Mentors Create a Path for Math
With low standardized test scores in mathematics nationwide — a problem further aggravated by the pandemic — professors are working with community organizations and schools to increase proficiency. Professor Yulia Hristova created a GirlsGetMath@Dearborn summer camp. Metro Detroit high school students discussed graph theory and its applications to modeling epidemics, they studied how recommendation systems work — for example, what Netflix suggests to you — and participants learned how mathematics plays a role in image processing. To show that math is everywhere, three faculty members — Michael Dabkowski, Angela Krebs and Yunus Zeytuncu — combined boxing and math lessons for their Math Matches program at the Jefferson-Barns Community Vitality Center in Westland. “There are patterns in boxing movements. Logic governs your next move. Physics comes into play: Momentum and energy dissipation guide your decisions,” Dabkowski said. During the school year, students meet on Saturdays to learn math and participate in physical education sessions; over the summer, they have a day camp experience. Starting in 2022, UM-Dearborn will be a site for Math Corps, which is a national program that teaches math to underprivileged youth through a mentorship model.
ECEC Celebrates 50 Years
UM-Dearborn’s Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) began educating children in 1971. Much has happened over the past 50 years. The ECEC changed locations. They first met in the Henry Ford Estate, later relocated to the estate’s cottages, and then — for a space that resembled a modern classroom for practicum teachers — moved to its current Rotunda Drive spot. They continued to grow. The Reggio Emilia-inspired teaching program, where preschool lessons emerge around child interests, has educated nearly 10,000 children and thousands of preservice teachers over the past 50 years. Even with its evolution, the original ECEC mission remains. “What hasn’t changed is our commitment to educating children through creating lesson plans around their interests and having our highly trained teachers guide a new generation of teachers,” said ECEC Director Sarah Davey, a faculty member whose child attended the center.
Graduation Days
After a 2020 commencement ceremony hiatus due to the pandemic, UM-Dearborn celebrated the classes of 2020 and the spring class of 2021 at the university’s first-ever outdoor graduation. Hyunjoo Park, a Human-Centered Design & Engineering master’s student
(left), was among the spring 2021 Dearborn Wolverine graduates.
