Phase 1: Mathematics For Social Advocacy

Cuny Brooklyn College, Brooklyn NY

Investigators

Abstract

The main goal of this project is the development of a new course titled "Math for Society" that builds a community of students and faculty knowledgeable about mathematics and social advocacy in the sense that they are able to act as advocates for the societal issues they care about. The dual focus of the course, learning the mathematics in context and using it in advocacy, creates in students an awareness of how mathematics applies to society that is rarely achieved even in reform and applied math courses. An innovative selection of topics is made from discrete mathematics, linear algebra, probability and statistics, decision theory, and operations research that have applications to homeland security, social organizations, and environmental science. Applications and issues such as social networks, information overload, and climate change did not exist just a decade or two ago. The Math for Society course demonstrates the relevance of mathematics to these matters. Topics include applied graph theory, voting theory, forensic accounting, statistical approaches to authorship attribution, latent semantic indexing, and statistical methods for climate science. A key innovation is the packaging of learning materials into concise portions that are covered in the classroom in one to four weeks. This is where the underlying commonality of the mathematical techniques becomes important. For example, on the surface it may seem that there is nothing in common with statistical methods for climate science, authorship attribution, and latent semantic indexing, but all use principal component analysis. A major component of the project is writing a textbook on the mathematics for social advocacy. The course and course materials are designed for mathematics, mathematics education, and computer science majors. The book, however, is designed to reach a very wide audience including those who deal with social advocacy issues on a regular basis like professionals in science policy, law, politics, social services, and journalism. Further, the Math for Society course is designed to have a service learning component where teams of students develop and present materials on the mathematics behind social issues important to them at local high schools and libraries.