Modeling for the Future

Math, though sometimes seemingly abstract, is deeply woven into the fabric of the world. 

Eight teams of Collegiate Upper School students, all of whom are enrolled in Upper School Math Teacher David Bannard’s Math Modeling class, are learning this valuable lesson as they compete in the High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HiMCM), an international contest in which roughly 1,000 teams participate. 

“To me, math is not very useful unless it can be used,” Mr. Bannard says. “This contest gives students the chance to apply the mathematics that they’ve learned.” 

The contest, organized by the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (COMAP), presents students with real-world mathematical problems that challenge them to utilize the skills they’ve learned in the classroom to develop a solution to a selected problem. 

The two problems proposed to the students this year are serious and relevant, and students have the choice of solving one of them. The first, “Tackling the Drought,” asks students to study Lake Mead, the largest water reservoir in the United States, to evaluate drought impact on water reservoirs and the possible solutions to abate additional water shortages in the region. The second problem, “Storing the Sun,” challenges teams to plan the use of solar power to provide electricity to a 1,600 square-foot home being built in a remote area. 

“For me, one of the main benefits of the project is this: Upper School students have the opportunity to spend a condensed period of time working on a specific problem,” Mr. Bannard explains. The project, he continues, converges on a range of course topics the students are involved in. “There’s a lot of interplay with the science courses, physics and calculus, and all students work together to combine their skills.” 

To evaluate their chosen problem, students conduct original research, apply the necessary mathematics to approach the problem with diligence and rigor, integrate lessons they might have learned from other classes such as biology and statistics, and, finally, write an analysis detailing their research, which is then submitted to both Mr. Bannard and the contest director at COMAP.  

Experiential and integrative projects such as this heighten students’ awareness of national and global challenges and give them the potential to become part of the solution. “Had we not worked on this project, I never would have known about the water shortage problem in Lake Mead” says one student that worked on the “Tackling the Drought” project.    

Intellectually challenging, the project illuminates the value of mathematics. “This is a unique opportunity students have,” Mr. Bannard says. “They get to work in groups that allow them to share their knowledge, develop technological skills that will suit them well in the future and solve significant problems that students around the world are working on.”