Working Groups
Math/General Education Group
The general education group will pilot a fairly radically different approach to the MAT 103 course beginning in the fall 2006 semester. This decision was made in concert with the mathematics department and involves new text materials and a different pedagogical approach compared to standard practice currently used in MAT 103 sections. The current course emphasizes various voting methods, Euler circuits, and finally various growth models. The piloted version places emphasis on the development of critical thinking skills and visits several fundamental mathematical concepts as the context for practicing these skills. The new pedagogical approach involves more student-student interaction as well as more student-faculty interaction in an attempt to develop life thinking skills as opposed to the memorization of mathematical procedures that is common to more traditional approaches. Faculty who have volunteered to try this new approach attended a one week workshop sponsored by the Title III project. This workshop was led in part by the author of the new materials which will be used in the piloted sections.
Ted Schmidt, Ph.D., Coordinator, and Chair and Associate Professor, Economics and Finance Department
Tina Carter, Ph.D., Lecturer, Mathematics Department
Abdi Hajikandi, M.A., Assistant Director, Academic Services, Educational Opportunity Program
George Hole, Ph.D., Distinguished Teaching Professor, Philosophy and Humanities Department
Ron Stewart, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Sociology Department
Math/Elementary Education Group
The math/elementary education group is considering ways to strengthen the MAT 121 and 122 sequence which is required of all elementary education majors prior to completing EDU 312, a methods course for teaching math and science. At the end of the spring 2006 semester the elementary education group administered an assessment instrument to 57 students completing EDU 312 and planning to student teach in the fall 2006 semester. The purpose of this assessment was to determine a baseline measure of the readiness of our students to teach math in the elementary grades. These results will provide a way to measure future success of our project.
Sue McMillen, Ph.D., Coordinator, and Associate Professor, Mathematics Department
Dave Henry, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Elementary Education and Reading Department
Jody Magner, M.S., Assistant Professor, Mathematics Department
Dianne McCarthy, M.Ed., Assistant Professor, Elementary Education and Reading Department
Joan Nicolette, M.S.Ed., Instructor, Academic Skills Center
Math/Science Group
The math/science group has assembled a taxonomy of student quantitative/mathematical difficulties which are frequently observed in various science and technology courses. An assessment instrument is under construction which will give us a quantitative measure of the pervasiveness of these difficulties and will also serve to inform workshops that will be held next year for math and science faculty members. The assessment will be given to a pilot group of students in the fall 2006 semester, revised and given to a larger population of students in the spring 2007 semester.
Javier Peñalosa, Ph.D., Coordinator, and Associate Professor, Biology Department
Steve Andre, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Technology Department
Bill Lin, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Computer Information Systems Department
Gary Solar, Ph.D., Chair and Associate Professor, Earth Sciences and Science Education Department
Dave Wilson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Mathematics Department
