{"id":11697,"date":"2015-02-26T12:53:57","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T17:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=11697"},"modified":"2015-02-26T12:53:57","modified_gmt":"2015-02-26T17:53:57","slug":"math-and-native-american-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Math and Native American Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-11698 size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/02\/meggin.jpg\" alt=\"American Indians\" width=\"180\" height=\"270\" \/>Friday, February 27, <a href=\"http:\/\/dept.math.lsa.umich.edu\/people\/facultyDetail.php?uniqname=meggin\">Dr. Robert Megginson<\/a>\u00a0from the University of Michigan will be speaking at UCF about the role of mathematics among American Indians.<\/p>\n<p>In the early 1930s, Will Ryan, Director of Indian Education for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), eliminated algebra and geometry from the Uniform Course of Study in BIA schools. This was done in\u00a0a well-intentioned, but misguided effort to make BIA education more culturally relevant for American Indians.<\/p>\n<p>Their belief was that mathematics has had no historical or cultural importance for the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere.\u00a0In fact, examples abound of the importance of\u00a0mathematics in many Native cultures\u00a0of the Americas. The well-developed number systems of\u00a0pre-contact Mesoamerica are probably the most well-known.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Megginson will present this system along with some of its number-theoretic underpinnings and consequences, as well as the cultural values that led to some of its structure.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Background<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of only about 12 Native Americans who hold a PhD in mathematics, Robert Megginson grew up in a family who was interested in math.\u00a0\u00a0For the past decade Dr. Megginson has spent his time working to solve the problem of the under-representation of minorities in the field of mathematics. In 1992 he developed a summer program for high school students at the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota. The purpose of the program is to keep the students interested in mathematics and related fields and encourage them to pursue college degrees in these areas.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Megginson has been very involved in the problems of minority mathematics education, especially that of Native Americans. He is a Sequoyah Fellow of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and works actively through the programs of this organization to further the participation of Native American people in mathematics. To read more about Dr. Megginson <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nrcprograms.org\/site\/PageServer?pagename=airc_bio_megginson\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>His talk will take place on Friday, Feb. 27 in the <a href=\"http:\/\/map.ucf.edu\/locations\/12\/mathematical-sciences-building-msb\/\">Mathematical Sciences Building<\/a>, room 318 at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, February 27, Dr. Robert Megginson\u00a0from the University of Michigan will be speaking at UCF about the role of mathematics among American Indians. In the early 1930s, Will Ryan, Director of Indian Education for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), eliminated algebra and geometry from the Uniform Course of Study in BIA schools. This was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":11698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[38,6,12,13,28,29],"tags":[736,1059,2206,3457,3723],"class_list":["post-11697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-events","category-mathematics","category-news","category-top-news","category-ucf-news","tag-college-of-sciences","tag-dr-robert-megginson","tag-mathematics","tag-ucf","tag-university-of-central-florida"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Math and Native American Culture - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Friday, February 27, Dr. Robert Megginson from the University of Michigan will be speaking at UCF about the role of mathematics among American Indians.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Math and Native American Culture - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Friday, February 27, Dr. Robert Megginson from the University of Michigan will be speaking at UCF about the role of mathematics among American Indians.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-26T17:53:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/02\/meggin.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"180\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cosmarketing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cosmarketing\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/math-and-native-american-culture\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/math-and-native-american-culture\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cosmarketing\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\"},\"headline\":\"Math and Native American Culture\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-26T17:53:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/math-and-native-american-culture\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":325,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/math-and-native-american-culture\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/meggin.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Sciences\",\"Dr. Robert Megginson\",\"Mathematics\",\"UCF\",\"University of Central Florida\"],\"articleSection\":[\"COS News\",\"Events\",\"Mathematics\",\"News\",\"Top News\",\"UCF News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/math-and-native-american-culture\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/math-and-native-american-culture\\\/\",\"name\":\"Math and Native American Culture - College of Sciences News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/math-and-native-american-culture\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/math-and-native-american-culture\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/meggin.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-26T17:53:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\"},\"description\":\"Friday, February 27, Dr. Robert Megginson from the University of Michigan will be speaking at UCF about the role of mathematics among American Indians.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/math-and-native-american-culture\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/math-and-native-american-culture\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/meggin.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/meggin.jpg\",\"width\":180,\"height\":270,\"caption\":\"A smiling older man in a black suit and bolo tie, commonly worn by American Indians, against a blue mottled background.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Sciences News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\",\"name\":\"cosmarketing\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cosmarketing\"},\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Math and Native American Culture - College of Sciences News","description":"Friday, February 27, Dr. Robert Megginson from the University of Michigan will be speaking at UCF about the role of mathematics among American Indians.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Math and Native American Culture - College of Sciences News","og_description":"Friday, February 27, Dr. Robert Megginson from the University of Michigan will be speaking at UCF about the role of mathematics among American Indians.","og_url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/","og_site_name":"College of Sciences News","article_published_time":"2015-02-26T17:53:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":180,"height":270,"url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/02\/meggin.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cosmarketing","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cosmarketing","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/"},"author":{"name":"cosmarketing","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d"},"headline":"Math and Native American Culture","datePublished":"2015-02-26T17:53:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/"},"wordCount":325,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/02\/meggin.jpg","keywords":["College of Sciences","Dr. Robert Megginson","Mathematics","UCF","University of Central Florida"],"articleSection":["COS News","Events","Mathematics","News","Top News","UCF News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/","name":"Math and Native American Culture - College of Sciences News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/02\/meggin.jpg","datePublished":"2015-02-26T17:53:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d"},"description":"Friday, February 27, Dr. Robert Megginson from the University of Michigan will be speaking at UCF about the role of mathematics among American Indians.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/math-and-native-american-culture\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/02\/meggin.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/02\/meggin.jpg","width":180,"height":270,"caption":"A smiling older man in a black suit and bolo tie, commonly worn by American Indians, against a blue mottled background."},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"College of Sciences News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d","name":"cosmarketing","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cosmarketing"},"url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}