AMS-MAA-MER Special Sessions on
Mathematics Education Reform

Washington, D.C. -- January 2000

Co-Organizers-- William Barker, Bowdoin College; Jerry Bona, The University of Texas at Austin; Naomi Fisher, University of Illinois at Chicago; Ken Millett, University of California, Santa Barbara

Since 1990 the MER Forum has organized an AMS-MAA Special Session on Mathematics and Education Reform at the Annual Joint Mathematics Meeting. This year the MER sessions were organized around seven themes:

Teaching Undergraduate Mathematics: Several Research Perspectives

Co-sponsored by the Association for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (ARUME)

Minority Mathematicians: Who is responsible?

Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching)

Co-sponsored by Project NExT

Mathematicians, the NCTM, and the Standards 2000 Project

Co-sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

Notes on new projects

A Facilitated Dialog on Teaching Reform Issues

Co-sponsored by Calculus Reform And the First Two Years (CRAFTY)

Some problems besetting mathematics education from Kindergarten on up and ways for university faculty to contribute in solving them

Co-sponsored by the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM)

The co-organizers would like to thank the following people for their contributions in organizing parts of the program:

Annie Selden, Tenn Tec Univ (Teaching Undergraduate Mathematics: Several Research Perspectives)

Raymond Johnson, University of Maryland (Minority Mathematicians: Who is responsible?)

Christine Stevens, St. Louis University (Project NExT)

William Davis, The Ohio State University (A Facilitated Dialog on Teaching Reform Issues)

Virginia Warfield, University of Washington (Some problems besetting mathematics education from Kindergarten on up and ways for university faculty to contribute in solving them)

Abstracts are available for the talks, which are listed this schedule:

Wednesday, January 19, AM

Teaching Undergraduate Mathematics: Several Research Perspectives

8:00-8:20
Marilyn Carlson, Arizona State University
A Survey of the Function Literature: What Have We Learned?

8:30-8:50
Barbara Edwards, Oregon State University
Undergraduate Mathematics Students' Understanding of the Role of Definitions and the Consequences of These Understandings on Students' Ability to Use Definitions in a Mathematically Acceptable Way

9:00-9:20
Ed Dubinsky, Georgia State University
Effects on students learning topics in collegiate mathematics of pedagogy based on APOS Theory, using cooperative learning, students writing computer programs and in-class problem solving

Minority Mathematicians: Who is responsible?

9:30-9:50
William Velez, University of Arizona
Minorities are Invisible in Mathematics

10:00-10:20
Etta Falconer, Spelman College
Attracting Undergraduate Minorities To Mathematics

10:30-10:50
David Manderscheid, University of Iowa
Increasing the Number of Minority PhDs in Mathematics

Wednesday, January 19, PM

Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching)

2:15-2:35
Christine Stevens, St. Louis University, Joseph Gallian, University of Minnesota-Duluth, and Aparna Higgins, University of Dayton
Mathematics departments, new faculty, and Project NExT

2:45-3:05
Michele Intermont, Kalamazoo College
From One Community to the NExT

3:15-3:35
Douglas Ensley, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
New Experiences with Tenure

3:45-4:05
Jim Lewis, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Project NexT : A Chair's View

Mathematicians, the NCTM, and the Standards 2000 Project

4:30-6:00
Alfred Manaster, University of California, San Diego, Kenneth Millett, University of California, Santa Barbara, James Sandefur, Georgetown University, John Thorpe, NCTM, and Philip Wagreich, University of Illinois at Chicago
Panel on Mathematicians, the NCTM, and the Standards 2000 Project

Thursday, January 20, AM

Notes on new projects

8:00-8:20
Sarah Berenson, North Carolina State University, Tiffany Barnes, North Carolina State University, Laurie Cavey, North Carolina State University, and Virginia Knight, Meredith College
Girls on Track: Middle Grade Girls Modeling Community Problems: An Experiment in Progress

8:30-8:50
Solomon Friedberg, Boston College
Training Mathematics TAs Using Case Studies

A Facilitated Dialog on Teaching Reform Issues

9:00-9:20
Discussion

9:30-11:00
William Davis, The Ohio State University, Steven Krantz, Washington University, Alan Tucker, SUNY Stony Brook, Steven Zucker, Johns Hopkins University, and Lauren McGarity, Alternative Solutions, Inc.
Panel on A Facilitated Dialog on Teaching Reform Issues

Some problems besetting mathematics education from Kindergarten on up and ways for university faculty to contribute in solving them

1:00-1:20
Gail Burrill, National Academy of Science
Learning to make a difference

1:30-1:50
Virginia Warfield, University of Washington
Can one person make a difference? Yes!

2:00-2:20
Bernice Sandler, National Association for Women in Education
Mentoring: Myths and Realities, Dangers and Responsibilities

2:30-2:50
Shirley Malcom, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Rethinking K-12 Mathematics Education

3:00-3:30
Discussion