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Math in a Sustainable Society

Math in a Sustainable Society. By Pete Kaslik Pierce College. Teaching quantitative skills in the context of important global issues. Photo: Chris Jordan. Special Features. In-class activities that can be completed and submitted at the end of class

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Math in a Sustainable Society

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  1. Math in a Sustainable Society By Pete Kaslik Pierce College Teaching quantitative skills in the context of important global issues Photo: Chris Jordan

  2. Special Features • In-class activities that can be completed and submitted at the end of class • A story that is used through much of the book • Connected algebra problems • Connections between chapters • Use mathematics to understand critical issues of the day • open source book

  3. Table of Contents • 0.5 Quantitative Assessment of the World • 1.0 Financial Survival • 1.5 Sustainability • 2.0 Population Growth • 3.0 The Algebra of Sustainability • 4.0 Statistics • 5.0 System Dynamics Modeling

  4. Quantitative Assessment of the World • First Project of the Quarter • Preparation is done while class is taught Chapter 1 • A brief example of the project will be done now

  5. Scoring QAW • Evaluate the topic on a scale of 0 to 4, in which 0 represents a critical state with a negative trend and 4 represents an excellent state with an improving trend. • An “importance weight” score of 0 means you don’t consider the topic to have any importance at all to the well-being of life on earth. A score of 3 means you think the topic is extremely important to life.

  6. Alex Johnson U.S. Population

  7. Human Population World Ashley Degon

  8. Poverty US Jesse Bechtold yglesias.thinkprogress.org/.../poverty_rate.png

  9. Prisons Kaitlyn Enquist

  10. Health Care Cost Terry Loftis http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/spend.php

  11. Marine Fisheries Tara Smoot Marine Fisheries Dawn Lowe

  12. Farms Megan Ernst

  13. US Oil Production and Consumption

  14. World Oil Production and Consumption

  15. Electrical Energy David Snyder http://www.iea.org/Textbase/stats/pdf_graphs/USELEC.pdf

  16. Maria Batschi National Debt Graph http://zfacts.com/p/318.html http://www.cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdebt.htm

  17. Housing Costs Russ Beaulier http://montyhigh.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341cba0553ef011570a3859b970c-800wi

  18. Calculate your weighted mean

  19. Chapter 1 Financial Survival • Built in activities

  20. Chapter 1.5 • Sustainability • Discussed the day after QAW is completed • Steilacoom Valley Thought Experiment • Small Community - It will start with 1000 people • There is no oil or other hydrocarbons • There is no commerce outside of the community • There is limited communication with those outside of the community • Of the 80 square kilometers of land available, only 20% may be altered by the residents • Consequence Project

  21. Sample Consequence Project Questions • If all non-essential manufacturing (toys, furnishings, new construction materials, etc) was converted to the production of solar panels, wind mills and similar devices, then the consequences to our ability to live without oil are… • If ocean fishing continues at the rate of the last decade, then the consequences to marine fisheries are…

  22. More Sample Consequence Project Questions • If the Columbia Ice Field melts, then the consequences to farming, hydro power, fish and life in the Pacific Northwest are … • If the Federal Government was forced to eliminate the national debt in 10 years, using a constant annual rate of change (so they can’t put it off until the 10th year), then the consequences to federal programs are…

  23. Guidelines for the Consequence Project • 1. State the complete question with one hypothesis appearing after “then”. • 2. Show relevant statistics and graphs that provide the background for the “if” portion of the question. • 3. List your assumptions about the future. • 4. Use original mathematical calculations to support your hypothesis. • 5. Conclusion – connect all the pieces (background, assumptions and math) so they support your hypothesis.

  24. Chris Jordan • A brief visit to the Chris Jordan Website.

  25. Chapter 2 • Population growth • Only discuss human population growth • Attempt to make the numbers meaningful by showing the cities that would have to be built annually to accommodate the people • For the US, not including immigration we have to build a new Phoenix every year.

  26. Chapter 3 The Algebra of Sustainability • Integrates various algebraic concepts into a logical progression of sequential problems to ultimately answer a big question such as: • What is the most energy efficient shape of a home? • What is the carrying capacity of a community? • How many windmills will meet the community energy needs?

  27. Chapter 4 Statistics • Focus is on understanding the population by understanding the sample • Probability topics limited to those that will lead to inferential statistics (confidence intervals) • Connections to earlier parts of the book • Steilacoom Valley • Histogram with QAW weighted means

  28. System Dynamics Modeling • Systems Thinking • System Dynamics Modeling • Stock, Flows and Causal Feedback Loops

  29. Soap Box • There are critical issues happening in the world. These issues require a mathematical understanding. It is time we start to deal with them in class – give students the tools to analyze the important issues.

  30. Thank you

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