Multivariable calculus is not all fun and games. The name itself will tell you that. But no one said it could not involve some fun and games.  

Nicole Bowen is one of two members of the Mathematics Department who teaches College-Level (CL) Multivariable Calculus, and she’ll readily admit that this advanced class tackles tough and challenging material, but there’s no reason not to have a little fun along the way. 

Nicole has created a game she uses as a teaching tool. She grew up playing card games, from Rummy to UNO, and board games, from Monopoly to Risk.  

“I’ve always liked the idea of designing a puzzle-type game in general, and I like playing those, too,” Nicole said. “I think math lends itself nicely to that because it gives you a lot of material to use in making the puzzles and making the problems. This was a nice opportunity to take one thing I like to do and apply it to the classroom.” 

“In general,” Nicole continued, “the game is sort of a choose-your-own-adventure scavenger hunt. The students ‘journey’ to an island in search of six lost pirate treasures, and each treasure that they find earns them some gold, which they can trade in to buy prizes.  ... The overall story [in the game] is all set in the multivariable calculus content. For example, to explore a location, they have to give me a 3D coordinate that they want to search, and they end up having to use content from class to figure out what coordinates are good places to search.” 

She has been using the game for a few years, most intensely this year, and is always jotting down ideas — thousands, she said with a laugh — to make it better.  

“Multivariable calculus is definitely challenging, but that's also what makes it so rewarding,” said senior Hannah Smith, one of Nicole’s students. “Ms. Bowen's game adds extra excitement to the class. Whether we are calculating the intersection of curves to find the location of Sazon Sizzlebeard's secret apple crisp recipe or multiplying matrices to brew the correct ingredients of a potion, I always look forward to Ms. Bowen's fun activities that make multivariable calculus a little less daunting.” 

Nicole is in her sixth year teaching at Loomis Chaffee. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut, where she majored in biology and math. Her thesis presentation in math led her advisor to tell her she might like being a teaching assistant (TA). So she got her master’s degree in pure mathematics while working as a TA at UConn and stayed on another two years as an adjunct professor teaching multivariable calculus before coming to Loomis Chaffee. 

Nicole said she always has enjoyed the challenge of advanced math — “trying to boil something down into a conceptual idea for myself to be able to understand what it means. And as a teacher we’re taking things that are complicated and trying to communicate that to someone.” 

Students in CL Multivariable Calculus must have taken the CL Calculus BC course and received permission from the department. 

“We get a glimpse of higher levels of math, and it is really cool to think about different ways to expand/apply what we already know [from CL Calculus BC],” senior Saul Lawrence said. 

The step up to multivariable calculus offers new challenges. 

“In general, calculus overall allows the study of any scenario that involves change,” Nicole said. “If you’re driving down the road at 50 miles an hour for two hours, you can easily calculate how far you’ve traveled. But if your speed changes constantly, then it becomes a more complicated problem. Multivariable calculus adds a layer of complication. Rather than just two variables that relate to each other, you have more than two. Three, four, five ...” 

An endless amount of possibility. So why not have a little fun along the way? 

“Students are focused on the future, and I get that,” Nicole said. “College, getting a good job. I understand that perspective. But I also feel this is four years of their life, time that matters, and you don’t want it to be so stressful. And this class is an upper-level class, and it is hard. I don't mean to say it's not hard. ... It is meant to be a challenge and prepare them for what it is like to study upper-level math or STEM in college if they choose to do that. But it is their time; they put a large amount of time in coming to class and doing the work, so the more I can help make that enjoyable for them, the better.” 

Part of the game involves finding treasures “based on these six fundamental shapes we learn,” Nicole said. “If they remember the six treasures, they remember these different shapes. And when you talk about these shapes in multivariable terms, they have names like elliptic hyperboloid and parabolic cylinder and ellipsoid. When you talk about these terms in the game, it’s the mysterious hourglass or the   magic flute or the crystal ball. So maybe it’s easier to remember those things.” 

And it is definitely more fun.