Mike Miniou joined our Faculty recently as the Mathematics liaison and outreach officer. In this new role, he has been visiting high schools and talking to students about "Mathematics in the real world". His visits to two of the schools are shared here.
Mathematics: The key to the universe
By Sasha (grade 8), St. Michaels University School
Mr. Miniou from the University of Waterloo’s Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing gave us a two hour presentation on the applications of mathematics in the real world.
To start with, he gave us a real-life problem faced by organ recipients: how did you match up the biggest amount of compatible donors with patients? It came with a chart that showed many diagonal lines connecting the recipients (A, B, C, D, E, F) to the donors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). The chart in question is used to maximize the potential of efficiently and effectively delivering organs to their respective patients.
For the next 90 minutes he ran us through various examples (and a few trials) of how mathematics applies in many fields including computing, economics, many aspects of science, and architecture. He did this all with a creative PowerPoint that included several problems that the grade 8 students were given a (surprisingly) large amount of time to solve.
All in all, the presentation was very interesting and entertaining. As far as I could see, the presentation instilled the same awe (that mathematics could be interesting) in the other students as it did me. The problems were fairly easy as well, meriting a number of right answers. Even for the people that don’t like math, this may soften their attitude.
By mathematics teachers Sachiko Noguchi and Natasa Sirotic, Southpointe Academy
On
October
1,
Southpointe
Academy
had
a
special
guest
visiting
from
the
University
of
Waterloo.
Mr.
Mike
Miniou
is
a
Mathematics
Liaison
and
Outreach
Officer
in
the
Centre
for
Education
in
Mathematics
and
Computing
in
the
University
of
Waterloo.
He
visited
grade
9
and
10
math
classes
and
gave
a
presentation
called
“Mathematics
in
the
real
world.”
From
the
beginning
of
his
presentation,
he
captured
students’
interest
and
provided
activities
for
our
students
that
depict
the
uses
of
mathematics
in
various
fields
of
human
endeavor,
such
as
health
sciences,
environment,
agriculture,
zoology,
transportation,
architecture,
and
geography.
First
of
all,
he
emphasized
the
importance
of
logical
thinking.
Students
were
asked
to
analyze
a
winning
strategy
by
playing
a
game.
He
inspired
students
by
giving
them
an
activity
that
emulated
a
real-life
situation.
Students
were
asked
to
find
the
link
between
patients
and
donors
that
were
compatable
according
to
blood
type.
The
students
learned
that
using
Graph
Theory
and
Combinatorics
could
help
medical
sciences
maximize
the
number
of
suitable
combinations
of
donors
and
patients
and
thereby
save
many
lives.
Mr.
Miniou
also
related
a
variety
of
careers
with
mathematics.
He
created
a
few
categories
such
as
Trends,
Health,
Entertainment,
Safety,
Environment,
and
Money.
In
each
category,
he
showed
a
list
of
careers.
By
asking
students
questions
such
as
how
mathematics
can
be
used
in
the
work
force,
he
generated
good
discussions
and
made
the
students
think
how
mathematics
is
used
and
how
it
is
important
for
us
to
be
able
to
do
the
math
in
order
to
succeed
in
any
of
these
careers.
The
students
choose
to
delve
deeper
into
examining
how
mathematics
is
used
in
the
following
categories,
Money
and
Entertainment.
Many
students
wished
that
there
had
been
more
time
to
explore
all
the
categories.
During
lunchtime,
he
gave
a
presentation
in
the
theatre
for
the
grade
11
and
12
students
about
the
University
of
Waterloo.
Students
who
participated
in
this
session
had
the
opportunity
to
ask
him
questions
about
the
admission
process.
The
content
of
his
presentations
was
concrete
and
informative.
His
selection
of
activities
communicated
that
math
is
interesting,
fun,
and
important.
Students
were
very
responsive
to
his
presentation
and
it
was
evident
from
their
engagement
and
thoughtful
questioning.
Our
students
have
learned
that
mathematics
can
be
used
to
improve
our
lives,
invent
something
new,
and
help
people.
Thank you very much, Mr. Miniou! We hope you will visit us again in the near future.