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[1] PREP Workshop"Refocusing and reMODELING
College Algebra"
Over the past decade there has been a national movement to improve and refocus
the content taught and the pedagogy used within a College Algebra course.
Refocused courses ask students to solve contextually-based problems by
creating and interpreting mathematical models. Students make use of
appropriate technology to solve problems and assist them in communicating
relevant solutions to their real-life problems. The PREP workshop will be held
on the campus of the University of Wisconsin -- River Falls in River Falls, WI
from June 1, 2009 to June 5, 2009. The facilitators for the workshop
are: Don Small, United States Military Academy Kathryn Ernie, University of Wisconsin at River Falls
Erick Hofacker, University of Wisconsin at River Falls The workshop is designed to assist faculty from mathematics departments who have plans to refocus their current College Algebra curriculum. During the course of the workshop, participants will: \ Explore College Algebra from the perspective of the recommendations made by the MAA Guidelines for College Algebra, published January, 2007. \ Explore and create problems that make use of contextual situations to motivate the mathematics being taught in College Algebra. \ Engage in discussion with instructors and students that have taught and taken a refocused College Algebra course. \ Engage in discussion with faculty from the partner disciplines about the needs of their students taking a College Algebra course. \ Engage in discussion with each other discussing their own personal experiences with College Algebra, and present at the end of the workshop plans for changes they could make afterwards. \ Learn about incorporating a modeling perspective into the curriculum and using modeling-based-problems as an emphasis in the course. \ Learn about a number of available textbooks and other resources which can be used to assist in transforming from a traditionally-based course. \ Learn about new forms of technology which can be used to assist in motivating communication and representation, and then discuss ways of using the technology at their own university. \ Draft a syllabus and organize the framework for a College Algebra course taught in a refocused manner.
\ Create materials, problems, and assessment items which would be
incorporated into their future refocused course. Facilitator and participants will hold a reunion during the AMS/MAA Joint Meetings in San Francisco during January, 2010. This reunion will be combined with a reunion of the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) participants that are working with Don Small on the refocusing of College Algebra.
[2] HBCU Retreat and Follow-On Program
The HBCU Retreat and Follow-On program to refocus college algebra has two
parts. The first part is a four day faculty development workshop held at the
U.S. Military Academy for teams of two to four faculty members from selected
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The second part involves
the selected schools piloting their own refocused program for at least two
years. The Retreat engages participants in hands-on experiences central to a
refocus course designed to develop students to become exploratory learners and
to develop students' problem solving abilities in the modeling sense. Small
group work, developing communication skills, appropriate use of technology,
and modeling real-life situations characterize the Retreat activities. Each
school team is assigned a mentor who assists the team in developing a draft
syllabus for a refocused program that is suitable to their school. During the
two-year follow-on period, the mentors continue to work with their teams
through on-site campus visits, e-mail and telephone calls, and organized
Reunion session at national meetings. Each school is offered the opportunity
to apply for a $5,000 mini-grant to help facilitate their work in refocusing
their college algebra course.
Seventeen HBCUs have participated in the program over the past three years.
The list of the schools with the names of the team members are: 2006 Cohort #1 (Retreat, 5-8 June 2006)
Albany State University (Mentor: Dennis Davenport) Team:
Zephyrinus Okonkwo, Connie Leggett, Jerome Myricks
Florida Memorial University (Mentor: Archie Wilmer) Team:
Thelma Lawton, Carlos Canas, Abbas Zadegan
Fort Valley State University (Mentor: Tony Johnson) Team:
Josephine Davis, Ugur Tanriver, Samuel Cartwright
Howard University (Mentor: Donald Outing) Team: Jill McGowan,
David James, Paul Bezandry
Savannah State University (Mentor: Don Small) Team: Mulatu
Lemma, Jonathan Lambright, Hyoun Oh
Virginia State University (Mentor: Laurette Foster) Team:
Cheryl Adeyemi, Eleanor Poarc-Wall, Gerald Burton; Bob Weimer replaced Gerald
Burton on the team 2007 Cohort #2 (Retreat, 4-7 June 2007)
Fayetteville State University (Mentor: Tony Johnson) Team:
Asitha Kodippili, Perry Gillespie, Pamela Williams
Paine College (Mentor: Don Small) Team: Komala Balakrishnan,
Reuben Kesler, Lonell Pontoo
Prairie View A&M University (Mentor: Laurette Foster)
Team: Arouna Davies, Michael Williams, Dorothy Muhammad
Southern University (Mentors: Archie Wilmer, Donald Outing)
Team: Katrina Cunningham, Caroline Robbins, Marlena Batiste
University of the District of Columbia (Mentor: Dennis
Davenport) Team: Venise Steadman, Jeff Fleming, Beverly Anderson 2008 Cohort #3 (Retreat, 11-14 June 2008)
Bethune-Cookman University (Mentor: Archie Wilmer) Team:
Candy Hodges, Tom Roper
Harris-Stowe State University (Mentor: Tony Johnson) Team:
Ann Podleski, Bruce Green
Johnson C. Smith University (Mentor: Laurette Foster) Team:
Nailong Guo, Gerald Agbegha
Lincoln University (Mentor: Tony Johnson) Team: Bernadette
Turner, Donna Stallings
Livingstone College (Mentor: Laurette Foster) Team: Douglas
Brown
Saint Paul's College (Mentor: Don Small) Team: Sunday
Adesuyi, Yahya Njai, David Mitra, Siva Sivakumaran Program Mentors are: Don Small (U.S. Military Academy), Dennis Davenport (Howard University), Tony Johnson (U.S. Military Academy), Laurette Foster (Prairie View A&M), Donald Outing (U.S. Military Academy), Archie Wilmer (U.S. Military Academy). The external evaluator for the program is Kathi Snook (U.S. Military Academy, retired). The program is funded through a National Science Foundation grant and grants from the Army Research Office. [3] Thoughts for Planning a New Semester
The "tone" of a course is established in the first couple of weeks of the
semester. It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of the first few
classes in firmly establishing course policies on homework, attendance, class
preparation, class participation, exploration, etc. The absence of explicitly
stated and enforced policies will only strengthen the students' paradigm of
how a mathematics course is conducted. For many, this paradigm is that the
instructor lectures on how to work certain exercises or procedures,
illustrates with some examples, and then mimics these examples on homework and
test questions. Thus the thinking that the route to getting a good grade is to
memorize and then regurgitate.
Ken Bain in his book What the Best College Teachers Do offers the
following partial list of questions for teachers to contemplate in preparing
for a new semester. \ What are my student Learning Objectives? \ What do I expect of my students? \ How can I create an environment that fosters exploratory learning? \ How can I encourage students to apply themselves, to take risks, to take responsibility? \ How can I assess student growth?
\ How can I model learning for my students? Ken Bain says "The best teachers ask themselves what they hope students can do intellectually, emotionally, or physically by the end of the course and why these abilities are important." Another quote from his book is that the best teachers "know how to engage and challenge students and believe two things fervently: that teaching matters and that students can learn." [4] Boarding in the Gable EndBrady Quinn, the Newburgh Habitat for Humanity engineer, asked Don to close-in the gable end of the house they were building. He said the roof was eight over twelve (meaning that the height of the roof rose eight inches in a span of twelve inches). He suggested cutting two identical trapezoidal shaped pieces (see the following figure) from a four foot by eight foot piece of plywood. Having measured, Brady knew the longest height was fifty six inches and the width was four feet. How long should the shortest height be?
[5] QueryAlfred has invested in three purchases of Bank of America stock,. He first purchased 100 shares at $38 per share, then 50 shares at $27 per share, and finally another 50 shares at $22 per share. At what price should he sell all of the shares in order to realize a $500 profit? Would he gain or lose if he sold at $32 per share and by how much? (Ignore all transaction fees.) [6] Wake-Up Questions
Here are a sample of activities/questions that can be used at the beginning of
class to help students mentally transfer from their previous activity to your
mathematics class.
a. Describe at least two methods for determining if
b. Explain why "slope" can be described as "rate of change." c. If the average student height in a given class is less than the median height, are there more students with height above the average than below the average? Explain. [7] Notices
* Supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Military Academy. |
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