Speakers and Abstracts for talks

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

Joint Annual Mathematics Meetings, San Antonio, Texas, January, 2006

Sylvia T. Bozeman, Spelman College
Building a Nurturing Mathematics Community.

A collection of small efforts can create a nurturing environment for students in the lower level mathematics courses who plan to go higher. Thispresentation identifies mechanisms for building a community that assists students in making the transition from lower level mathematics courses to upper level ones and that encourages them to become mathematicians, scientists, and engineers or, at the least, advocates for mathematics. We focus here on ways to promote mathematical maturity, instill confidence and promote leadership development. For those students who choose graduate mathematics programs and academic careers, how can the larger mathematics community continue to nurture them? Some structures for mentoring graduate students and junior faculty will be discussed.

Valerie A. Debellis, Shodor Education Foundation, and Joseph G. Rosenstein, Rutgers University 
Lessons learned from our long-term discrete collaboration in the mathematical preparation of teachers.

For the past 15 years, the presenters -- a mathematics educator and a mathematician -- have collaborated on designing professiona development programs in discrete mathematics for K-12 teachers and, subsequently, on developing curriculum materials for use in college mathematics courses for prospective K-8 teachers. In the presentation they will discuss these activities and the important role that discrete mathematics can play in enhancing the mathematical understanding of teachers. They will discuss their collaboration in designing such programs and materials -- what each partner brings to, and what each partner learns from the collaboration. They will also discuss the implications of such activities and collaborations for the "common ground".

Robert L. Devaney, Boston University
Bringing Contemporary Mathematics into the Curriculum.
One of the ways I have found that students become excited about mathematics is when they hear about topics that are of current interest in mathematics and that are also relevant to the subject matter they are currently studying. We will give several examples of including such topics in calculus and differential equations courses.

Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Michigan State University
Reaching Common Ground: Issues in Teachers' Mathematical Education and Professional Development.

Current challenges in K-12 mathematics education lead to pleas for improving the mathematical education of prospective teachers and the ongoing professional development of in-service teachers. I will summarize key elements of three major research and development activities underway at Michigan State University: reform of preservice teacher education (the Carnegie-supported Teachers for a New Era initiative), where an MSU team of mathematicians and mathematics educators began by designing "Teacher Knowledge Standards" in mathematics; development of assessment tools for measuring secondary school teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching (the NSF-supported Knowledge of Algebra for Teaching project, REC 0337595), and the ongoing professional development of teachers in our Mathematics and Science Partnership (NSF-supported PROM/SE, Promoting Rigorous Outcomes in Mathematics and Science Education, EHR-0314866). Using cases and examples from our collaborative efforts in these projects, I will discuss the challenges and benefits of committing to "reaching common ground" among mathematics education researchers, psychometricians, teacher educators, mathematicians, and K-12 teachers in shaping mathematics learning experiences for teachers.

Andrew M. Gleason, Harvard University
Disagreeing about Common Ground.

Mathematics education reform is not about mathematics or, if you are generous it's 10\% about mathematics. It's really about the choice of curriculum and pedagogical style. Many actors demand a voice in the selection of curriculum: parents, teachers, publishers, employers and, finally, politicians. And these different actors have widely different views. Within the professional mathematics community views differ as sharply but not perhaps as widely as those within the general public.

Recently, the MAA with support of the NSF has promoted some meetings to "search for common ground." I have reports of two of these meetings. My talk will be devoted to explaining why I disagree with the main thrusts of these meetings. Both of them emphasize arithmetic calculation as the primary, almost the only, objective of mathematical instruction in the early grades. I disagree! Mathematics instruction should be devoted to explaining how mathematics helps us to understand the real world.

 Richard O. Hill and Sharon L. Senk, Michigan State University 
Results from a Capstone Course for Future High School Mathematics Teachers, jointly taught by a Mathematician and a Mathematics Educator.

Following the recommendations of MET, for the fall semesters of 2003 and 2004, Michigan State University has offered a capstone course for future mathematics teachers of grades 7-12. Each was team taught by a mathematician and a mathematics educator. The primary text was {\it High school mathematics from an advanced standpoint}, by Usiskin et al. We shall discuss what we taught, some (surprising) discoveries about what these future teachers knew and learned, the benefits of collaborations by mathematicians and mathematics educators in capstone courses for future teachers, and our plans for such courses in the future.

Robert S. Keller, Loras College
Getting Students to Speak Mathematics: One Model that Works.
Undergraduate mathematics majors are infrequently asked to communicate mathematics to their peers and to faculty members in an organized and deliberate manner. They may present the results of a project required in a certain mathematics class, or perhaps they may be asked to share a proof or explain a problem. However, opportunities such as these undoubtedly occur less often than we would like and probably do little to satisfy any substantive goals focused on improving our students' skills in communicating mathematics.

Loras College recently developed a 1-credit seminar course in an effort to simultaneously improve our majors' technical speaking skills and encourage them to investigate areas of mathematics they wouldn't ordinarily encounter in regular coursework. Majors must take the course three times before graduating. The course requirements are simple: students give one group presentation and one individual presentation to their peers and fellow math faculty. My talk will address development and current organization of the course, selection of presentation topics, and grading. I will provide examples of topics and a sample rubric used in grading.

 Jeremy Kilpatrick, University of Georgia
Math War Veteran Tells All.

The so-called wars of the new math era have been forgotten, dismissed as
irrelevant, and badly misinterpreted. A veteran of the math wars then and now
sees some persistent issues, as well as some persistent misunderstandings, as
mathematicians and mathematics educators seek common ground.

W. James Lewis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Attracting and Retaining Students in the Mathematical Sciences.

Many policy makers argue that our colleges and universities need to do a better job of attracting and retaining students who pursue a degree that leads to a mathematically intensive career. Mathematicians also argue that it is in our discipline's best interest to attract more students into mathematics. What is a fair assessment of the job we are doing? Do our lower division courses attractor repel students from mathematics? Is there more we can or should be doing to attract students to major in mathematics? The author will discuss these and related questions.

Johnny W. Lott, The University of Montana
Standards and the National Math View.

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Association of State Supervisors of Mathematics met in July 2004 and produced a document outlining similarities and differences in state mathematics standards at grade level for K-12. This session will look at algebra and geometry.

David Manderscheid, University of Iowa
The Mathematics Program at the University of Iowa: A community of mentors.

The Department of Mathematics at the University of Iowa has undergone a remarkable change over the last ten years. This change came about as a result of our efforts to increase the number of Ph.D.'s from US minority groups underrepresented in Mathematics. For our success in these efforts the Department recently received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. In this talk I will describe the change in culture that has resulted from our transformation of the Department into a "community of mentors". I will further describe our efforts that led to this change with an emphasis on how we structured our principles and programs to benefit all students. I will also discuss how our model attracts more students to Mathematics and the replicability of our model.

William McCallum
How does technology affect student attitudes to mathematics?

For many years mathematicians have been preoccupied with the question of what effect technology has on their teaching. Some have embraced technology, others reject it. Either way, it is attitudes to technology that are at issue in this discussion, rather than attitudes to mathematics. In this talk I would like to raise a different question. What effect does the existence of technology have on student attitudes to mathematics itself? And how can we can use this effect to increase student interest in mathematics?

John C. Meakin, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Promoting excellence through a supportive environment.

I will discuss efforts that have been undertaken at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for the past two decades to promote excellence in both the graduate program and the undergraduate program in mathematics by creating a supportive environment for all students. This has developed from an initial goal of developing an environment in which women would be successful, to a more global goal of mentoring success for all qualified students in the program. Of critical importance in this effort is a belief that if one creates a supportive environment in which qualified people are EXPECTED to succeed, then they WILL succeed.

Robert Eugene Megginson, University of Michigan
Attracting more minority students into the Mathematical Sciences through undergraduate research experiences: Why and How?

This talk will focus on the role of undergraduate research experiences in attracting more students from under-represented minority groups into graduate-level mathematics, with some examples of programs that have been documentably successful in doing so and represent replicable models. As a brief side trip, the talk will also look at the reasons for needing to do so, particularly given the common belief that it is reasonable for first-generation college students, which students from these groups often are, to gravitate toward higher-paying professions outside of academe that do not require advanced academic preparation.

R. James Milgram, Stanford University
The search for common ground in K - 12 mathematics education
A concerted effort to identify the core areas where mathematicians and mathematics educators who specialize in K - 12 mathematics agree and disagree started this year. The effort has been funded by the NSF, Texas Instruments, and the National Business Round Table and supported by the MAA due to the critical importance of improved math outcomes for high school graduates and the difficulties that the math wars have created for deciding on effective methods to address this problem.

In initial meetings of a small group - Deborah Ball, Jeremy Kilpatrick, the author, Joan Ferrini Mundy, Wilfried Schmid, and Richard Schaar - agreements were achieved on many if not most of the key issues in K - 8 math instruction, and work is continuing on 9 - 12.

These initial successes have attracted the attention of a number of the key organizations involved in establishing mathematics education policy including the Council of Chief State School Officers, (CCSSO), the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, (NCTM), and the U.S. Department of Education. Efforts are also underway to include a larger group of stakeholders.

We will report on the status of this initiative.

Harriet S. Pollatsek, Mt. Holyoke College
Attracting More Students to the Mathematical Sciences: strategies from the CUPM Illustrative Resources for changing department culture and curricula.

The department culture, with its expectations and rewards, affects the allocation of faculty resources to the strengthening of three of the areas the CUPM Guide 2004 identifies as critical to the recruitment of more students: teaching in the courses that are gateways to further study, advising of students, and consultation with colleagues in partner disciplines. Curricular choices are also critical: attention to prerequisites, breadth of offerings, opportunities for connections to other fields. The talk will offer examples from the Illustrative Resources and from personal experience of strategies that can produce positive change.

Panel discussion
Moderator: Samuel Rankin, AMS
Panelists: Sylvia T. Bozeman, Spelman College, David C. Manderscheid, University of Iowa, John C. Meakin, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, William Y. Velez, University of Arizona

Mentoring and Nurturing Students in Mathematics Departments.
How can mathematical sciences departments develop environments that are nurturing to all students? Following the presentations from individuals who have helped to build nurturing environments in their respective departments, this panel discussion will focus on how departments can develop nurturing
environments as part of the departmental mission.

Joseph G. Rosenstein, Rutgers Univesity 
The rush to calculus and the rush to algebra.

We have speeded up the math curriculum so that an increasing number of students are taking calculus in high school. Some states are considering proposals that all students take algebra 1 in the 8th grade; an important implication and rationale for such proposals is that this would make it possible for all students to take calculus in high school. Among the "fundamental premises" of "Reaching for Common Ground in K-12 Mathematics Education" is that "by the time they leave high school, a majority of students should have studied calculus." Is there indeed evidence that more students taking calculus is a desirable goal? The presenter will report on the patterns of course-taking that emerge from his recent study of high school and college transcripts of Rutgers University students, and will reveal the percentage of students who continue their high school math acceleration in their first year at Rutgers.

Andrew J. Bernoff, Francis Edward Su and Lesley A. Ward, Harvey Mudd College
Pizza, Problem-Solving, and Promoting a Math-Friendly Culture.

At Harvey Mudd College, a significant fraction of students participate in the "mathematical life" of the college. Many of these are non-math majors. For instance 1/3 to 1/2 of the student body turn out for evening math talks, 1/10 of the student body choose to take the Putnam examination, and several students are now majoring in new joint degree programs that combine mathematics with computer science or biology. We describe what efforts underlie our success in promoting a math-friendly culture among our students and other departments, and suggest ideas that may be adaptable at other schools.

William Y. Velez , University of Arizona
Increasing the number of mathematics majors: It takes a village.

For many years I have worked to increase the number of minority mathematics majors. Two years ago I took over the position of Associate Head for Undergraduate Affairs. In this position I am charged with running the undergraduate mathematics major program and I am using the ideas and techniques that I developed for minority students to work with all students. It is my responsibility to increase the number of all students who choose to major in mathematics. In the last two years we have seen a 50% increase in the number of mathematics majors. Even though it is my responsibility, encouraging more students to pursue mathematical studies should be the responsibility of the mathematics department and its faculty.

This talk will present some of these ideas and also indicate what mathematics departments, and their faculty, could do to achieve this increase.

MER Forum

Last update: October 14, 2006

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