MIAMI DADE COLLEGE | WOLFSON
  Bernard F. Mathon  
    Department of Mathematics
       
    GENERAL INFORMATION
  
Bernard F. Mathon
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Phone: 305-237-3491
E-mail: bmathon@mdc.edu

Department of Mathematics
Miami Dade College
Wolfson Campus
300 NE 2nd Ave
Miami, FL 33132

In a Costa Rica rain forest in 2007

   
    COURSE INFORMATION
    Recent courses include: MAT 0020, MAT 1033, MAC 1105,MAC 1140, MAC 1147, MAC 2233, MGF1106 and MGF 1107. For more information on the content of the courses for the current semester, visit the page for the course. 
 
MGF 1106 Mathematics for Liberal Arts I
MAC 1105 College Algebra
MAC 1105 Honors College Algebra for Honors College Students
MGF 1107 Mathematics for Liberal Arts II
MAT 1033 Intermediate Algebra
   
     
    OFFICE SCHEDULE
    Posted on the Office Door every semester. Students can also view faculty schedules on the MDC website.
   
     
    EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
   
M.S Ed Secondary School Mathematics, University of Miami, 1992
     
    EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY
   
I believe that every student has the potential to succeed in the basic mathematics courses offered at the college. To achieve success, students must take responsibility for their studies: attend classes regularly, complete their homework assignments after each class session and seek help when they get stuck. I view myself as a facilitator and a motivator in the classroom, but success can only be achieved through student engagement and participation.
     
    CURRENT PROJECTS

 

Discovering the vanishing point in Linear Perspective. MGF 1107 students used masking tape on one of the windows in the Parking garage at the Wolfson Campus

   

Jill Britton conducts Faculty and Student workshops on MC Escher in 2006

   Mathematics and Art
In  2005-6 and 2006-7, I worked collaboratively with Professor Marilyn Gottlieb-Roberts on a series of lectures and activities on Mathematics and Art in an effort to show the connection between Mathematics and Art. I am currently collaborating with Professor Claudia Scalise of the Arts and Philosophy Department and Professor Lun-Yi Tsai, visual artist and Mathematician who is currently an adjunct faculty member at the Wolfson Campus. Professor Scalise and I presented a short lecture on Linear Perspective in Art and Mathematics at the Mathematics Across the Discipline 2008 Winter Institute in Miami. We have also done an interactive presentation for students on Linear Perspective during the 2008 Mathematics Awareness month at Miami Dade College. In the spring 2009, Professor Tsai and I team taught Linear Perspective and space coordinates in a MGF 1107 class.

During these past three years, students who have taken the Mathematics for Liberal Arts II (MGF 1107) class have done presentations on famous artists or mathematicians.

MGF 1107 seems to have become a popular course for Art majors. It gives artists or future artists the opportunity to learn about the connection between their field of interest and mathematics. The course may also provide innovative and creative ideas to education majors. 

College Algebra for Honors College Students

In the fall 2007, I started teaching for the Honors College first semester students. It has been an enjoyable teaching experience mostly because of the desire to excel exhibited by the large majority even when their skills in mathematics are limited. Activities and projects related to environmental or other social issues have been inserted in the courses. Students had the opportunity to visit the Montenay/Veolia Waste to Energy Power Plant located in the Doral area of Dade county. Students are also required to complete a number of community service hours. Many have chosen to spend their service hours tutoring in the Math Lab.  
 

     
 

 

 

 INTERESTS
Visit to a Geothermal Energy Plant in Costa Rica (Summer 2007)    
Immersion in the Florida Everglades with a group of faculty members from MDC  
I enjoy playing a good game of tennis, swimming, jogging, reading, playing the guitar and listening to music.

I am also concerned with environmental issues and recently took two  courses that gave me the opportunity to explore issues such as: alternate sources of energy, the importance of protecting the rain forests in the world, the Everglades in Florida, and the role we should play as humans to protect the natural environment we live in.

6th grade students at l'Athetique d'Haiti learning about the location of points in a rectangular coordinate system.

  

Contributions to the reconstruction effort in Haiti after the January 12, 2010 earthquake.

In May and June 2010, I volunteered my time to the elementary school program at l'Athletique d'Haiti , a sports based educational program for youth who live in the Cite Soleil area, one of the poorest communities in Haiti. I taught topics of mathematics that ranged from fractions, operations with fractions, applications of fractions in problems as well as linear measurements and geometric constructions to the sixth grade class. I also conducted a short workshop for teachers on the objectives that could be pursued in teaching 1st to 6th grade mathematics to elementary school students as well as practical activities they might consider despite the limited resources available.

The idea of offering a rigorous educational program to youth who already receive systematic training in a sport like soccer deserves the support of all who love education. Visit the website of l'Athletique d'Haiti and inquire about the type of support you might be able to provide. 

    ONLINE RESOURCES / LINKS
   
   
    http://www.mdc.edu/wolfson/departments/math/index.htm Home Page of the Mathematics Department at the Wolfson Campus.

In most of the courses I teach, I use the My Math Lab/Course compass website to help facilitate and motivate students to learn. Click on the link below to access the on line resources for your course.
 http://www.coursecompass.com/

Final Exam Schedule (Fall 2009-1).

Click on the link to view the final exam schedule for the semester.

http://www.mdc.edu/main/finals/

The links below will give you access to some of the Mathematics or Mathematics and Art websites that I have made available to students over the years.
 

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.golden.ratio.html Article from the Math forum on the Golden Ratio.

http://mypage.iu.edu/~mathart/viewpoints/lessons/ Lessons in Mathematics and Art by Dr. Annalisa Crannell of Franklin and Marshall University and Marc Frantz of Indiana University.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/199 Talks by Arthur Benjamin of Harvey Mudd College.

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/PrintHT/Babylonian_numerals.html The Babylonian numerals

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Day_files/Year.html Calendar with mathematicians' anniversaries throughout the year.

http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/events/maw95/maw95.html Mathematics and Symmetry. Theme essay from 1995 Mathematics Awareness month.

http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/jbsymteslk.htm Symmetry and Tessellations links prepared by Jill Britton of Camosun College in British Columbia, Canada.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/about.html

 

 

     
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