First public lecture for 2015 held

As a continuing activity for NISMED’s Golden Anniversary celebration of NISMED, the first public lecture for the year 2015 was held on the 14th of May at the Dolores F. Hernandez Hall, UP NISMED. The lecture was attended by 387 participants, most of whom were science and mathematics pre-service and in-service teachers. The activity was the 5th in the series of public lectures held from the kick-off for the 50thAnniversary. The public lecture series aims to promote scientific and mathematical literacy and contribute to the professional development of science and mathematics teachers in the country.

The lecture was titled “Teaching and Learning Mathematics through Origami” and was delivered by Dr. Patsy Wang-Iverson, the Vice-President for Special Projects at the Gabriella and Paul Rosenbaum Foundation in the United States. Her lecture was interspersed with hands-on sessions which exposed participants to origami. Her presentation also enabled the participants to examine how origami helped students perform better in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assessment items. 

Dr. Patsy Wang-Iverson answering participants’ questions after her lecture.

Dr. Iverson is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and was deeply involved in disseminating lessons learned from international studies, including TIMSS, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and Progress in International Literacy Studies (PIRLS).

She is the U.S. representative to the APEC Lesson Study Project directed jointly by Thailand and Japan. She co-edited the books “Building our Understanding of Lesson Study,” “Origami 5,” “Lesson Study: Challenges in Mathematics Education (to be published in 2015), and is working on “Origami 6.”