Making Graph Theory Relevant

Abstract

We describe how we used contextual teaching and learning principles to build a graph theory project for mathematics courses at the U.S. Air Force Academy. We leveraged an Air Force targeting scenario to make the mathematics relevant to our students. We explain the details of the project, the mathematics behind it, and how we incorporated contextual teaching and learning to improve the learning experience of our students. Although our project focused on an Air Force application, due to the ubiquitous nature of graph matchings, the project could be easily modified for other audiences.

KeyWords

Contextual Teaching and Learning, Goal-based Scenarios, Projectbased Learning, Inquiry-oriented Scenarios, Undergraduate Graph Theory Project, Air Force Application