On 18 June 2021, the University of Luxembourg welcomed 16 secondary school students from the lycée Alfred Mézières Longwy for a one day MATh.en.JEANS conference. Students had the opportunity to present the results of their investigation of mathematical problems to an audience of mathematicians. They also enjoyed a talk linking football and mathematics, and took a guided tour on Belval campus.
MATh.en.JEANS, which as a long history in Luxembourg, was launched at the Lycée Alfred Mézières in Longwy in September 2020 when Bruno Teheux from the Department of Mathematics (DMATH) introduced five mathematical projects suitable for a year long investigation in small groups of students.
The MATh.en.Jeans conference was introduced by Bruno Teheux and Hugo Parlier from DMATH at the University of Luxembourg who welcomed and congratulated the young students for their participation and achievements.
Five groups of students presented the results of their project:
- A story about sorting and crewmates
- Checkers’ waltz
- A peculiar sorting method
- The super magic trick
- Balanced graphs
They explained the problem they faced, the method they used and the solutions they found. Mathematicians from the University asked some questions and exchanged with the students.
Then Ann Kiefer, Postdoctoral researcher from the Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing (LUCET) of the University of Luxembourg gave a talk about mathematics and football and demonstrated how mathematics could help analysing the most popular sport in the world.
During the afternoon, students put their hands on mathematical problems by playing games and discussing with researchers. Finally, guided by Thibaud Latour and Luc Vandenabeele, they visited some of the facilities of the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) to learn more about its most important areas of research and innovation.
About Math.en.JEANS
MATH.en.JEANS is an initiative that brings the experience of mathematical research to school and foster interactions between researchers and high school students.
It is coordinated by an eponymous non-profit association based in France (see https://www.mathenjeans.fr)