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SIMIODE Director's Blog - Nearby Modeling Resources and materials in our home host QUBES site

Entry #2278: 30 Aug 2023; 10:57 pm; 0 comments

GO to https://qubeshub.org/publications/2831/1 and that is where you will find a rich teaching resource entitled, Fitting Exponential and Logistic Growth Models to Bacterial Cell Count Data, authored by Adam Rumpf, Florida Polytechnic University, Lakeland FL USA

The summary says, "In this activity, students will model a noisy set of bacterial cell count data using both exponential and logistic growth models. For each model the students will plot the data (or a linear transformation of the data) and apply the method of least squares to fit the model's parameters. Activities include both theoretical and conceptual work, exploring the properties of the differential equation models, as well as hands-on computational work, using spreadsheets to quickly process large amounts of data. This activity is meant as a capstone to the differential calculus portion of a typical undergraduate Calculus I course. It explores a biological application of a variety of differential calculus concepts, including: differential equations, numerical differentiation, optimization, and limits. Additional topics explored include semi-log plots and linear regression."

Good stuff and lots of straightforward , data driven, modeling activities.

Moreover, QUBES main Resource material's Browse page at https://qubeshub.org/publications/browse will introduce over 2800, that's right, almost three thousand, ideas for teaching modeling. Go visit! All is FREE. Great search engine for finding applicable resources.

About the author

Brian Winkel

Brian Winkel earned his degrees in mathematics (BS, MS, PhD) in 1964, 1967, and 1971, respectively, with his PhD from Indiana University in Noetherian Ring Theory. While teaching in his first position (liberal arts college Albion College, Albion MI USA) he developed an interest in applications of mathematics to biology and while teaching in an engineering setting (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute IN USA, United States Air Force Academy, USAFA CO USA, and United States Military Academy, West Point NY USA) he developed a strong interest in engineering applications of mathematics. With sabbatical experiences at Michigan Technological University, Houghton MI USA and Brown University, Providence RI USA he strengthened his commitment to teaching mathematics using applications to introduce and drive the learning process.

Along the way he founded and edited/emeritus edited three journals Cryptologia (1977 - Present), Collegiate Microcomputer (1982-1993), and PRIMUS - Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies (1990 - Present). Both Cryptologia and PRIMUS are FREE to all Members of the Mathematical Association of America.

Upon retirement from the United States Military Academy in spring 2011 he committed time, energy, and resources, and together with many very talented colleagues who possessed the same vision of teaching modeling first differential equations he founded SIMIODE - Systemic Initiative for Modeling Investigations and Opportunities with Differential Equations at www.simiode.org. SIMIODE is a 501(c)3 US IRS Designated non-profit organization.

SIMIODE received a three year National Science Foundation DUE Grant on 15 March 2018 to support the overall mission of SIMIODE and offered Developer workshops for colleagues who wish to write and contribute Modeling Scenarios to SIMIODE resources and Practitioner workshops for those who wish to learn how to do modeling to motivate and teach differential equations during the summers of 2018, 2019, and 2021.

SCUDEM - SIMIODE Challenge Using Differential Equations is an annual event in the Fall offered by SIMIODE in which three member student teams of high school and undergraduate students select one of three problems areas (a) physics/engineering, (b) chemistry/life sciences, or (c) social sciences. They then work on the model at their home institution for a week and produce a ten minute vide for rich judges' feedback and awards. Complete details on SCUDEM are here.

SIMIODE conducts and international conference SIMIODE EXPO in February of each year. See here for more details.

Finally, SIMIODE is offering a new SIMIODE digital textbook, Differential Equations: A Toolbox for Modeling the World, authored by the distinguished teacher and writer, Dr. Kurt Bryan, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute IN USA. Click here to order your copy, see all support materials, and get all future editions FREE for life.

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