BMCC PROFESSOR WINS AWARD FOR MATH AND STATISTICS PROJECT
January 3, 2002
BMCC Math Professor Annie Han received an Input Award from the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) for creative teaching in statistics.
Han received the Input Award for her project, Integrating Mathlets into the Statistics Curriculum. She created a math exercise using a small computer application. “Mathlets is shorthand for ‘mathematical applets’,” explains Professor Han. A mathlet is a platform-independent, web-based, small, colorful, interactive teaching and learning computer application in mathematics.
Han found that her students could understand and grasp concepts in statistics more readily when they use small computer applications (mathlets) rather than solving problems on the blackboard with chalk. Han also finds mathlets enhance learning through visualization and experimentation. “Mathlets allow for interactive student-centered activities,” Han says.
The AMATYC Input Awards focuses on innovative rethinking of curriculum and pedagogy in introductory college courses before calculus. “As a teacher, my passion is always to help my students become better learners. This also motivates me to try new things,” says Han, who has been teaching at BMCC for ten years.
The award is based on a blind peer review of submitted materials that demonstrate programs promoting the Crossroads Standards and enhancing student learning. The Input Award competition is sponsored jointly by AMATYC and the Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcasting Foundation. The organization has funded a variety of projects for improving mathematics and science instruction in the United States.
In addition to teaching, Han helps promote the New York City Hall Lions Club Chinese Scholarship program within the Chinese community and in her classes. She recommends students for the scholarship and help out with the club’s annual fund raising dinner.
Since 1999, she has co-chaired the BMCC Asian Heritage Month Committee, a position I also held in 1999. She coordinates college-wide Asian culture activities during the Asian Heritage Month.
A resident of the Upper West Side near Columbia University, Han is also a founder of the Blue Sky Asian-American Research Foundation. This not-for-profit organization offers activities to promote Asian Culture and diversity on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. “We organize an annual Lunar New Year’s Celebration Party and a weekly Chinese Culture & Language Children’s Class,” she said. The classes integrate Chinese children’s songs, Asian children’s traditional playground games, ancient Chinese poems, calligraphy, art, and handcrafts. “The children learn the language and enjoy it, too,” she said.
