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The truth is that different sets of math skills are useful for different careers, and our math education should be changed to reflect this fact.

The truth is that different sets of math skills are useful for different careers, and our math education should be changed to reflect this fact.

The truth is that different sets of math skills are useful for different careers, and our math education should be changed to reflect this fact.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have created a mathematical model -- and an accompanying online weight simulation tool -- of what happens when people of varying weights, diets and exercise habits try to change their weight.

However, the computer simulation of metabolism is meant as a research tool and not as a weight-loss guide for the public. The computer program can run simulations for changes in calories or exercise that would never be recommended for healthy weight loss. The researchers hope to use the knowledge gained from developing the model and from clinical trials in people to refine the tool for everyone.

"Mathematical modeling lets us make and test predictions about changes in weight and metabolism over time," Hall said. "We're developing research tools to accurately simulate physiological differences between people based on gender, age, height, and weight, as well as body fat and resting metabolic rate."

Research confirmed in the 1990s that students learn more by grappling with open-ended problems, like creating a computer game or designing an alternative energy system, than listening to lectures. While the National Science Foundation went on to finance pilot courses that employed interactive projects, when the money dried up, so did most of the courses.

he also says it’s inevitable that students will be lost. Some new students do not have a good feel for how deeply technical engineering is. Other bright students may have breezed through high school without developing disciplined habits. By contrast, students in China and India focus relentlessly on math and science from an early age.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has long given freshmen only “pass” or “no record” grades in the first half of the year while they get used to the workload.

the grades in the introductory math and science classes were among the lowest on campus. The chemistry department gave the lowest grades over all, averaging 2.78 out of 4, followed by mathematics at 2.90.

MATTHEW MONIZ bailed out of engineering at Notre Dame in the fall of his sophomore year. He had been the kind of recruit most engineering departments dream about. He had scored an 800 in math on the SAT and in the 700s in both reading and writing. He also had taken Calculus BC and five other Advanced Placement courses at a prep school in Washington, D.C., and had long planned to major in engineering. But as Mr. Moniz sat in his mechanics class in 2009, he realized he had already had enough. “I was trying to memorize equations, and engineering’s all about the application, which they really didn’t teach too well,” he says. “It was just like, ‘Do these practice problems, then you’re on your own.’ ” And as he looked ahead at the curriculum, he did not see much relief on the horizon. So Mr. Moniz, a 21-year-old who likes poetry and had enjoyed introductory psychology, switched to a double major in psychology and English, where the classes are “a lot more discussion based.”

Mr. Moniz’s experience illustrates how some of the best-prepared students find engineering education too narrow and lacking the passion of other fields. They also see easier ways to make money.

I suspect that testing spatial reasoning, especially in a standardized way, is more difficult than standardizing the testing of math and verbal skills. Again, this has to do with the limitation of resources and the limitation of trying to test 3-dimensional reasoning on a 2-dimensional surface.

Which means that such skills are either seen as being “beneath” or unattainably advanced to most people.

Until that cultural change happens, though, I suspect that those kids and their parents interested in the world of spatial intelligence will still have to find avenues outside of school to hone their skills

Statway mixes basic math concepts with statistics, enabling students to pass a college-level statistics class in the second semester. Quantway, which started its first pilot classes this month, teaches students how to "use mathematics and numerical reasoning to make sense of the world around them." After one semester, which includes algebraic skills, it's hoped that students will be able to pass a college math class.

If they need to review basic skills or learn an algebra concept, he provides "just in time instruction" on basic skills and algebraic concepts, teaching students information they can use immediately to solve problems.

Math is an "overpowering wall" that keeps students from higher education," wrote a Statway student. "Now there is hope ... not only to pursue higher education but to learn something that would really apply to our everyday life."

What I have learned about the students I have taught throughout my career is that the trend begins with students as young as 8 or 9 who have already been turned off to mathematics and science. They have been taught from societal experiences, home events, and by our teachers, that the subjects of mathematics and science are about solving a large numbers of problems as quickly as possible or reading large passages from a textbook.

young students' natural inclination to want to learn more about mathematics and science in order to make sense of the world.

Our instruction must change to allow our students a fundamental understanding of important mathematics and science concepts and we must do this in ways that continue to keep our students excited about these naturally interesting subjects.

The deeper the well, the higher the pressure, and the higher the risks associated with tapping oil from wells. During drilling, when the pressure applied to balance the hydrocarbon pressure in a well is not great enough to overcome that exerted by gas and fluids in the rock formation drilled, water, gas, oil, or other formation fluid can enter the hole. This is called a "gas kick," which in worst-case scenarios can lead to blowouts. In a paper published earlier this month in the SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis, author Steinar Evjepresents new analysis of a mathematical model that has applications to the study of such gas kicks in deep-water oil wells.

Simulators have become an important tool for the development of new, more efficient and safer drilling methods.

The use of mathematical models is important for the development of tools that can help simulate, and hence, increase control in deep-water well operations.