SIMIODE

DEMARC and MINDE Workshops

We have been busy at SIMIODE with hosting two National Science Foundation funded workshops in July for (1) Developers of materials to be published in SIMIODE - DEMARC for Differential Equations Model and Resource Creators,  and (2) Practitioners who wish to use modeling in teaching differential equations - MINDE for  Model INstructors in Differential Equations Workshop. For DEMARC we had 20 faculty busy writing amazing Modeling Scenarios which we are now processing, editing, getting referee reads on, and then publishing in SIMIODE while in MINDE we were oversubscribed beyond our NSF funded limit of 20 with 27 participants who can now return to their home school with fresh examples and ideas for doing modeling in their differential equations courses.

We shall be offering these workshops again during Summer 2020 at Virginia Wesleyan University, Virginia Beach VA USA, with specific times to be determined. So look at the descriptions from this year to get a flavor of what such a workshop could do for you and tuck it away in your possible calendar events so you are ready when we make the announcements later in the fall.

SCUDEM IV 2019, 9 November 2019

We have also been busy gathering local sites around the world (we are now at 68 sites compared to 30 last year) for our SIMIODE Challenge Using Differential Equations Modeling (SCUDEM IV 2019, 9 November 2019) and preparing to open registration which runs from 1 September 2019 through 25 October 2019. See details at our SCUDEM site.

Blank shop is on our mind

We are preparing for a development workshop on using modeling in applied mathematics we will lead for faculty and students at Savannah State University, Savannah GA USA, on 21 November 2019 and we found ourselves writing the following, "We prefer a participant focused workshop, NOT a screen focused watchshop." This got us thinking about variations on a theme, blankshops.

Consider offering a playshop for youngsters to just play at applying mathematics through modeling. Sure there is work involved, but it is about the play.

An absorbshop could be one in which leaders "push and smother" participants with materials in the hope that these folks will "absorb" SOMETHING! from the experience.

Theoretically, a talkshop would be an opportunity for conversations about the topics of interest and in these exchanges there would be two way communication, in which all grow.

One could find oneself in an interestshop where interest is piqued and curiosity is used to motivate participant learning on the topic.

Think of all the other______ shop possibilities with your own definition, engage, demo, reachout, fun, etc.  I kind of like etc.shop as it has a catchall tone.

So next time you are involved in a "workshop," either as a leader or participant, think about what you really are offering and how you can use the opportunity in the blank in your event title _____ shop.

Enjoy the play.

1. work