Speakers and Abstracts for talks

AMS-MAA-MER Special Sessions on Mathematics and Education Reform

Joint Annual Mathematics Meetings, New Orleans, January 8, 2007

Scott Baldridge* (sbaldrid@math.lsu.edu), Louisiana State University
Preparing Prospective Teachers to Teach AP Calculus.
The mathematics department at Louisiana State University (as part of its new Geaux Teach program) has implemented a new capstone course for prospective high school teachers designed to prepare them to teach Calculus AP. The course centers around the task of teaching a business calculus class to undergraduate students—each prospective teacher works with a graduate student and several math professors in a vertically integrated way to prepare and give lessons in a recitation section. In addition to the content goals, the course is designed to help prospective teachers: (1) see what is expected of their future high school students in college (from a teacher’s perspective) and (2) to gain confidence in teaching their own calculus AP course in their high school. In this talk I will give some insights on how to implement such a course and what we have learned from running the course over the past year.

Charlene E. Beckmann* (beckmannc21@aol.com), Grand Valley State University.
Enhancing the Teaching of Euclidean Geometry.
Reports from USA agencies and professional organizations raise concerns about the preparation of mathematics teachers, indicating the need for preteachers to develop a deeper understanding of the mathematics they will teach. Mathematics departments face designing courses that maintain high levels of mathematical content for all majors while bridging this content to the mathematics preteachers will teach. To address issues, mathematicians and mathematics educators worked together to change core mathematics courses by creating college-level activities to explore and extend the content of exemplary NCTM Standards-based K-12 materials. Utilizing K-12 materials reminds preteachers where they have encountered mathematical concepts before. Concepts are set in familiar real-world or concrete settings; studying concrete examples and connecting students’ knowledge to previously learned ideas expands and deepens students’ understanding of more abstract concepts. Preteachers are exposed to concepts studied in K-12 mathematics classrooms and realize the need for deep personal mathematical understanding in order to effectively teach these concepts. We will provide an overview of our work and share our progress in the Euclidean Geometry course.

David M Bressoud* (bressoud@macalester.edu), Macalester College
Report on Calculus at Macalester College.
Macalester College has implemented a new curriculum that de-couples the traditional sequence of Calculus I and II. We teach a course in Applied Calculus that is intended as the only calculus most students need, a course that focuses on modeling, including topics from several variable calculus and linear algebra, and a course in Single Variable Calculus that is intended for students who arrive at college with a basic knowledge of calculus but who need to deepen their conceptual understanding before moving on to sophomore-level courses. This will be a report on how this curriculum is working.

Al Cuoco (acuoco@edc.org), Center for Mathematics Education, EDC, and Glenn Stevens* (ghs@math.bu.edu), Boston University
Building a Community of Mathematicians, Teachers, and Educators.
Since 1991, Boston University’s PROMYS program has engaged teachers for six week periods each summer in deep exploration of significant mathematical themes. Beginning in 2003, with NSF support, we built on the underlying PROMYS philosophy to create Focus on Mathematics , a Mathematics and Science Partnership that is building a permanent mathematical community among mathematicians, teachers, and educators from four universities, EDC, and five Boston-area school districts. The partnership programs include courses and graduate programs, seminars, and intense immersion experiences in mathematics. This talk will describe the underlying philosophy of the partnership and some of the programs designed to implement that philosophy, including the immersion experience (with roots in the Ross program) for prospective and practicing teachers and a program in which 20 mathematicians work with small groups of teachers in study groups devoted to mathematics.

Mark L Daniels* (mdaniels@math.utexas.edu), University of Texas at Austin
What is the effect of implementing a content/methods Calculus I course into a university science and mathematics secondary teacher preparationprogram?
A preliminary report will be presented concerning the results of a study conducted at the University of Texas that explores the possibility of creating effective content/methods mathematics courses out of pure content mathematics courses in the mathematics or science major degree plans. These courses would be taken by mathematics and science majors who also seek secondary teaching certification. The content/methods course would be designed to both enhance content knowledge and further build the pedagogical content knowledge of the preservice student. The research question was, ”Is there a statistically significant difference between the achievements as measured by grades of students taking the Calculus I content/methods class versus a representative group of students taking the normal Differential and Integral Calculus class in the next mathematics course (Multivariable Calculus)taken in the degree sequence?” The results of the study could contain broad implications for the planning of preservice teacher preparation programs.

Tom Evitts* (taevit@ship.edu), and Kate McGivney (kgmcgi@ship.edu), Shippensburg University
Connecting Teacher Learning to ClassroomPractice: The Story of a Large-scale Professional Community.
Shippensburg University’s Mathematics Department has enjoyed a long history of providing professional development for K-12 math teachers. The most recent program used the theme ”connecting mathematical ideas” and involved nearly one hundred teachers. This presentation describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of this endeavor. Lessons learned from this collaborative effort will be shared and discussed.

Joan Ferrini-Mundy(jferrini@msu.edu), Michigan State University
Building and Sustaining Communities of Mathematicians and Teachers.

Joan Ferrini-Mundy* 211 N. Kedzie Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824.
Using examples from several professional experiences, I will comment on the components of the effective collaborations among mathematics educators, teachers, and mathematicians. Drawing on my experiences as a participant in the "Common Ground" effort, as leader of a large mathematics and science partnership, and as chair of the committees that developed new K-12 mathematics expectations and standards in Michigan, I will point to the challenges, complexities, and importance of building and sustaining communities of mathematicians, teachers, and mathematics. I will make a case for why such collaborations are essential, in my view, for the improvement of mathematics teaching and learning.

James R King* (king@math.washington.edu), University of Washington.
Mathematicians and Teachers: From Summer Institutes to the School Year.
In this presentation we will consider some different flavors of programs where mathematicians work with teachers: summer institutes, special courses and workshops, and programs inside the schools. This will include stories, lessons learned, and a few ideas. Much of this will be based on the experience of the Park City Mathematics Institute as it undertook a change from its traditional model to sponsor a Math/Science Partnership.

William McCallum* (wmc@math.arizona.edu), University of Arizona

The Institute for Mathematics and Education at the University of Arizona.

Recently, collaboration between different professional communities on issues such as teacher preparation and state standards has increased. Yet the store of institutional knowledge about how to make such collaborations work is still meager.The time is ripe for a permanent, high-level institute that will foster, honor, and guide collaboration between mathematicians and educators. The University of Arizona has provided startup funding for an Institute for Mathematics and Education, with the goals of promoting
• focused collaboration aimed at concrete improvements in mathematics education
• norms for interdisciplinary scholarship
• a professional culture which respects and rewards collaboration.
We welcome ideas from mathematicians, educators and teachers on how best to acheive these goals. The talk will start with a brief description of the Institute, and continue with an audience discussion.

Bruce Pollack-Johnson* (bruce.pollack-johnson@villanova.edu), Villanova University.
AProject-Based Re-Engineering of Business Calculus Focusing on Solving Real Problems Using Models and Technology: Change ”Will I Ever Use This?” to ”Wow! Math Can Really Help Me!”.
We present an integrated, project-based approach to business calculus. The first semester focuses on single-variable problem solving; the second semester focuses on multivariable problem solving. Both semesters emphasize real-world problem solving using math models, calculus, and technology. Students work on semester-long projects based on problems from their own lives that unify the major math topics of each semester. Working on them, students learn the 5 major stages of real world problem solving: defining the problem, formulating a model, solving a math version of the problem using the model, checking the model and solution (including verification, validation, and sensitivity analysis), and synthesizing conclusions and implementing solutions (including estimating margins of error and biases). We will show students’ transparencies of their projects, and will demonstrate original Excel templates. With this approach, student evaluation comments have changed from ”When am I ever going to use this stuff?” to ”Gee! I never knew math could really be useful to me!”. The teaching effort required is worth it because of the impressive effort that students put into these projects, and students report that working on them is an effective and enjoyable way to learn the course content.

Robert Reys* (reysr@missouri.edu), University of Missouri
A National Conference on Doctoral Programs in Mathematics Education: What issues should be addressed?
A National Conference on Doctoral Programs in Mathematics Education will be sponsored by the National Science Foundation and be held in 2007. This Conference will build onto the First National Conference on Doctoral Programs in Mathematics Education that was held in 1999, and the proceedings entitled One Field, Many Paths: U. S. Doctoral Programs in Mathematics Education (Reys & Kilpatrick, 2002) were published by the Conference Board of the Mathematics Sciences in 2002. The major goals are to Address a range of key issues, including: strategies for developing leadership capacity; core components of doctoral programs; alternative ways of delivering doctoral programs; preparation for careers besides academia; recruitment of under represented students. Share the work of CLTs that relates to strengthening doctoral programs. Examine data about available positions for doctorates in mathematics education and their alignment with preparation. Publish a conference monograph. This session will solicit input about key issues in the preparation of doctorates in mathematics education that should be addressed during the Conference, including the role of mathematicians. Nominations of people well positioned to address the issues will also be encouraged.

Bonnie Saunders* (saunders@math.uic.edu).
Teaching Calculus with Future Middle School Teachers.
The Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago has long offered a mathematics concentration with middle school endorsement for qualified elementary education majors. A sequence of three courses has been designed to give students the opportunity to study a mathematical subject at the college level ( geometry, number theory and calculus, respectively), to explore appropriate uses of calculators and to practice methods of teaching as a major component of the course content. The current curriculum for one of these course, Introduction to Calculus and the Graphing Calculator, centers on a collection of 150 questions that take the students on a journey through calculus while suggesting methods they can use to teach each other the subject. Student teaching activities include presentation of material, design of group activities, and assessment of both student and teacher performance. While answering these calculus questions, students come to see the many ways that middle school mathematics provides a foundation for further mathematical study.

 Benjamin J. Sinwell* (besinwell@yahoo.com), Silver Spring, MD
A Teacher’s Perspective on Communities of Mathematicians and Teachers.
Communities of mathematicians and teachers are formed to build the mathematical knowledge of teachers and their students. My participation in Boston University’s PROMYS for Teachers Program as a high school teacher gave me the opportunity to teach mathematics content courses to in-service secondary mathematics teachers at the Park City Mathematics Institute during the past several summers. Through these and other experiences, I have had the chance to collaborate with various communities of mathematicians and teachers. I will discuss the impacts of these experiences on my classroom teaching in multiple urban settings.

David A. Smith* (das@math.duke.edu), and Lawrence C. Moore.
An Interactive Online Calculus Text.
We are developing a 2nd edition of the Project CALC text, Calculus: Modeling and Application, as an entirely online book with built-in student interactions. The text is being class-tested at Hood College (MD) in all sections of Calculus I (Fall, 2006) and Calculus II (Spring, 2007). We will demonstrate features of the text and report on feedback from the class testing.

Michael Starbird* (starbird@mail.utexas.edu), University of Texas Austin

Calculus for the Public.
Our experience of life today differs markedly from that of people who lived 300 years ago. Most of the differences are owing to technological developments and most of those relied heavily on the techniques and perspectives of calculus. The concepts that make calculus so effective are accessible to and interesting to people who will never personally take derivatives or integrals. It is inspirational to present calculus to people whose goal is intellectual curiosity. It requires one to focus on the question of why calculus has been one of the greatest and most effective intellectual accomplishments in history. Keeping that perspective in mind might well help in our presentation of calculus to students as well.

Max Warshauer* (max@txstate.edu), , Hiroko Warshauer (hw02@txstate.edu), Alex White (aw22@txstate.edu), Terry McCabe (tm04@txstate.edu), and Alejandra Sorto (sorto@txstate.edu),Math Department, Texas State University, San Marcos
Creating Math Learning Communities Locally and using ITV.
Raising the level of student learning, recruiting more math teachers, and providing elementary and middle school teachers professional development opportunities are issues that confront public education. By creating a collaborative learning community, called a Math Inquiry Group (MIG), we address problems teachers face in their classroom and use the lessons learned to inform our university teacher preparation program. MIGs provide a way to link summer experiences with continued school-year support, while building self-sustaining learning communities where teachers take leadership roles in their own professional development. This talk describes how to establish MIGs locally,how to use ITV to support remote sites, and topics that MIGs address. We discuss how to develop administrative support, the importance of talking about teacher concerns, and how this program relates to undergraduate teacher preparation. We describe the difference between local MIGs and using ITV to work with teachers. The programs described provide support to teachers participating in the Park City Math Institute (PMCI) in a Math Science Partnership Grant sponsored by NSF, and to teachers participating in Texas State University Mathworks summer training supported by a Texas state Teacher Quality Grant.

MER Forum

Last update: October 9, 2007

Please address questions and comments to mer@math.uic.edu