Members of the department have been involved in several projects that
have helped develop a clear vision for what we want. (1) Several faculty
have visited industry to find how math is used by employees. They found
very little need for specific math skills (for most workers). Workers
needed all those attribues we find in SCANS plus the ability to learn on
their own and adapt to a changing work environment. (2) Several faculty
worked with eng tech faculty and communication faculty in our Capstone
Project. This project promoted a senior project for AAS students. Thus,
our curriculum had to build the skills that students needed in order to
successfully complete their project. The result was more in-class and
extended student projects. (3) NC changed from quarters to semesters.
This allowed us to rewrite the course descriptions for all courses. Our
Mathematical Models course (MAT 115) reflects the need for less emphasis
on algebra and more emphasis on problem solving, critical thinking, and
the Foundation (as defined in the AMATYC standards) level topics. (4)
the use of technology, especially the spreadsheet, allows us to
investigate non-trivial problems while using software that students will
continue to use past school. (5) Faculty in the department work
together to design and teach courses. A lead instructor meets with other
faculty who teach the course and they develop and refine the syllabus,
construct departmental tests and consider various methods for teaching
the content. This promotes dialogue and growth among the faculty.
In order for students to learn material in context and strengthen their
problem solving, communication and critical thinkings skills, I do think
that it helps to have a text that is less traditional rather than try to
do it with a traditional algebra-intensive text. We have found texts
like that for college algebra and for business calculus as well as the
courses for AAS students. (We offer a coll alg for AA students and a
pre-calc for AS students.)
Rob
Martha Haehl wrote:
> RobHow did you get your department to move away from strictly a skills
> approach to teaching mathematics? Did you also change the curricular
> definitions of your courses, or is the approach within a traditional
> curriculum? Martha
>
> ---snip
> As chair of the department I have the responsibility and the
> opportunity to visit each class as the students complete the
> course/instructor evaluation. I have been doing that over
> the past two weeks.
> 1. I have been very pleased with the students' comments
> regarding instruction. They tell me how much the instructor
> seems to care, how willing they are to go over material or
> explain it differently, to meet with them out of class, and
> how knowledgeable they are in their subject. And, I could go
> on. Since we strive to follow the standards in what we
> teach and how we teach, these comments have been very
> rewarding.
> 2. I had several students come up to me, after I
> dismissed the class, and tell me how much better they are
> doing in math because of the way we are presenting the
> material, and I think, because of what material we are
> presenting. We try to use a great deal of hands-on
> activities, spreadsheets, group work, projects and less
> lecture. The students are very involved in the lessons. In
> the courses we teach for non-math intensive AA and AAS
> degrees, the content is carefully selected and taught in the
> context of applications. The emphasis is not on algebraic
> manipulation-rather, it is on problem solving, understanding
> the solution and selecting the appropriate tools for solving
> the problem. For example, two students (older ladies) came
> up to me after a Mathematical Models class. They both said
> how much they understood slope because of the applications
> (depreciation, pitch, inventory...) that were used to show
> how meaningful slope is in so many applications. They said
> that the definition of slope had been drilled into them in
> high school, but they never understood it before. They said
> they were very glad that we were changing the way
> mathematics is taught--making it more applied and more
> meaningful. I must say though, that there were several
> students who said they didn't like all the "word problems."
> However, they agreed that they would see a great many word
> problems in their intended major (business).
>
> Thanks for the opportunity to share, glad you asked.
> Rob
>
>
>
Rob Kimball Chair, Mathematics and Physics Department
Office: 919-662-3602 Wake Technical Community College
Home: 919-266-0850 Raleigh, North Carolina 27603-5696
Visit the department's web site at http://www.wake.tec.nc.us/math
and the C.H.I.M.P. web site at http://www.wake.tec.nc.us/math/Chimp
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Members of the department have been involved in several projects that have helped develop a clear vision for what we want. (1) Several faculty have visited industry to find how math is used by employees. They found very little need for specific math skills (for most workers). Workers needed all those attribues we find in SCANS plus the ability to learn on their own and adapt to a changing work environment. (2) Several faculty worked with eng tech faculty and communication faculty in our Capstone Project. This project promoted a senior project for AAS students. Thus, our curriculum had to build the skills that students needed in order to successfully complete their project. The result was more in-class and extended student projects. (3) NC changed from quarters to semesters. This allowed us to rewrite the course descriptions for all courses. Our Mathematical Models course (MAT 115) reflects the need for less emphasis on algebra and more emphasis on problem solving, critical thinking, and the Foundation (as defined in the AMATYC standards) level topics. (4) the use of technology, especially the spreadsheet, allows us to investigate non-trivial problems while using software that students will continue to use past school. (5) Faculty in the department work together to design and teach courses. A lead instructor meets with other faculty who teach the course and they develop and refine the syllabus, construct departmental tests and consider various methods for teaching the content. This promotes dialogue and growth among the faculty.
RobHow did you get your department to move away from strictly a skills approach to teaching mathematics? Did you also change the curricular definitions of your courses, or is the approach within a traditional curriculum? Martha---snip
As chair of the department I have the responsibility and the opportunity to visit each class as the students complete the course/instructor evaluation. I have been doing that over the past two weeks.
1. I have been very pleased with the students' comments regarding instruction. They tell me how much the instructor seems to care, how willing they are to go over material or explain it differently, to meet with them out of class, and how knowledgeable they are in their subject. And, I could go on. Since we strive to follow the standards in what we teach and how we teach, these comments have been very rewarding.
2. I had several students come up to me, after I dismissed the class, and tell me how much better they are doing in math because of the way we are presenting the material, and I think, because of what material we are presenting. We try to use a great deal of hands-on activities, spreadsheets, group work, projects and less lecture. The students are very involved in the lessons. In the courses we teach for non-math intensive AA and AAS degrees, the content is carefully selected and taught in the context of applications. The emphasis is not on algebraic manipulation-rather, it is on problem solving, understanding the solution and selecting the appropriate tools for solving the problem. For example, two students (older ladies) came up to me after a Mathematical Models class. They both said how much they understood slope because of the applications (depreciation, pitch, inventory...) that were used to show how meaningful slope is in so many applications. They said that the definition of slope had been drilled into them in high school, but they never understood it before. They said they were very glad that we were changing the way mathematics is taught--making it more applied and more meaningful. I must say though, that there were several students who said they didn't like all the "word problems." However, they agreed that they would see a great many word problems in their intended major (business).Thanks for the opportunity to share, glad you asked.
Rob
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