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On November 25, three instructors from the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science competed in the third Math Teach-Off, which challenges instructors to improve student comprehension of an unfamiliar topic in just an hour.

As in the previous two teach-offs, student volunteers began the event by taking a quick online test on a specialized math subject they were unlikely to have encountered before. Then, they split into three groups, where each instructor would teach the concept using their preferred method, before the students gathered again to take a second test on the topic – and celebrate with free pizza.

This time, the teach-off – which was organized with the cooperation and sponsorship of MathSoc – focused on permutation analysis for statistics. Three instructors competed to prepare the best and most helpful lesson: Nathaniel Stevens (associate professor of Statistics), Reza Ramezan (associate professor, teaching stream in Statistics and Actuarial Science), and Diana Skrzydlo (associate professor, teaching stream in Statistics and Actuarial Science).

There were twenty-five student participants: while all students saw a marked improvement in their scores after the hour of instruction, ultimately Nathaniel Stevens was crowned the champion.

Stevens, while happy about the win, thinks the Teach-Off is particularly important for community building and making learning feel accessible. “When I was a student, I remember how valuable events with professors were to my sense of belonging,” he says. “Now, as a professor, I like to participate in these kinds of events in the hope that it makes our students feel like they belong to a fun, welcoming, and supportive community.”

Similarly, Ramezan emphasized the value of the Teach-Off for his growth as an educator. “I found it quite challenging to teach students with a wide range of knowledge backgrounds (from 1^st to 4^th year) in one class,” he says. “I believe it is important for professors to step out of their comfort zones occasionally, and it’s valuable for students to witness that as well.”

“The Teach-Off has become something of a mini-tradition since last Winter, when a very popular version of the teach-off was held between Ruxandra Moraru, Martin Pei, and winner Zack Cramer,” says Alex Pawelko, Vice President, Academic of MathSoc. “It’s a popular event among students where we get to eat pizza and learn some really fun math in a peaceful environment where there aren’t any grades.”

For Skrzydlo, who helped run the past two teach-offs as an administrators, this was a fun opportunity to participate. She particularly had fun looking for tangible examples that would help her students explain the concept – going so far as to (temporarily) raid her kids’ Halloween candy stash for visual aids!

“I didn’t know anything about permutation analysis for statistics beforehand, and after Prof. Skrzydlo’s teaching I feel like I know a lot about the subject,” says fourth-year Pure Math major Zev Friedman. “She kept it very engaging and taught at a level that was good for people who didn’t know about the topic beforehand. I’ve participated in the Teach-Off before as well and actually helped organize it in Winter 2024, and I would definitely participate again!”

“The Teach-Off is yet another way that we strut our stuff here at ��ݮ��Ƶ Math – we don’t just study it: we live it!” says David McKinnon, chair of the Department of Pure Mathematics and founder of the Teach-Off. “We want to explore new ways of teaching it, new ways of learning it, and new ways of measuring it. That’s what universities are all about, and it’s what the Teach-Off is all about too.”