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IMMC-QEF Teachers Workshop

Guidelines for Instruction & Assessment of Math Modeling

Date: 14 & 15 Dec, 2019                 Venue: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Dr. Yong-Hong KUO 郭永鴻博士
Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, The University of Hong Kong
https://www.imse.hku.hk/people/y-h-kuo
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Email: yhkuo@hku.hk
Personal Website: https://sites.google.com/site/yonghongkuo/
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Research Interests: 

  • Optimization

  • System simulation

  • Healthcare management

  • Logistics and transportation planning

  • Data-intensive modeling and optimization techniques

The world is changing, the education system needs to adapt this fast-changing world. The purpose of education has already changed from “reciting and exam” to the "integrated skills training".In the light of that, we promote “mathematical modeling” as a necessary skill to the new generation. On 14 and 15 Dec, we invited Dr. Yong-Hong KUO, from the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, the University of Hong Kong to deliver a teachers workshop titled “Guidelines for Instruction & Assessment of Math Modeling” at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. At the workshop,

 

Dr. KUO firstly introduced the concept of “Mathematical Modeling”. He showed his research studies and other examples to illustrate the usefulness and value of mathematical modeling and mathematical models. He also mentioned the differences between mathematical modeling and traditional mathematics education in Hong Kong. He pointed out the benefits of studying mathematical modeling to students. For examples, students can polish their writing skills (to write good paper), presentation skills (to express their ideas through mathematical modeling) and communication skills (to cooperate with others in a team).

Dr. KUO shared some teaching resources of math modeling which are useful for teachers in preparing and teaching the course.
Also, he used the reference material of IMMC and the past IMMC contest problem ”Movie Scheduling” as examples for teachers to experience what math modeling is. Teachers can then understand the difficulties that students would face when they are doing the modeling. Dr. KUO discussed the “Role of Teachers” including the student guiding method, how to direct students to think by asking them the right questions and how to include modeling contents in the curriculum, etc.


Lastly, Dr. KUO talked about the criteria in evaluating students’ works. He used the awarded papers and judges’ comments to explain the key points which should appear in a (good) paper. The judges also look into other categories such as Executive Summary, Assumption(s), Sensitivity Analysis(es), etc.


Thank Dr. KUO very much for his time and work for this workshop. Moreover, we thank for the teachers who attended the workshop and the Project Co-organizer, Department of Applied Mathematics of Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

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