next thirty years.