High School Operations Research

The purpose of this page is to provide a list of Operations Research links to high school teachers. As we speak, Michigan and North Carolina have committed to a fourth-year OR-based course in their mathematics curricula; and Georgia is just about on board as well. The idea is to provide students with an alternative or complement to the pre-calculus/calculus courses that are typically mandated for fourth-year high school students. Although OR can be regarded as "mathematics for the real world", it is much more than that. The OR course that we are developing will not only stimulate mathematics interest through useful applications; it will also help students increase analytic and problem-solving skills.

Here is a copy of the talk that I gave at the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics meeting on 10/15/09. This presentation describes our OR course, along with some motivational notes for the specific topic of computer simulation. And here is some software that will allow you to make some of the cute little demos that go along with the talk. (You may also need this add-on to run the software.)

Some of the GCTM attendees also expressed interest in obtaining a *free* educator's copy of the simulation software package ARENA from Rockwell Systems. You can call Rockwell directly at (412)741-3727 to obtain a copy. (I'll try to find the URL of the download page and post it ASAP.)

Here are some helpful, relevant links (I'll add to these in the next few weeks)...

The Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) (pronounced "seismic") is a partnership uniting Georgia Tech with educational groups, schools, corporations, and opinion leaders throughout the state of Georgia. CEISMC's goal is to ensure that K-12 students in Georgia receive the best possible preparation in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology as they seek their place in the modern world. CEISMC has been instrumental in moving the OR course to fruition in Georgia.

INFORMS is our national professional organization. This link will give you all sorts of details about Operations Research and the Management Sciences.

The INFORMS Public Awareness Committee Chair (PAC) is devoted to educational outreach programs. Our leader of the PAC, Ken Chelst (Wayne State Univ), and various colleagues have developed a wonderful series of teachers modules that show how to use Operations Research in the classroom. You can download portions of them for free. Ken has put many of these modules together in a really nice book that's very reasonably priced. We've had tremendous success in local high schools teaching this material. You can get more details at the High School Operations Research page

Here is an article from the INFORMS flagship professional magazine, OR/MS Today, that describes a large grant that Ken and his colleagues recently obtained to develop the high school OR course I have alluded to above. MINDSET article. Here's the MINDSET page itself. MINDSET homepage

WhizKids is a terrific foundation that strives to improve science and technology awareness in elementary, mddle, and high schools students. They're one of our partners, and are happy to provide free assistance to schools, clubs, and individuals interested in science and math.

In any case, if you have any questions at all, please send me (Dave Goldsman) an email at sman@gatech.edu.