{"id":10306,"date":"2023-12-05T09:21:03","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T15:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=10306"},"modified":"2023-12-05T09:21:03","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T15:21:03","slug":"sonia-kovalevsky-day-at-uw-superior-provides-mathematical-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/sonia-kovalevsky-day-at-uw-superior-provides-mathematical-inspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"Sonia Kovalevsky Day at UW-Superior provides mathematical inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
UW-Superior hosted its fifth Sonia Kovalevsky Day on November 8. The event provides mathematical activities and career information for 9th to 12th grade girls. This year\u2019s event included more than 130 students from 15 high schools throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota. (Photo by Holden Law\/University of Wisconsin\u2013Superior)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In only its fifth year, the University of Wisconsin-Superior\u2019s Sonia Kovalevsky Day has helped open the world of mathematics to high school girls throughout the region.<\/p>\n

Sonia Kovalevsky Day, which UW-Superior hosted November 8, provides mathematical activities and career information for 9th<\/sup>\u00a0to 12th<\/sup>\u00a0grade girls increasing exposure to mathematics and its importance in education and future careers. This year\u2019s event included more than 130 students from 15 high schools throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Named after the first woman in modern Europe to gain a doctorate in mathematics, the first to join the editorial board of a scientific journal and the first to be appointed professor of mathematics, the day continues to inspire the next generation of female mathematicians.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Superior High School math teacher Brooke Rabideau and SHS senior Claire Farnham.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI was excited to come back and learn more about math things,\u201d said Claire Farnham, a senior from Superior High School. \u201cLast year we learned about binary systems, clock math, UPC codes and this year I was excited to get more inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before attending the event, Farnham admits that math wasn\u2019t her favorite school subject.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t very interested in math \u2013 it was just part of the stuff you have to learn for school,\u201d she said. \u201cBut at this event I was introduced to outside-the-box math concepts and that helped me go on to more math work later in my school year.\u201d<\/p>\n

On her second trip to UW-Superior for Sonia Kovalevsky Day, Farnham now sees mathematics differently than a year before.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year I was expecting to talk about math and careers, but it was really interesting,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was talking about things in a fun way surrounded by all girls and getting into things I hadn\u2019t really thought about before about math.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farnham credits the event for giving her a new perspective on math.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot more interesting to learn about things that are unique and that you don\u2019t really think about the fact that math is related to them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In this free event, participants rotate through workshops run by mathematics professors. The event also includes a career exploration where students connect with local professionals who use math. Seeing the math perspective from outside the classroom has had a transformational impact on many students like Farnham.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not at all interested before in math as any part of a career, she said. \u201cAfter learning about the types of things a mathematician actually does, it sounds really cool, and I definitely want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

UW-Superior\u2019s Sonia Kovalevsky Day has also proved a valuable experience for current teachers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s wonderful for women to get excited about math, said Brooke Rabideau, a math teacher at Superior High School. \u201cI also really like the different career exploration aspects about it. When I was a student in Claire\u2019s position, I liked math, but I had no idea what I wanted to do and I don\u2019t think I really realized all the opportunities available to me, so I think this day really opens doors for girls and helps them learn about these opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keynote speaker was Kelsey Vitense a mathematical statistician at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency based in Duluth. Vitense majored in mathematics at Grinnell College, has a master\u2019s degree in quantitative ecology from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D., in natural resources science from the University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Sponsors for Sonia Kovalevsky Day included the American Association of University Women \u2013 Duluth, Mathematical Association of America Tensor Women & Mathematics and UW-Superior\u2019s\u00a0Link Center<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Math and Computer Science Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Written by UW-Superior<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwsuper.edu\/about\/news\/sonia-kovalevsky-day-at-uw-superior-provides-mathematical-inspiration\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In only its fifth year, the University of Wisconsin-Superior\u2019s Sonia Kovalevsky Day has helped open the world of mathematics to high school girls throughout the region. Sonia Kovalevsky Day, which UW-Superior hosted November 8, provides mathematical activities and career information for 9th\u00a0to 12th\u00a0grade girls increasing exposure to mathematics and its importance in education and future […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":10309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[110],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-10306","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-superior"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/10306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=10306"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=10306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}