Date: 10/8/24
Description: Are we choosing our elected officials, or are they choosing us? Every ten years following the Census, states must redraw their district maps, and this process is often manipulated to benefit those in power. Mathematicians have intervened with various approaches to "fair" maps, and we provide this context along with an introduction to a mapping program.
Date: 9/17/24
Description: While we often question who we vote for, less often we think about how we actually vote. As more communities and states in America debate and even implement moving to "ranked choice" voting, we turn our attention to understanding how different voting systems work, and their pros and cons from a mathematical perspective of fairness.
Date: 3/21/23
Presenters: Taryn DiSorbo, Cheshire Public Schools; Nickie Pendolphi, Groton Public Schools; Bella Llano, University of Connecticut
Description: The United States continues to have the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Connecticut has taken steps to lower this rate, but how has the criminal justice system impacted different demographic groups? In this session, we will share our lesson that analyzes incarceration rates by race (or gender or age) in Connecticut in the past decade. We will use regression and Desmos to compare different rates over time and then shift our focus to critical conversations. What can be done to improve our system through restorative justice (for example)?
