Guidelines for general education mathematics courses developed by
representatives of two and four year mathematics departments in
Maryland
1. All college-level general education mathematics courses must
have performance expectations demonstrating a level of
mathematical maturity beyond high school algebra II
(intermediate algebra).
2. All college-level mathematics courses must include
development of analysis, synthesis and problem-solving
skills which would introduce students to ways of thinking in
mathematics.
3. All college-level mathematics courses must introduce
mathematical concepts and techniques which can be applied in
further study of mathematics and/or other disciplines.
4. All college-level mathematics courses must explore
mathematical applications to other disciplines.
What is interesting in Maryland is that at the same time as this has been
going on, the pre-college community has been developing core learning
goals for mathematics. College faculty have noted that there is not
enough symbolic algebra for success, even in our reformed courses.
College and pre-college meetings will be getting underway now.
Net effect of all of this is that we have all been scrambling to change
prerequisites for liberal arts mathematics courses and to update them.
Students at our school have been warned since last fall about the
impending changes which will go into effect this fall. Some of them are
beginning to realize what these changes mean with respect to their
mathematics plans - they are not too happy. Meanwhile, we are not quite
sure what our distribution of courses will be for the fall.
Maryland still wants to deal with the issue of course substitution for
genreal education mathematics for students with profound mathematics
learning disabilities. I would be most appreciative of hearing how this
is handled in different schools or states.
Judy E. Ackerman
Montgomery College
Rockville, Maryland 20850