Daily Archives: February 26, 2015

GRCC In the News, 2-26-15

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MEDC approves $50 million grant to Michigan community colleges

Feb. 25, 2015; mibiz.com

The state of Michigan recently approved a grant to aid community colleges in purchasing equipment and training for students studying skilled trades. Approximately $14.3 million of the states $50 million grant program, coined the Community College Skilled Trades Equipment Program (CCSTEP), was distributed to institutions in West Michigan.

Grand Rapids Community College, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Kellogg Community College, Montcalm Community College, Muskegon Community College and West Shore Community College were among the recipients of the grant.

Senior Wellness: Lifelong Learning

Feb. 24, 2015; WZZM

(Mike Faber, of the Older Learner Center, was featured on this segment.)

Effort aims to boost number of college-bound GRPS grads

Feb. 25, 2015; WZZM

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM) – A wide variety of educational and career groups have come together to help more GRPS students attend college.

… College students shared their experiences about the transition from high school. Isaiah Townsend, a 2014 Ottawa Hills High School grad now attending GRCC, described how he was scared of failing. He said he benefited from mentors who convinced him college was for him.

Meijer Scholar Athlete, Chase Huntey

Feb. 26, 2015; WZZM

This week’s Meijer Scholar Athlete is Chase Huntey, a senior from Morley Stanwood High School, with a 3.96 GPA. Huntey, has been named All-Conference twice, in football, baseball and basketball. His future is on the diamond, where he’ll play and go to Grand Rapids Community College.

Chipola baseball hosts five-game stand this weekend

Feb. 25, 2015; Jackson County Floridan

The Chipola baseball team kicks off a five-game homestand on Friday at 11 a.m. vs. Grand Rapids Community College.

Drafting students watch class assignment become chocolate treats

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What’s a 3D printer doing in the SICE kitchens? Students in DR 240 (Advanced Solidworks) used it to bring their designs to life – in chocolate.

Tom Boersma, head of the mechanical and architectural design department, and instructor Nathan Sneller joined SICE student Stephanie Pyka in the culinary amphitheater for the practical class project, in which the drafting students used vacuum-formed molding to produce chocolate amolds.

The students used the state-of-the-art 3D printer to make positive master molds that, in turn, were used to make the HDPE negative plastic molds. Each student’s design was carried through to a useable form. Then Stephanie used the forms to make chocolates.

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Math seminar is today

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The Grand Rapids Community College Mathematics Department will host its next Mathematics Seminar on Thursday, February 26, 3:00-4:30 PM in 103 Cook. Our speaker will be long-time GRCC Adjunct Mathematics Instructor Radu Teodorescu. The title and abstract for Radu’s talk may be found below.

This seminar will focus on everyone’s favorite math topic – word problems! Long the staple of introductory algebra courses, they are, in truth, frequently unpopular with students and instructors alike. But did you know that they may often be solved without recourse to algebra? Come to the seminar and learn how to do many of these problems using nothing but arithmetic! As always, everyone is welcome.

Pop and cookies will be served at 2:45 PM.

EQUATIONS!?! WHAT EQUATIONS?

or

ARITHMETICAL METHODS of SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS

Word problems are “le raison d’être” of beginning Mathematics, often one of its most important parts. Usually at this level, word problems are solved using equations or systems of equations. After writing an equation/system for a given word problem we solve it and – voilà! – the solution appears. This is a direct and effective method, but what we gain in simplicity, we lose in depth of understanding of intricate connections among elements of our problem.

By contrast, Arithmetical Methods of solving word problems may appear to be more difficult. A particular kind of problem may need a specific approach, which in turn requires mental gymnastics, but in the end surprising internal links may be revealed. Arithmetical Methods teach us not only to think in non-standard ways, but also to write and display ideas in non-conformist manners. The speaker will present specific Arithmetical techniques, and some of the most important methods (known to him ☺!!), for example, the Method of Reduction to Unit, the Method of Comparison, the Method of Additional Assumption, the Method of Inverse Route, etc.