Facilitator: Dr Feryâl Alayont
Abstract: When ChatGPT showed up in November 2022, it didn’t strike many mathematics instructors as particularly useful for our teaching with its mediocre mathematical skills. But in just two years, the free version of ChatGPT graduated from elementary school, now solving college-level math with surprising accuracy and showing its potential as an educational tool. Meanwhile, many other new AI tools are emerging at astonishing speed, often designed to solve problems we didn’t even realize we had.
Despite AI’s significant potential to benefit society, the speed of its development has far outpaced the ethical and responsible planning needed to guide its use. Generative tools in particular were unleashed on society without proper guardrails and have ushered in a new era of challenges for teaching. They disrupt student learning, raise concerns about environmental impact, widen the digital divide, and more.
This session will be a collaborative, investigative conversation to explore the current reality of AI: its possibilities, its challenges, and the contexts we’re navigating. We’ll consider how AI can be incorporated into the classroom in an effective and responsible manner to help students not only use these tools wisely, but also prepare to shape their future development ethically.
Bio: Feryal Alayont is a Professor of Mathematics at Grand Valley State University. Her recent work focuses on combinatorics, graph theory, and the scholarship of teaching and learning, exploring topics such as ethical reasoning, undergraduate research, and generative AI in the mathematics classroom. She uses discovery-based and guided inquiry approaches in the classroom and is a co-author of an inquiry-based OER textbook titled An Inquiry-Based Introduction to Linear Algebra and Applications. She is also a founding organizer of the International Mathematics and Statistics Student Research Symposium, a virtual conference for students to present their research in mathematical sciences.
Title: When the Answer is "Sort of Right": Teaching Students to Question AI in Calculus Problem-Solving
Facilitator: Binan Gu (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
Time: 1:00-1:35pm
Abstract:
Title: “Am I Supposed to Be Here?” Identity, Persistence, and Departure in Undergraduate Mathematics
Facilitator: Jesse Combs (Lesley University )
Time: 1:00-1:35pm
Abstract:
Title: What is your favorite number? Mine is the mysterious number 6174
Facilitator: Charles Wibiralske (University of Massachusetts, Boston)
Time: 1:00-1:35pm
Abstract:
Title: TBA
Facilitator: Matthew Andrade (Boston Teacher Residency)
Time: 1:45-2:20pm
Abstract:
Title: Promoting Equity in Mathematics Classrooms through Autoethnography and AI
Facilitator: Becky Norton (Massachusetts Maritime Academy)
Time: 1:45-2:20pm
Abstract:
Title: The Feelings Activity
Facilitator: Debbie Borkovitz (Boston University)
Time: 1:45-2:20pm
Abstract:
Title: Prompting Reasoning and Engagement in AI-Supported Math Tasks
Facilitator: Eva Politou and Megan Selbach-Allen (Harvard University)
Time: 2:30-3:05pm
Abstract:
Title: Contemplation, Somatic Writing and Bibliotherapy as Tools of Healing and Connection
Facilitator: Maria Fung and Alivia Glynn (Worcester State University)
Time: 2:30-3:05pm
Abstract:
Title: TBD
Facilitator: TBD
Time: 2:30-3:05pm
Abstract: