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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
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APPENDIX

Challenges for College Mathematics: An Agenda for the Next Decade (Summary of Association of American Colleges-Mathematical Association of America Report)

Goals and Objectives

  • The primary goal of a mathematical sciences major should be to develop a student's capacity to undertake intellectually demanding mathematical reasoning.

  • The undergraduate mathematics curriculum should be designed for all students with an interest in mathematics.

  • Applications should motivate theory so that theory is seen by students as useful and enlightening.

  • Mathematics majors should be offered extensive opportunities to read, write, listen, and speak mathematical ideas at each stage of their undergraduate study.

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
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Breadth and Depth

  • All students who major in mathematics should study some sequence of upper division courses that shows the power of study in depth.

  • Every student who majors in mathematics should study a broad variety of advanced courses.

  • Mathematics departments should take seriously the need to provide appropriate mathematical depth to students who wish to concentrate in mathematics without pursuing a traditional major.

  • Mathematics majors should complete a minor in a discipline that makes significant use of mathematics.

Learning and Teaching

  • Instruction should encourage students to explore mathematical ideas on their own.

  • Undergraduate students should not only learn the subject of mathematics, but also learn how to learn mathematics.

  • Those who teach college mathematics should seek ways to incorporate into their own teaching styles the findings of research on teaching and learning.

  • Mathematicians should increase their efforts to understand better how college students learn mathematics.

  • Assessment of undergraduate majors should be aligned with broad goals of the major; tests should stress what is most important, not just what is easiest to test.

  • Evaluation of teaching must involve robust indicators that reflect the broad purposes of mathematics education.

Access and Encouragement

  • Effective programs teach students, not just mathematics.

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
  • National need requires greater encouragement for students to continue their study of mathematics beyond the bachelor's degree.

  • To provide effective opportunities for all students to learn mathematics, colleges should offer a broader spectrum of instructional practice that is better attuned to the variety of students seeking higher education.

  • To ensure for all students equal access to higher mathematics education, mathematics departments should work with nearby two-year colleges to maintain close articulation of programs.

  • Smooth curricular transitions improve student learning and help maintain momentum for the study of mathematics.

Using Computers

  • The mathematics curriculum should change to reflect in appropriate ways the impact of computers on the practice of mathematics.

  • Colleges must recognize in budgets, staffing, and space the fact that undergraduate mathematics is rapidly becoming a laboratory discipline.

Doing Mathematics

  • Dealing with open-ended problem situations should be one of the highest priorities of undergraduate mathematics.

  • All undergraduate mathematics students should undertake open-ended projects whose scope extends well beyond typical textbook problems.

  • Undergraduate research and senior projects should be encouraged wherever there is sufficient faculty to provide appropriate supervision.

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
  • Students majoring in mathematics should undertake some real-world mathematical modelling project.

Students

  • Building students' well-founded self-confidence should be a major priority for all undergraduate mathematics instruction.

  • Careful and individualized advising is crucial to students' success.

  • All mathematics students should engage in serious study of the historical context and contemporary impact of mathematics.

  • Mathematics departments should actively encourage extracurricular programs that enhance peer group support among mathematics majors.

Renewal

  • It is important for mathematics departments to help faculty and students recognize their own perspectives on mathematics and understand the perspectives of others.

  • To ensure continued vitality of undergraduate mathematics programs, all mathematics faculty should engage in public professional activity, broadly defined.

  • Regular external reviews and informal feedback are needed to assure quality in departments of mathematics.

  • Renewal of undergraduate mathematics will require commitment, leadership, and support of graduate schools.

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×

COMMITTEE ON THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES IN THE YEAR 2000

J. Fred Bucy (Chairman), former Chief Executive Officer of Texas Instruments, Inc. through 1989

William E. Kirwan (Chairman), President, University of Maryland at College Park

Ramesh A. Gangolli (Vice Chairman), Professor of Mathematics, University of Washington

Lida K. Barrett, Past President, Mathematical Association of America, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Mississippi State University

Maria A. Berriozabal, Councilwoman, City of San Antonio, Texas

Ernest L. Boyer, President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, New Jersey

William Browder, Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University, New Jersey

Rita R. Colwell, Director, Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Professor of Microbiology, University of Maryland

John M. Deutch, Professor of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ronald G. Douglas, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, State University of New York, Stony Brook

Patricia A. Dyer, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Palm Beach Community College, Florida

Lloyd C. Elam, Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, Meharry Medical College, Tennessee

Sheldon L. Glashow, Higgins Professor of Physics, Harvard University, Massachusetts

Nancy J. Kopell, Professor of Mathematics, Boston University, Massachusetts

Donald W. Marquardt, Consultant Manager, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Delaware

David S. Moore, Professor of Statistics, Purdue University, Indiana

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×

Jaime Oaxaca, Vice Chairman, Coronado Communications, Inc., California

Moshe F. Rubinstein, Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California, Los Angeles

Ivar Stakgold, Chairman, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Delaware

S. Frederick Starr, President, Oberlin College, Ohio

Lynn Arthur Steen, Professor of Mathematics, St. Olaf College, Minnesota

Staff

Bernard L. Madison, Project Director through December 1989

James A. Voytuk, Project Director

Therese A. Hart, Research Associate through November 1989

Craig E. Hicks, Senior Editorial Assistant

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×

BOARD ON MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

Phillip A. Griffiths (Chairman), Provost and James B. Duke Professor of Mathematics, Duke University, North Carolina

Lawrence D. Brown, Professor of Mathematics, Cornell University, New York

Sun-Yung A. Chang, Professor of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles

Ronald G. Douglas, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, State University of New York, Stony Brook

David Eddy, J. Alexander McMahon Professor of Health Policy and Management, Duke University (retired)

Avner Friedman, Director, Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications, University of Minnesota

Frederick W. Gehring, Professor of Mathematics, University of Michigan

James Glimm, Chairman, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, State University of New York, Stony Brook

Joseph Kadane, Professor of Statistics, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pennsylvania

Diane Lambert, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey

Gerald J. Lieberman, Professor of Operations Research and Statistics, Stanford University, California

Jerome Sacks, Head, Department of Statistics, University of Illinois

Shmuel Winograd, Director, Mathematical Sciences Department, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, New York

William Eddy, Professor of Statistics, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pennsylvania; ex officio

Staff

Lawrence H. Cox, Director

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×

MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES EDUCATION BOARD

Alvin W. Trivelpiece (Chairman), Director, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee

Iris M. Carl (Vice Chairman), President, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Director of Mathematics, Houston Independent School District, Texas

Lillian C. Barna, Superintendent of Schools, Tacoma Public Schools, Washington

Lida K. Barrett, Past President, Mathematical Association of America, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Mississippi State University

Maria A. Berriozabal, Councilwoman, City of San Antonio, Texas

Constance Clayton, Superintendent of Schools, School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Loring Coes III, Chairman, Department of Mathematics, Rocky Hill School, Rhode Island

David K. Cohen, Interim Dean of Education, Professor of Education and Social Policy, Michigan State University, Liaison from Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

Nancy S. Cole, Executive Vice President, Educational Testing Service, New Jersey

Rita R. Colwell, Director, Maryland Biotechnology Institute, Professor of Microbiology, College Park, Maryland

David L. Crippens, Senior Vice President, KCET-TV Educational Enterprises, Inc., California

Philip A. Daro, Director, California Mathematics Project, University of California, Berkeley

Daniel T. Dolan, Mathematics and Computer Education Specialist, Montana Office of Public Instruction

Paula B. Duckett, Elementary Mathematics Specialist, River Terrace Community School, Washington, D.C.

Joan Duea, Elementary School Teacher, Price Laboratory School, Professor of Education, University of Northern Iowa

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×

Joseph W. Duncan, Corporate Vice President and Chief Economist, The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, New York

Wade Ellis, Jr., Mathematics Instructor, West Valley College, California

Ramanathan Gnanadesikan, Assistant Vice President, Mathematical, Communication & Computer Sciences Research Laboratory, Bell Communications Research, New Jersey

Jackie Goldberg, President, Board of Education, Los Angeles Unified School District, California

Norbert S. Hill, Jr., Executive Director, American Indian Science and Engineering Society, Colorado

Harvey Keynes, Professor of Mathematics, Director, Minnesota Mathematics Mobilization, University of Minnesota

Richard S. Lindzen, Sloan Professor of Meteorology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ruth McMullin, Past President, John Wiley & Sons, Westport, Connecticut

Steven P. Meiring, Mathematics Specialist, Ohio State Department of Education

Jose P. Mestre, Associate Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts

Calvin C. Moore, Associate Vice President, Academic Affairs, University of California, Berkeley

Jo Ann Mosier, Mathematics Teacher, Fairdale High School, Kentucky

Robert Nielsen, Assistant to the President for Higher Education, American Federation of Teachers, Washington, D.C.

Leslie Hiles Paoletti, Chairman, Mathematics and Computer Science, Choate Rosemary Hall, Connecticut

Isadore M. Singer, Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Lynn Arthur Steen, Professor of Mathematics, St. Olaf College, Minnesota

William P. Thurston, Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University, New Jersey

John S. Toll, President, Universities Research Association, Inc., Washington, D.C., Chancellor Emeritus and Professor of Physics, University of Maryland

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×

P. Uri Treisman, Director, Charles A. Dana Center for Mathematics and Science Education, University of California, Berkeley

Manya S. Ungar, Past President, National Parents and Teachers Association, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

Zalman Usiskin, Director, School Mathematics Project, Professor of Education, University of Chicago

John B. Walsh, Vice President, Research and Engineering Programs, Boeing Aerospace and Electronics, Washington

Larry D. Williams, Chairman, Department of Mathematics, Eutaw High School, Alabama

James J. Wynne, Manager, Biological and Molecular Science, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, New York

Staff

Kenneth M. Hoffman, Executive Director through February 1991

Ray C. Shiflett, Executive Director

Michael H. Clapp, Associate Executive Director

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FOR MOVING BEYOND MYTHS

AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY

Janene Winter, Composition

Ralph Youngen, Composition

Julie Wilczek, Composition

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS

Francesca Moghari, Cover Design

Susan England, Graphic Design

James Butler, Graphics

Dorothy Lewis, Production

Carla McCullough, Production

COMMITTEE ON THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES IN THE YEAR 2000

James Voytuk, Project Director

Craig Hicks, Senior Editorial Assistant

MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES EDUCATION BOARD

Michael Clapp, Associate Executive Director

Linda Rosen, Associate Director for Policy Studies

COMPOSITION COURTESY OF

American Mathematical Society

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

We also wish to thank the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency for their generous support and the Department of Education and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for additional support.

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
Page 55
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
Page 56
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
Page 57
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
Page 58
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
Page 59
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
Page 60
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
Page 61
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
Page 62
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
Page 63
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
Page 64
Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX." National Research Council. 1991. Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1782.
×
Page 65
Moving Beyond Myths: Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics Get This Book
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Over the next decade, the mathematical community and the nation's colleges and unversities must restructure fundamentally the culture, content, and context of undergraduate mathematics. Acknowledging the weaknesses in the present college mathematics curriculum and the ways in which it is taught, this book cites exemplary programs that point the way toward achieving the same world-wide preeminence for mathematics education that the United States enjoys in mathematical research.

Moving Beyond Myths sets forth ambitious goals for collegiate mathematics by the year 2000 and provides a sweeping plan of action to accomplish them. It calls on mathematics faculty, their departments, their professional societies, colleges and universities, and government agencies to do their parts to implement the plan, help the public move beyond commonly held myths about mathematics, and bring about a revitalization of undergraduate mathematics.

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