It is always inspiring when you get a presentation from someone passionate about his or her work and we had two occasions to experience that feeling last week. At noon on Tuesday, fellow Rotarian David Thomas gave a power-point presentation on his recent trip to South Africa to teach in a program called Mathematical Modeling for Girls.
The strategy behind the program is to raise the college-going aspirations of adolescent girls by teaching them college-preparatory content with college-aged girls as mentors. At the University of Pretoria, David engaged the girls in Geogebra, Netlogic, and Tinker Plots, using hands-on tools and real-life situations to teach complex mathematical concepts. It's not so much what they learn that is important, David reminded us. "The most important discovery a child can make is that they just made a discovery."
In his spare time, David enjoyed the beauty and the wildlife of South Africa. He showed us pictures of lions, giraffes, and hippopotami he encountered and told us a little about his observations.