Moving Beyond Myths Revitalizing Undergraduate Mathematics (1991) / Chapter Skim
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MOVING BEYOND MYTHS
MOVING BEYOND MYTHS
Pages 31-42
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From page 31... ...
All those with a stake in mathematics must reassert the vital importance of effective undergraduate education in the mathematical sciences. Over the next decade, the mathematical community must restructure fundamentally the culture, content, and context of undergraduate mathematics education.
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From page 32... ...
Leadership for reform is the responsibility of the faculty of mathematicians in every institution of higher education, from comprehensive universities to two-year colleges, from liberal arts colleges to research universities. In particular, mathematical sciences faculty must assume full responsibility for the mathematics education of ad students.
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From page 33... ...
continued from previous page Over half of the freshman class takes calculus as an elective, and post-calculus courses account for 50 percent of total mathematics enrollments. The program recognizes every student's accomplishments and stresses the development of successful role models; faculty present just enough in courses for students to learn essential ideas, not so much as to overwhelm them.
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From page 34... ...
Departments: Develop effective programs targeting underrepresented groups · Adapt tested and proven models · Build a team of faculty to carry out experiments, and expose all faculty to the results · Start a departmental seminar on issues of teaching and learning · Assign the best teachers to introductory courses · Employ varied instructional approaches: group methods, writing, investigative assignments, laboratory projects · Recognize and support the extensive special effort required to introduce computers effectively into the curriculum · Use knowledge gleaned from minority projects · Sensitize teaching assistants to cultural impacts in the classroom · Vigorously recruit women, minorities, and disabled students to pursue careers in mathematics and science.
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From page 35... ...
Government: Give undergraduate mathematics high priority in education funding · Focus first on introductory subjects as a key to opportunity for disadvantaged groups · Support resultsoriented experimentation · Invest in dissemination and pro Undergraduate Research Undergraduate research, in which students experience for themselves the open-ended exploratory nature ok mathematical investigation, is one of the proven means of launching students on successful careers in the mathematical sciences. However, during the ten-year hiatus in NSF support of undergraduate research, few institutions managed to sustain these programs on their own.
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From page 36... ...
continued on next page 36 mulgation of successful models · Broaden experimentation to encompass the full curriculum · Provide resources to support effective instructional methods · Augment graduate fellowship programs with a program of cash awards to undergraduate departments that produce the students · Expand support for programs that retain women and minorities in the mathematics pipeline, keying on critical transition points · Support efforts that ally groups in support of planned, systemic change.
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From page 37... ...
In the last twelve years, members of the Mathematics Department have received nearly $2 million in grants for projects related to undergraduate curriculum development, school outreach, faculty professional activity, and computer labs. One recent grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE)
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From page 38... ...
continued on next page 38 Departments: Develop a five-year plan to transform departmental instruction based on national guidelines · Emphasize mathematics for all · Be results-oriented: increase success rates · Incorporate insights gained from departmental experimentation · Include specific plans for using computers, improving numerary, teaching teachers, and supporting majors · Use national targets from professional societies for success of women and minorities · Set department targets to reduce dependence on teaching assistants and part-time instructors · Address the need to enlarge the scope of graduate programs in the mathematical sciences to include issues of curriculum, teaching, and learning · Relate the departmental plan to the weak state of research funding and to changes in school mathematics programs · Enlist the aid of professional societies in developing and implementing the departmental plan · Take the departmental plan to the administration · Offer higher success rates in exchange for resources needed to implement the plan. Colleges and Universities: ~Give top institutional priority to effective teaching · Judge teaching by results, not by process · Adopt a broad standard of professional responsibility encompassing teaching and scholarship as well as research · Utilize this broad standard in decisions about hiring, retention, salary, promotion, and tenure · Align institutional admissions and placement practices with contemporary standards for school mathematice · Set high institutional expectations for the mathematics performance of all students · Help develop a five-year state plan for undergraduate mathematics · Involve state mathematics coalitions to ensure close coupling to national and state goals for school mathematics · Help the mathematics department implement their five-year plan, injecting resources in planned stages as results become apparent.
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From page 39... ...
Another course introduces students to the intellectual history of calculus by helping them read parts of the original classic mathematical treatises of the Greek philosophers, of Newton, and of Gauss, among others. A third course, "From Space to Geometry," explores the ways in which geometry has been used throughout the centuries to try to explain the universe in which we live.
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From page 40... ...
education encompass the undergraduate level · Put resources behind undergraduate revitalization · Support planned, systemic change, not isolated projects and programs. Federal and State Agencies: Create a network of regional centers for excellence in the teaching of mathematics · Support time spent at regional centers by teachers at all educational levels · Initiate major programs of postdoctoral teaching fellowships to enable beginning faculty to develop expertise in curriculum, teaching, and learning · Institute fellowship programs to enable faculty members to enhance teaching effectiveness through time spent at innovative centers and institutions · Increase significantly the numbers of predoctoral fellowships and research assistantships in mathematics · Work to reduce dependency on teaching assistants for undergraduate mathematics instruction · Support effective programs of financial
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From page 41... ...
Faculty and Departments: Build faculty networks within institutions, linking user departments · Connect to networks of mathematicians committed to educational reform · Develop a strong presence in regional and national meetings of department chairs · Forge professional alliances and initiate collaborative projects with mathematics teachers in local schools · Offer regular enrichment programs that motivate school-age youth, especially minorities, to continue studying mathematics · Speak to needs and accomplishments in a second five-year plan for undergraduate mathematics. Professional Societies and National Organizations: involve the broad constituencies of mathematics education in discussions of goals and standards · Sustain structures built to promulgate targeted minority programs · Support national transformation based on new guidelines · Establish structures linking corporations, minority action groups, and scientific societies to long-term revitalization effort.
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From page 42... ...
Each joint task force includes a mathematics faculty representative from each major state university and a like number of community college mathematics faculty representatives. The purpose of the Guide is to assist in the articulation of mathematics and computer science courses between community colleges, from any community college to any four-year college or university, and between four-year colleges and universities.
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