TO:  Mathematics Education Committee
FROM:  Bob Kansky
DATE:  2 November 1995
RE:  Special Meeting (11/1/95) to Prep for Program Review Team
 
Members Present:  Brennan, Hill, Johnson, Kansky, Kennedy, Kullman
 
In preparation for the 6 November meeting between the Mathematics Education
Committee and the Program Review Team, members of the Mathematics Education
Committee met to address the general question of future directions for the
mathematics education program at MU.  The conversation was free-ranging
across the list of specific questions in Dave Kullman's memo of 21 October.
 
The session identified some impending problems for the mathematics education
program and generated some suggestions for change/improvement.  There was no
effort to achieve consensus or take official positions.
 
Some "items" surfacing in the course of the meeting are listed below.  An
item's order in the list has no significance.  In specific, there was no
attempt to group the items with respect to magnitude of impact on the
program.  In short, folks, what we have here is a random, unofficial,
unapproved, draft list of brilliant ideas.
 
ROUGH BUT HANDY DEFINITIONS:
   Department  = Department of Mathematics and Statistics
   Math Faculty = Members of the Dept of Mathematics and Statistics
       at the Hamilton, Middletown, or Oxford campuses
   Math Ed Faculty = Sum of all MTH and EDT faculty involved in providing
       academic experiences designed specifically for preservice or
       practicing teachers of mathematics (K-12)
 
1.  The Department should redesign/expand its course offerings designed for
elementary education majors taking a concentration in mathematics, offering
one such course each semester.  For instance, there is need for a statistics
course that would serve secondary teachers of mathematics and elementary
teachers doing a concentration in mathematics.  Also redesign of the history
course (with an eye to the same two groups of teachers) should be considered.
 [NOTE:  One consequence of the latter course redesign would be a need to
discuss the role of the history course in the history-based MTH 482
capstone.]
 
2.  The Department should resusitate/expand seminars for secondary majors
that relate the content of MU math courses to precollege content and
instruction.
 
3.  Seminars [with optional credit?] should be held each semester that bring
Math Ed Faculty and K-12 teaching candidates into contact for the purpose of
exploring current issues.
 
4.  The Department should, though hiring and development, increase its
scholarly output and grant activity in mathematics education.
 
5.  The Department should initiate a program aimed at improving instruction
(by faculty and graduate students) in lower division courses.  Instruction
should be guided by the NCTM Standards.
 
6.  The Department should support the principle that all secondary school
student teachers of mathematics are supervised by Math Education Faculty.
 
7.  The Department should initiate a capstone course in mathematics
education.
 
8.  The Department's support of MUCTM should be maintained; plans need to be
made to ensure continuing faculty leadership.