Globalizing Our Classrooms

Deborah Hughes Hallett

University of Arizona
Harvard Kennedy School
Why Think About This?
Since Russian troops first entered the Crimean
peninsula in early March, a series of media polling
outlets have asked Americans how they want the U.S.
to respond to the ongoing situation.
Although two-thirds of Americans have reported
following the situation at least somewhat
closely, most Americans actually know very little
about events on the ground----or even where the
ground is.
Kyle Dropp (Dartmouth College)
Joshua D. Kertzer (Harvard University) and
Thomas Zeitzoff (Princeton University)
http://rt.com/usa/ukraine-location-intervention-poll-025/
Results: Where Is Ukraine?
National sample of 2,066 Americans was asked, March 28-31, 2014
Red: Correct, Blue: Not correct
http://rt.com/usa/ukraine-location-intervention-poll-025/
http://volvbilis.wordpress.com/category/geopolitical-assertiveness/
Does Knowing Where Ukraine is Matter?
The less people know about where Ukraine is located on a map,
the more they want the U.S. to intervene militarily. (Significant at
the 95% level)
Of course: This does not show there is a causal relationship!

Some data about who could locate Ukraine:
27% of 18-24 year olds correctly identified Ukraine, compared with
14% of 65+ year-olds.
20% of men correct .13% of women correct
Members of military households (16.1% correct). members of
non-military households (16% correct)
http://rt.com/usa/ukraine-location-intervention-poll-025/
What Can We in Mathematics Do?
Consider the problems we give:
What Can We Do?
Choose examples with a purpose!
Choose or create examples where the context
is important in its own right.
Of course, this is much easier to do this in
some courses than others

Comparisons:
Data on US and the World
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/01/us_equivalents
Jan 13, 2011
For a Sense of
Scale
Jan 5, 2012
Wealth of Nations
Australia
Austria
Brazil
Britain
Canada
Chile
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
US
http://www.economist.com/node/21556495
Bobby Kennedy, speaking in
1968, [GDP] measures
everything...except that
which makes life
worthwhile."

OECD has created the
"Better-Life" index. Now in its
second year, the index uses
24 variables (which include
both hard data and survey
data) across 11 sectors to
create a measure of welfare
for 34 of its member
countries, plus Brazil and
Russia.
Distributions and Outliers
What Do You See?
Where is the US?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
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Physicians per 100,000
Distribution of Physicians Per 100,000
Human Development Index, 2006
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
N
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Physicians per 100,000
Distribution of Physicians Per 100,000
Human Development Index, 2006
The tiny island with a huge Web
presence July 10, 2012
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/13/tech/web/tokelau-domain-name-
holder/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
The DOMAIN NAME INDUSTRY BRIEF - MARCH 2012
http://www.verisigninc.com/assets/domain-name-brief-march2012.pdf
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/oceania/tk.htm
What are the top three
most common country-
level domain names?
http://www.turkey-visit.com/tokelau-map.asp
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/pacific/
Residents unload goods from a barge
in Nukunonu atoll, Tokelau, which has
no airport or port.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/13/tech/web/tokelau-domain-
name-holder/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
Barge from Nukunono getting
passengers from MV Tokelau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokelau
Tokelaus revenue from domain
names is one sixth of their GDP of
$1.2 m
What Do You Notice?
10
17
28
26
20
7
5
9
5
1 1
0 0
1 1 1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
N
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Police per 100,000
Distribution of Police Officers per 100,000 across Countries
Mean 504
Media 338
Standard Deviation 1350
Outlier:
Number Police
per 100,000
Top value: 15,625
Second value: 1,492
Who has the
top value?
Proportions and Probabilities
Education and Caste in India
http://www.economist.com/node/6980109
May 25th 2006
What Does this Data Show About Who Gets to College?
2005 Data from India

From Under-representation of Disadvantaged Classes in Colleges: What do the Data Tell Us? Economic and Political Weekly,
Rana Hasan and Aashish Mehta 2 September 2006
Make estimates:
Probability of Urban OBC going to college:
Probability of Urban FC going to college:
1505/10,185 = 14.8%
1839/16,058 = 27.5%
Class/Caste:
Number of Males
Aged 17-30
Number of Males
Minimally Qualified
Aged 17-30
Number of Males
Attending College
Aged 17-30
Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural
Scheduled Tribes
1,166 4,827 275 487 160 204
Scheduled Castes
4,717 9,921 808 1,040 453 511
Other Backward
Classes
10,185 16,855 2,513 2,244 1,505 1,018
Forward Classes
16,058 14,412 6,641 3,292 4,418 1,839

1505/2513 = 60%
1839/6641 = 67%
Probability of Min Qualified OBC going:
Probability of Min Qualified FC going:
Contours and Logarithms
The Loudness Equivalent, Leq, around Heathrow Airport in
London are shown in decibels, dB, on the following noise
contour map.

A sound with physical intensity L has a dB measure of B given
by

1ERCD Report 1001, Environmental Research and Consultancy Department, CAA report March 2010
.http://www.heathrowairport.com/static/Heathrow_Noise/Downloads/PDF/ERCD-Report-1001_NoiseContours2009_LHR.pdf
(a) Where are the main runways and what is the noise level there in dB?
(b) How do sound intensities, , compare on adjacent contours?
(c) If sound intensities are reduced by 50%, how will the contours change?
(b)
(c)
(a) East-West, with take-off into the wind going west.
Mathematical Models
Linear trends
Exponential trends

What Does this Scatter Plot Show?
New England Journal of Medicine, 2012

Chocolate Consumption, Cognitive Function, and Nobel Laureates Franz H. Messerli, M.D. New England Journal of Medicine, Oct 12, 2012
Exponential
What Countries Are These?
http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/zero.htm

Current Annual
Change
Projected Total
Change by 2050
-0.8% -28%
-0.6% -22%
-0.6% -12%
-0.5% -34%
-0.5% -23%
-0.4% -15%
-0.3% -11%
-0.2% -29%
-0.2% -23%
-0.2% -21%
-0.2% -14%
-0.2% -9%
-0.1% -8%
0.0% -21%
0.0% -17%
0.0% -12%
Country
Current Annual
Change
Projected Total
Change by 2050
Ukraine: -0.8% -28%
Russia: -0.6% -22%
Belarus -0.6% -12%
Bulgaria -0.5% -34%
Latvia -0.5% -23%
Lithuania -0.4% -15%
Hungary -0.3% -11%
Romania -0.2% -29%
Estonia -0.2% -23%
Moldova -0.2% -21%
Croatia -0.2% -14%
Germany -0.2% -9%
Czech Republic -0.1% -8%
Japan 0.0% -21%
Poland 0.0% -17%
Slovakia 0.0% -12%
What Does
this Data
Mean for the
Future?
Dynamic Scatterplots: Gapminder
Hans Rosling, Sweden

www.gapminder.org
Dynamic Scatterplots: Gapminder

www.gapminder.org
Differential Equations
During the SARS outbreak in 2003, what was
done to contain the disease? How come did
we not get SARS?
SARS in China, 2003
Prevalence map
Scene from Beijing
http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/china_sars_map.htm
http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20030424_sars_pictures_from_beijng_and_shanghai.h
tm
Beijing 2003
SARS Screening and
Quarantined Nurses
http://www.time.com/time/asia/photoessays/sars/beijing/index.
html
Which of the following is the most effective policy to prevent
the spread of SARS in Hong Kong?
I. Close off Hong Kong from contact with any
infected region. Shut down roads, airports, trains,
busses, and other forms of direct contact.
II. Install a quarantine policy. Isolate anyone who has
been in contact with a SARS patient or anyone
who shows symptoms of SARS.
(Analyze using 2003 World Health Organization data from Hong Kong)
Curbing the Spread of an Infectious Disease
SIR Model for the Spread of an
Infectious Disease
Let S be the number of susceptibles and I be the
number of infecteds, and R be the number of
recovered or removed.
How are they related?
A system of first order differential equations.
aSI
dt
dS

bI aSI
dt
dI

Progress of the Disease
Without quarantine: b = 0.06
Progress of the Disease
With quarantine: b = 0.24
http://coronamap.com/
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS):
Corona Virus, May 7, 2014
Globalizing examples is fun, engaging, hard
work---and appreciated!