Practical Uses of Math And Science (PUMAS)

Practical Uses of Math And Science [PUMAS], the on-line Journal of Math and Science Examples for Pre-College Education, is a collection of one-page examples of how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes can be used in interesting settings, including everyday life. The examples are written primarily by scientists and engineers, and are available to teachers, students, and other interested parties via the PUMAS Web site. The author´s goal is to capture, for the benefit of pre-college science education, the flavor of the vast experience that scientists have with interesting and practical uses of math and science. All examples are peer-reviewed by at least one scientist, with a relevant background, and at least one teacher, at an appropriate grade level. Once accepted, the example is a citable reference, in a refereed journal of science education. PUMAS examples may be activities, anecdotes, descriptions of “neat ideas,” formal exercises, puzzles, or demonstrations. They may be written in any style that serves the material well. Teachers already have textbooks. But exercises in them are routine uninteresting. Teachers can search the PUMAS collection based on curriculum topic, grade level, subject keywords (such as airplanes or dinosaurs), or any other parameters in the example headers. They then scan through the relevant examples, and develop ideas of their own about how to use the material to enrich their presentations. This relieves scientists of the obligation to develop “curricula”. It puts the job of “integration into the lesson plan” on the teacher. There are several mechanisms for obtaining feedback from users such as a “Comments” file. Subsequent users can view all previously posted comments. There is also an “Examples Wanted” Bulletin board, where requests for new examples can be posted