Polya, Skemp, Mason, Lockhart: An eternal golden braid

Abstract: A longer alternate title for this talk is "Pedagogy & problem solving in the 21st century. Will AI cause seismic changes? Are Polya and Lockhart still relevant?". I will present a cautiously optimistic view. Will define pedagogy (easier) and problem solving (much harder) and look at how the "eternal golden braid" of Polya, Skemp, Mason, and Lockhart enter the discourse. And do they still matter? To be clear, the Hofstadter-borrowed terminology will not translate to a high level of articulate and clear exposition or a web of connections that go deep. I aim for an interesting discussion, with many oblique and loosely defined inquiry lines on how to best help the youth educate themselves. How do we motivate them to move forward? And is this possible in the first place?

Speaker's bio: I would be a shepherd in Greece were it not for a few brilliant math teachers in the home state school system and the math competitions. In Ann Arbor, I completed my PhD in applied & interdisciplinary math - using Hormander's hypoellipticity - and 4 masters: financial engineering, operations research, pure math, and applied economics. After teaching at WPI (Worcester Tech) for a year, I was lured into finance. Recently I saw the need for the UK to create math schools - a la Kolmogorov - and got a new purpose in life. Teaching at Caterham School and looking for a chance to work with kids that really do 'mathematics', and not 'mechanics'. In the summer, geeking-out in the camps of Axiom Maths & the 1729 Math School, I enjoy 'being taught' by really smart kids.

Moderator's bio: Ted Theodosopoulos is a mathematician who, after working for years in academia and industry, transitioned to teaching at the pre-college level seventeen years ago, the last nine at Nueva, where he teaches math and economics. Ted’s research background is in the area of interacting stochastic systems, with particular applications in biology and economics.

Computer scienceMathematics

Audience: researchers in the topic

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Relatorium seminar

Series comments: The name "Relatorium" combines "relator" with the Latin root "-ium," meaning "a place for activities" (as in "auditorium" or "gymnasium"). This seminar series is a platform to relate ideas, interact with math, and connect with each other.

In this series, we explore math beyond what we usually hear in standard talks. These sessions fall somewhere between a technical talk and a podcast: moderately formal, yet conversational. The philosophy behind the series is that math is best learned by active participation rather than passive listening. Our aim is to “engage and involve,” inviting everyone to think actively with the speaker. The concepts are accessible, exploratory, and intended to spark questions and discussions.

The idea of relatability has strong ties to compassion — creating space for shared understanding and exploration - which is the spirit of this seminar! This is a pilot project, so we’re here to improvise, learn, and evolve as we go!

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