Only hours after giving a lecture on music’s relation to math, internationally acclaimed pianist Robert Taub performed in front of a packed crowd of U mathematicians and others from around the world on July 8.
His performance was the first of many “cross-program activities” offered to participants of the 13th annual Park City Mathematics Institute Summer Session, which began June 29.
The institute was established in 1991 by the U and is one of the nation’s leading programs in the development of mathematics educators.
The concert ended with thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the standing room only crowd at St. Mary’s Church in Park City.
Taub’s thoughts on “playing old music as if it were new, and new music as if it were old” seemed to be a theme applicable to old and new methods of teaching and learning math as well.
“We can learn from one another and share teaching styles,” said Juan Tolosa, a participant in the Undergraduate Faculty Program from Richard Stockton College in New Jersey. “I am learning how to be a better teacher and how to engage students.”
This, according to the institute’s Director Herb Clemens, is a maingoal of the conference. “Our goal is professional development or improvement to those whose job it is to teach mathematics or do research in mathematics,” Clemens said. “We also strive to provide pre-professional experience for students who will be future mathematics professionals.”
Every year, a select few researchers, graduate students, undergraduates, high school math teachers and college faculty participate.
Most attend all three weeks of the conference-held this year at the Prospector Square Lodging and Conference Center in Park City.
The application process for participants began in early spring.
Nancy Wilson and Marla Cortes, both high school math teachers from Houston, Texas, said they were notified in April of their acceptance to the High School Teacher Program.
“For us, all expenses are paid. We receive a stipend for being here,” Wilson said.
Much of their time is not spent at concerts, however. Participants spend their days attending informative math classes to build personal knowledge as well as learn how to teach their own students.
Lecturers at the conference include mathematicians from countries around the world as well as many top schools in the United States, including Princeton and Harvard.
Wilson is expected to return with a plan to help her school district better develop its teachers.
“This gives us a chance to connect with math teachers all over the nation and to figure out what it means to teach to standards,” Wilson said.
The program guide stresses more than once to “take advantage of the Park City area and its diverse recreational and cultural opportunities” because “three lectures a day for three weeks is more information than most people can absorb, so please don’t try to do everything.”
Taub’s concert, the seventh he has performed for the institute, was one such “cultural diversion.”
Taub’s concert was “a wonderful counterpoint to the mathematics conference and is excellence in an entirely different sphere,” Clemens said. “He inspires us in everything we do.”
The institute’s Web site can be visited at www.ias.edu/parkcity.