1:00 - 1:15 Reconstructing beliefs about mathematics
Barbara Henriques, Trinity College
Educational Studies Program 300 Summit Street Hartford, CT 06106
Typically, those who choose to enter professional programs in teacher education tend to be individuals who have developed a sense of themselves as having poor mathematics skills. Generally, they have managed to do the minimum that is required in mathematics in order to gain college entrance. This creates a difficulty when these individuals decide to become teachers who will, in many cases, be the first to introduce their students to mathematics at the early grades. What can teachers of mathematics do to assist these future teachers of young students to identify their beliefs about mathematics, enhance the reconstruction of those beliefs and foster new ways for them to think about mathematics and about themselves as doers of mathematics?
1:20-1:35 Math field experience using a professional development school model
Nancy Gaylen, 112F Kelly Hall Teacher
Education Program Western State College Gunnison, Colorado 81231
This presentation will explain how Elementary math methods students have field experience hours they are required to accomplish within their methods course work. The model I have chosen for accomplishing the field work is the Professional Development School model. Students, classroom teachers, and the professor are involved together in the teaching and learning of mathematics methods.
1:40-1:55 Developing a continuum from mathematics content to classroom experience
Kimberly Vincent, WSU, Dept. Of
Mathematics P.O. Box 643113, Pullman, WA 99164-3113, and Verna Adams, WSU, Dept. of Teaching and Learning Pullman, WA 99164-2132
At Washington State University we are developing greater connectivity among math content, methods, and field experiences for K-8 pre-service teachers. We are working within the Co-Teach project, a collaborative partnership among Colleges of Science and Education at WSU, community colleges and school districts across the state. An overarching goal is to prepare teachers of learners with diverse backgrounds and needs. We will share an approach to the development of the connectivity between content taught in the Mathematics Department and the methods taught in the College of Education, with an emphasis on students discovering how to adapt the content activities for future classroom use.
2:00-2:10 The mathematics content of NMSU's partnership courses.
Andrzej Ehrenfeucht, Computer Science
Department University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0430
The NMSU Department of Mathematical Sciences offers a sequence of five courses geared toward prospective and practicing teachers in elementary and middle schools. The courses cover material from arithmetic, geometry and algebra in an integrated manner. They are taught in a laboratory format, and present mathematics as an applied science. The connections of mathematics to other sciences such as physics are stressed. Calculator and computer technologies are an integral part of the courses.
2:15-2:30 Mathematics curriculum development and implementation
in the Manitoba Public School System
Perry Kalynuk, Virden
Junior High School P.O. Box 513 Virden, Manitoba, Canada R0M 2C0
This presentation deals with a curriculum
development and implementation project in Manitoba, Canada. I will discuss
the methodology and other pedagogical issues pertaining to the challenges
of developing and implementing a multimedia interdisciplinary approach to
teaching mathematics, science, and language arts at the grade six level. I
will also discuss the benefits and challenges of utilizing an integrated
approach in the school setting during the middle years, grades 5-8.
2:35-2:50 PREP: The New Mexico prefreshman engineering program
Alyne Fulte, Department of Mathematical
Sciences, NMSU Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001 New Mexico
PREP is an eight-week, academically
intense summer program designed to prepare pre-college students for
careers in science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM). Participants may
begin the PREP program as early as sixth grade and attend for three years
prior to college entrance. While open to all, PREP is aimed at achieving,
low-income, minority and female students who are underrepresented in SEM
fields. Since its inception in 1997, the number of New Mexico PREP
completions is four shy of four hundred. Our cumulative summer retention
rate remains high at 92.7%. Two-thirds of our first year participants have
returned to complete the second year and our PREP 2 to PREP 3 return rate
is 80.5%. We have a female participation rate of 55.3% and 75% of our
participants are underrepresented minorities. This presentation will
feature the New Mexico PREP program, with more detailed information on the
history and curriculum of PREP, its five-year results, and its future
expectations.
2:55-3:20 INTERMISSION
3:25-3:40 Building regional capacity
Nancy M. Antonellis, Center for
Mathematics Education EDC; 55 Chapel Street; Newton, MA 02458
This project is a professional development
program for mathematics teachers, department heads and other lead
teachers. Over a two- year period consisting of two 2-week summer
institutes and academic year work, participants engage in the study of
mathematics focusing on significant mathematical ideas in the 7-12
curriculum, build capacities to plan and provide professional development
opportunities for teachers of mathematics and develop leadership skills
necessary to work effectively at district and regional levels.
3:45-4:00 A post-baccalaureate teacher
preparation
program integrating mathematics, science, and technology education
Arthur L. White and Donna F. Berlin,
Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education Arps Hall 238 The Ohio
State University Columbus, OH 43210
This presentation will describe the rationale, goals and objectives, components, materials, and activities as they relate to the Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education (MSAT) teacher preparation program for teachers of grades 7 12 at The Ohio State University. The presentation will also include formative evaluation results from the first three years of the program. The MSAT program was conceived during the 1995-1996 academic year and has typically enrolled 50-60 preservice teachers annually. The participants are required to have a four-year college degree and are expected to have completed 75%-85% of the content in mathematics, science, and/or technology required for certification prior to admission. The program generally requires 4-5 quarters for completion and results in certification to teach along with a Masters Degree in Education (M. Ed.). The students progress through the program in a cohort group averaging about 50 participants. The program provides the students with knowledge, skills, and experiences related to their primary teaching interests as well as with immersion in the issues and strategies for integrating the teaching and learning of mathematics, science, and technology. Each participant is also provided with educational research knowledge, skills, and experiences and required to design, implement, and report on action research conducted by them in their classrooms. These studies focus on activities or strategies used by the preservice teachers with students in regard to the effects of their own teaching.
4:05-4:20 Modular precalculus and change
Nancy Marcus, Department of
Mathematics University of Texas at El Paso El Paso, TX
The introduction of a modular precalculus
program at the University of Texas at El Paso took a uear of planning, two
years of piloting, and has been in full effect since 1995. This paper
discusses the evolution and implementation of a modular precalculus
program, student clustering, pedagogy, delivery of the course, faculty
collaboration across disciplines, and the adoption of a reform curriculum.
Modifying the delivery changed the course with a very low efficiency
rating to one with a high efficiency rating. Student satisfaction is high
even though the course is more rigorous, and the Department of Mathematics
is receiving "great press" across campus. What started out as a
collaboration with the colleges of science and engineering now includes
education. The peer facilitators are groomed as future graduate students
in Mathematics Education. They are trained in web work, group work, and
tutoring. Our objective is that these students take these skills into the
classrooms.
4:25-4:40 Bridging the vector calculus gap
Tevian Dray, Department of
Mathematics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331
There is a "vector calculus gap"
between the way vector calculus is usually taught by mathematicians and
the way it is used by other scientists. This material is essential for
physicists and some engineers due to its central role in the description
of electricity and magnetism. I will discuss efforts at Oregon State
University to bridge this gap through the use of small group activities
which emphasize geometric visualization. Our approach also suggests
changes which could be made in the teaching of related material, such as
the basic properties of vectors. Further information can be found at http://www.physics.orst.edu/bridge.
4:45-5:00 Panel discussion of common themes in the talks,
featuring all speakers
Pat Baggett, moderator