Observation of Reform Teaching in Undergraduate Level Mathematics and Science Courses

This paper reports on initial results from an ongoing evaluation study of a National Science Foundation project to implement reform‐oriented teaching practices in college science and mathematics courses. The purpose of this study was to determine what elements of reform teaching are being utilized by college faculty members teaching undergraduate science and mathematics courses, including a qualitative estimate of the frequency with which they are used. Participating instructors attended summer institutes that modeled reform‐based practices and fostered reflection on current issues in science, mathematics, and technological literacy for K‐16 teaching, with an explicit emphasis on the importance of creating the best possible learning experience for prospective K‐12 science and mathematics teachers. Utilizing a unique classroom observation protocol (the Oregon‐Teacher Observation Protocol) and interviews, the authors (a) conclude that some reform‐oriented teaching strategies are evident in undergraduate mathematics and science instruction and (b) suggest areas in which additional support and feedback are needed in order for higher education faculty members to adopt reform‐based instructional methodology.     

Institutional Norms and Policies That Influence College Mathematics Professors in the Process of Changing to Reform‐Based Practices

This case study was an investigation of the role of the institutional culture of a university in the process of changing to reform‐based practices for two college mathematics professors. A framework is presented for identifying and analyzing institutional norms and policies that are present and those lacking in supporting faculty efforts toward reform. The primary categories considered in the framework are the teaching and learning context, the professional community, and the university's reward system. This framework is applied to the cases, and findings indicate that institutional norms in the forms of priorities for how time is allocated to professional responsibilities (as part of the teaching context), and colleagues and administrators who understood and shared the professors' goals for reform (as part of the professional community) strongly influenced the professors' efforts toward change. Additionally, a reward system that recognized efforts to improve teaching and learning was critical in establishing a culture that promoted change. However, despite the fact that both professors were in the same mathematics department, the nature of the influence of these factors was not uniform. The institutional culture indeed had multiple layers that required examination for each professor's individual context. The findings help highlight the importance of institutional context for both K‐12 and college level teaching and learning. The nature of these influential factors and the institutional layers were discussed for each case, along with implications for other institutions.     

高等农林院校大学数学课程的改革与实践

介绍了目前我国高等农林院校大学数学课程的开设情况,分析了大学数学系列课程的教学改革成果、现状以及存在的一些问题,同时对在高等农林院校中如何进行大学数学课程改革提出了若干建议和措施.     

Mathematical Readiness of Entering College Freshmen: An Exploration of Perceptions of Mathematics Faculty

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has set ambitious goals for the teaching and learning of mathematics that include preparing students for both the workplace and higher education. While this suggests that it is important for students to develop strong mathematical competencies by the end of high school, there is evidence to indicate that overall this is not the case. Both national and international studies corroborate the concern that, on the whole, US 12th grade students do not demonstrate mathematical proficiency, suggesting that students making the transition from high school to college mathematics may not be ready for its rigors. In order to investigate mathematical readiness of entering college students, this study surveyed mathematics faculty. Specifically, faculty members were asked their perceptions of average entering students' readiness related to relevant mathematical skills and concepts, and the importance of the same skills and concepts as foundations for college mathematics. Results demonstrated that the faculty perceived that average freshman students are generally not mathematically prepared; further, the skills and concepts rated as highly important — namely, algebraic skills and reasoning and generalization — were among those rated the lowest in terms of student competencies.     

立足教育创新瞩目大学数学教育

在回顾我国非数学专业数学教育、教学改革的基础上,对当今的大学数学教育进行了分析和展望.对大学数学教育的地位及作用进行了探讨.认为大学数学教育,要体现教育创新思想,要在改革中求生存,以成绩促发展.     

Reading mathematics for understanding—From novice to expert

As students progress through the college mathematics curriculum, enter graduate school and eventually become practicing mathematicians, reading mathematics textbooks and journal articles appears to become easier and leads to increased proficiency and understanding. This study was designed to begin to understand how mathematically more advanced readers read for understanding in mathematical exposition as it appears in textbooks compared to first-year undergraduate students. Three faculty members and three graduate students participated in this study and read from a first-year graduate textbook in an area of mathematics unfamiliar to each of them. The observed reading strategies of these more mathematically advanced readers are compared to observed reading strategies of first-year undergraduate students from an earlier study. The reading methods of the faculty level mathematicians were all quite similar and were markedly different from those that have been identified for undergraduate students, as well as from those used by the graduate students in this study. A Mathematics Reading Framework is proposed based on this study and previous research documenting the strategies that first-year undergraduate students use for reading exposition in their mathematics textbooks.     

大学二级学院高等数学教学的改革与实践

本文结合我校城南学院的教学实践,从学生的学习、老师的教学以及学校的教学环境三个方面分析大学二级学院高等数学教学过程中存在的一些问题,并提出相应的改进对策,以提高教学效果和实现培养学生良好数学素养的目的．     

“数学模型”课程教学模式的探讨

本文介绍了开设“数学模型”课程在工科院校数学教学改革中的重要性．并讨论如何组织“数学模型”课程的教学．     

专业大类教学模式下公共数学课程体系的改革与设计

高等数学课程对实现高校的人才培养目标起着十分重要的作用.在当前按照专业大类招生并组织教学的情况下,高等数学的课程教学遇到了前所未有的问题与挑战.总结近年来我校高等数学课程体系和教学内容改革的实践经验,重新设计了高等数学课程的体系(模块),提出了进行了相应教学内容改革的意见,形成了整体课改方案,并分析了本方案所具有的特色.     

Examining undergraduate student retention in mathematics using network analysis and relative risk

Higher education faces challenges in retaining students who require a command of numeracy in their chosen field of study. This study applies an innovative combination of relative risk and social network analysis to enrolment data of a single cohort of commencing students from an Australian regional university. Relative risk, often used in epidemiology studies, is used to strategically investigate whether first year mathematics subjects at the university demonstrated a higher risk of attrition when compared to other subjects offered in the first year of study. The network analysis is used to illustrate the connections of those mathematics subjects, identifying service subjects through their multiple connections. The analysis revealed that attrition rates for eight of the nine subjects were within acceptable limits, and this included identified service subjects. The exception highlighted the issue of mathematics competencies in this cohort. This combined analytical technique is proposed as appropriate for use when investigating attrition and retention at faculty and institutional levels, including the determination of levels of intervention and support for any subject.     

One State's Self-Study of Initial Certification Programs in Science and Mathematics

Creating standards-based teacher education programs for mathematics and science teachers continues to be on the forefront of discussion in US colleges and universities. Yet prior to reforming teacher education programs, self-studies should be conducted to evaluate the status of such programs. This article describes how mathematics and science education specialists in Arizona examined their programs to determine avenues for reform. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed to explore five areas pertaining to initial certification programs in mathematics and science. Mission statements, the composition of initial certification programs, and curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices of faculty were examined. In addition, profiles were created pertaining to faculty, staff, and students who participate in the programs. From this self-study, it became evident that various components of initial certification programs in Arizona may not be consistent with the national reforms in mathematics, science, and teacher education. This paper provides an overview of the self-study and findings and reflects upon the process of self-study.     

What are We Developing? A Case Study of a College Mathematics Program

Over one‐third of all college mathematics enrollments are in courses considered to be developmental. While such courses have been the subject of a large body of research, one question that seems not to have been studied empirically is the alignment of the content of developmental and college level mathematics courses. This paper gives the results of such a study, conducted at a medium sized public liberal arts university. While the content of the developmental mathematics courses was used subsequently in the Precalculus course, most of the content of the Intermediate Algebra course was not used in other college level mathematics courses. It is hoped that the results of this paper will serve as a catalyst for other institutions to examine carefully and define the mission of both their developmental and college level mathematics courses.     

Measuring Reform Practices in Science and Mathematics Classrooms: The Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol

The National Science Foundation has funded 22 Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation. Despite the remarkable allocation of resources to this effort, it has proven exceptionally difficult to demonstrate the effectiveness of collaborative reform. In large part, this has resulted because of the difficulty of defining and measuring reform. The Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) was designed by the Evaluation Facilitation Group of the Arizona Collaborative for Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers (ACEPT). It is a 25‐item classroom observation protocol that is (a) standards based, (b) inquiry oriented, and (c) student centered. This instrument has provided the definition for reform and the basis for evaluation of the ACEPT collaborative. The data upon which this report is based were collected over a period of more than 2 years from 153 public school, college, and university mathematics and science classrooms. A trained team of observers consisting of two faculty members and seven graduate students was able to achieve exceptionally high levels of interrater reliability. Internal consistency, as estimated by Cronbach's alpha, was also remarkably high. Correlation coefficients ranging from 0.88 to 0.97 between RTOP scores for classrooms, and mean normalized gain scores for students in those classrooms on achievement measures demonstrate that reform, as defined by ACEPT and measured by the RTOP, has been effective.     

一些国外微积分教材的特色分析

对国外使用面比较广,知名度比较高的几部微积分教材进行了分析研究,考察了他们在结构体系、内容安排、概念引人以及理论应用等方面的特色和独到之处,为国内高等数学教学改革和教材建设提供了借鉴和参考．     

信息技术与大学数学课程整合的方式与理论探讨

信息技术与大学数学课程整合正成为当前我国信息技术教育乃至整个教育信息化进程中的一个热点问题,探讨其整合的方式及理论基础是非常必要的.本文首先结合大学数学案例探讨了整合的三种方式:动态的课堂演示型、单机的数学实验型和全交互的网络教学型,其次探讨了整合所依据的四种理论:传播理论、建构主义理论、教学设计理论和系统理论,最后提出了自己对信息技术与大学数学课程整合的一些思考.     

大学数学教育改革的实践

本文阐述了大学数学教育改革的认识及实践过程与经验 .     

关于工科高等数学教育改革的一些思考

分析了当前工科高等数学教育存在的问题以及产生的原因,提出了工科院校高等数学教育改革的定位和措施.这些措施将对高等数学教学起到积极影响.     

The Influences of Three Interventions on Prospective Elementary Teachers' Beliefs About the Knowledge Base Needed for Teaching Mathematics

To meet the challenge to reform mathematics education, effective opportunities to learn are needed to promote prospective elementary school teachers' development of the knowledge base that supports teaching for mathematical proficiency. This article describes three professional development interventions and their influence on prospective teachers' beliefs about mathematics, how children learn mathematics, and mathematics teaching. The three interventions consisted of problem‐solving journals, structured interviews, and peer teaching that were integrated in a PreK‐6 mathematics methods course. Results of precourse and postcourse survey data are included that measured 24 prospective teachers' beliefs about the knowledge base needed to teach elementary school mathematics. Data indicated that using these interventions and other course experiences facilitated change in the prospective teachers' beliefs, with a shift toward reform‐oriented mathematics education perspectives.     

高师本科数学分析教学改革的研究与实践

以信息社会为特征的新世纪开始提出扫“数学盲”的历史任务 ,而脱盲的标志则是要懂得微积分基础 [1 ] ,然微分与积分是数学分析的主体的结构 .因此 ,2 1世纪的大学数学教育应该搞好数学分析课程的改革与建设 ,开展教学研究 .本文将给出我们在数学分析教学改革的研究与实践 [1 - 3] 的一系列的做法 ,以便请教于同行