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The Kaplans’ Math Circle Method
No full textThis essay explores what is meant by The Socratic Method in classical and modern times and examines the extent to which the Kaplans employed it in their Math Circles. We offer an imagined dialogue between the Kaplans and their students on the same mathematical subject explored by Socrates and the slave boy in Plato\u27s dialogue \emph{Meno} to illustrate how the Kaplans might have handled that topi
Bringing Math Circles into New Mexico Classrooms: An Interview with James Taylor
No full textIn this interview, conducted on December 14th, 2022, James described his math outreach journey and the many members of the Math Circle community who helped him along the way
A Virtual Community Math Circle
No full textThe Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival (JRMF) Community Math Circle is free, volunteer-run, and online. We collaborate with JRMF and use their activities in our events. Started during the pandemic, the Community Math Circle continues to thrive. We have about 40 participants attending every month, typically kids aged 6 to 13, teachers, facilitators, and other adults. This article describes how our event is organized, planned, and executed, and how we train facilitators. We will also offer reflections on our successes and challenges
Corresponding with the Kaplans
No full textReaders of this journal have asked to hear the Kaplans’ voices: their tone, the way they were able to contextualize math questions, their generosity, and their joy. We think it’s important to share a few of these hundred-plus emails so that readers can feel that tone
Bob and Ellen Kaplan\u27s Brazilian Adventure: O Círculo da Matemática do Brasil
No full textBob and Ellen Kaplan deployed their boundless energy to spread The Math Circle word in Brazil in what they called their “Brazilian adventure.” They are the inspiration for the project O Círculo da Matemática do Brasil and participated wholeheartedly in its implementation, travelling to Brazil six times over five years to train teams of young Math Circle leaders that taught over twenty-seven thousand underprivileged children within the framework of the project
COMPARISON OF THE BIODIVERSITY OF CULTURABLE YEAST FROM FOUR DIFFERENT HABITATS
No full textYeasts are ubiquitous unicellular fungi that play critical roles in decomposition, nutrient cycling, and fermentation processes across diverse ecosystems. Despite their ecological and biotechnological importance, the diversity and distribution of wild yeast populations in many temperate regions remain poorly characterized. This study evaluated how classifier thresholds influence species assignment and functional inference from internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) Sanger sequences of cultured yeasts collected from diverse habitats in central Washington. The project aimed to assess the stability of taxonomic calls across classifier settings and to illustrate how methodological decisions shape downstream ecological conclusions. Samples from each habitat were enriched under selective conditions (pH 3.5, 5% ethanol, reduced oxygen) and incubated at 8 °C and 20 °C to capture yeasts across thermal niches. Seventy-one morphologically distinct isolates were purified and sequenced at the ITS2 locus. Taxonomic classification was performed using the UNITE database at 99%, 97%, and dynamic thresholds in QIIME 2, and ecological guilds were inferred using FunGuildR. Community composition and categorical variables were evaluated by PERMANOVA to test for effects of incubation temperature and habitat. iii Thirteen genera were recovered, spanning Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, with Ascomycota predominating overall. Incubation temperature did not significantly affect total isolate richness, although Basidiomycota were proportionally more common at 8 °C. Across classifier thresholds, 16.9% of isolates changed species-level or genus-level assignment, most frequently within Basidiomycota, where sequence similarity to reference data was lower. Although 76% of isolates exhibited ≥99% identity, and 86% of the isolates exhibited ≥97% identity to a UNITE reference, the modification of threshold choice altered both species names and inferred ecological guilds. The majority of isolates were classified as saprotrophic. These findings demonstrate that small adjustments in classifier thresholds can dramatically change how culture-based ITS2 datasets may interpret and assign taxonomic compositions. Because species-level determinations and guild assignments proved sensitive to classifier settings, future surveys should explicitly report database versions and threshold parameters. Further recommendations include validation of ambiguous identifications with secondary loci such as LSU or TEF1, and, where possible, employing both culture-based sequencing and high-throughput approaches to stabilize ecological inference
The Joy of Participatory Learning: The Math Circle
No full textPeter Flom was inspired to write this blog post after visiting the Kaplans\u27 Math Circle in Boston
