Teaching Dynamical Systems: A New Forum

By Anne Catlla and Eric Shea-Brown
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We all generate materials for our classrooms and courses, ranging from web-based tutorials, to lecture notes, to animations, to time-tested ideas for course projects. DSWeb, the website of the SIAM Activity Group on Dynamical Systems, recently set out to provide a forum to recognize, curate, and help organize our community's wealth of teaching resources. This (evolving) forum can be found at Tutorials and Teaching Materials.


Anna Catlla at the first award ceremony.

SIAM's 2013 Teaching Dynamical Systems Contest was the kickoff. Many outstanding entries were submitted, all of which are available at the website above. The winners were James Crutchfield for his graduate-level Dynamical Systems course materials, which encompass an exceptionally broad range of topics; Duane Nykamp for his Calculus and Dynamical Systems in Biology course materials that facilitate a "flipped" classroom; Yayoi Teramoto for her multimedia web resources on the mathematics of pattern formation, meant to supplement a course in dynamical systems; and Charles Walkden for his Ergodic Theory course lecture notes and slides as part of the MAGIC (Mathematics Access Grid: Instruction and Collaboration). Each winner receives $750 and a certificate from SIAM. Flavio Fenton, Evgeny Demodov, and Elizabeth Cherry, Aminur Rahman, and Marc Rousell were all runners-up in the contest. Special recognition goes to Yayoi Teramoto and Amin Rahman who are both still students!

DSWeb gives many thanks to the judges: Dwight Barkley, Jessica Conway, Bard Ermentrout, Alex Gajic, Sarah Iams, Sarah Oestreicher, Steven Strogatz, and Chad Topaz.

Based on the positive responses so far, we are redoubling efforts. Look for the forum to be redesigned in coming months, featuring enhanced search and commenting options. In the meantime -- or anytime -- DSWeb's online interface is ready for you to add your materials -- just head to the website. Please do! Any submissions made between now and December 2014 will have the option (just check the box) of entering the 2015 contest, when a new round of prizes will be announced.

Anne Catlla and Eric Shea-Brown

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