Events
- Great Teaching Round-up
- Leading from the middle
- fall conference for faculty leaders
- The Texas Network
"I think there is something more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision."
Events: 2010 Math/TexMATYC Schedule
Math/TexMATYC Summary
Preconference Workshop, Thursday, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Moderator: Mel Griffin, MSED Mathematics Specializations Coordinator, Walden University
(The cost of the Thursday workshop is $30 with a $5 discount for TexMATYC members)
"Developmental Education Research and Initiatives"
Speakers: Peg Crider, Mathematics Education Consultant, Charles A. Dana Center of University of Texas; Greta Harris-Hardland, Mathematics Department Chair, Tarrant County Community College; Kathryn Wetzel, Professor and Mathematics and Engineering Department Chair; and Linda Zientek, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education, Sam Houston State University
Friday, 9:30 -10:40 a.m.
"Building a Statway to Heaven"
Keynote Speaker: Uri Treismann, Professor of Mathematics and Executive Director of the Charles A. Dana Center, University of Texas
Friday, 10:50 - 11:50 a.m.
"Narrowing the Mathematics Curriculum"
Keynote Speaker: Ron Larson, Author
Friday, 2:00 - 2:30 p.m.
TexMATYC Official Meeting
Friday, 2:40-3:30 p.m.
Breakout Sessions:
Session I: "Mayan Mathematics"
Speaker: Heather Gamber, Professor of Mathematics, Lone Star College - CyFairSession II: "Do the Math! Increasing Student Engagement through Course Redesign"
Speaker: Karen Wyrick, Math Department Chair, Cleveland State Community College
Friday, 3:40-4:30 p.m.
Breakout Sessions:
Session I: "Is 'e' Really Natural???"
Speaker: Joanne Peeples, Professor of Mathematics, El Paso Community CollegeSession II: "PASS: Prerequisite Assessment of Skills for Success"
Speaker: Ed Bock, Professor of Mathematics, Collin College
Saturday, 9:00 - 10:15 a.m.
"Playing to Learn Math?"
Speaker: Maria H. Andersen, Math Instructor, Muskegon Community College
Saturday, 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
"Enlivening the Classroom with Data Collection, Contests, and Music"
Speaker: James Stewart, Professor of Mathematics, McMaster University
Preconference Workshop
Thursday, March 4th, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
(The cost of the Thursday workshop is $30 with a $5 discount for TexMATYC members)
"Developmental Education Research and Initiatives"
Speakers: Peg Crider, Mathematics Education Consultant, Charles A. Dana Center of University of Texas; Greta Harris-Hardland, Mathematics Department Chair, Tarrant County Community College; Kathryn Wetzel, Professor and Mathematics and Engineering Department Chair; and Linda Zientek, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education, Sam Houston State University
Nationally, approximately 40% of students in public two-year colleges are enrolled in remedial courses and the percent of students enrolled in developmental mathematics courses exceeds enrollment in developmental reading and writing courses. This presentation seeks to highlight recent research findings on developmental mathematics education. An emphasis will be made on the importance of conducting research so that we can systematically learn from both the faculty members and students and share this knowledge with the broader educational community. Participants will learn about the AMATYC New Life for Developmental Mathematics Project and the CFAT and Dana Center Statway Project, and participants will have an opportunity to discuss with their peers methods for improving student achievement.
An overview of the Amarillo College (AC) Mathematics Outreach Center will be given. While the AC Developmental Mathematics program has been in place for close to 30 years, a recent and very visible change to the Program is the Mathematics Outreach Center (ORC) which provides tutoring for both developmental level and transfer level math students. The number of tutoring sessions has increased by 1176.9% in four years and developmental students’ test grades have been proven to increase as much as two letter grades. The Mathematics ORC was nationally recognized for its academic excellence by the National Association for Developmental Education (NADE) in Spring 2009. The ORC was awarded the John Champaign Memorial Award which is given to only one program in the country each year. The program must exemplify the innovative and economical use of resources to effectively reach students.The ORC was acknowledged as an exemplary program due to its innovative funding, cross-discipline cooperation and support, and student success.
Tarrant County College District ModMath Project: The idea to create nine one-hour modules for teaching developmental math came out of two years of research and reaching out to area universities and high schools. Our traditional three hour courses had success rates (C or better) of around 38% to 44%. Giving grades every five weeks and pre-testing students to place at a more individual level has allowed TCC to work toward mastery of content. This presentation will detail the Learning Outcomes taught in each mod, the current enrollment and success rates, the history of development of the program and THECB grant to expand the program.
Biographies:
Linda Zientek is an Assistant Professor in Mathematics Education at Sam Houston State University. She is an active member of the Southwest Educational Research Association (SERA) and currently serves as the SERA Program Chair/President-Elect. For ten years, she was a community college mathematics instructor. Her research interests include community college and P16 initiatives, improving student learning, and quantitative research methods. Linda has served as president of the Texas Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges, Conference Chair for the 2007 Southwest Regional Conference of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges, Chair of the Mathematics Section of the Texas Community College Teachers Association (TCCTA) and as a member of the TCCTA Legislative Committee, 4th Year of Mathematics Committee, and Phase I of the Texas Higher Education College Readiness Vertical Team. She currently serves as chair for the Texas Partners in P-16 Mathematics (TPiPM) Committee. Dr. Zientek was one of 15 people who attended a Seattle workshop on the AMATYC New Life for Developmental Mathematics Project.
Peg Crider is a Mathematics Education Consultant with the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas, Austin. She retired as a Professor of Mathematics after 20 years teaching mathematics and developmental mathematics at Lone Star College-Tomball. She twice received the LSC Teaching Excellence Award (with NISOD recognition). She has served as Secretary of the Texas Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (TexMATYC), Chair of the Mathematics Section of the Texas Community College Teachers Association (TCCTA), member of the International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics (ICTCM) and the Texas Partners in P-16 Mathematics Committee (TPiPM). In collaboration with the LSC-Tomball Mathematics Department, she wrote graphing calculator manuals for developmental mathematics. Proceeds from that publication funded three Endowed scholarships and scores of individual scholarships. Dr. Crider attended the 2009 AMATYC conference and participated in joint meetings with the New Life project members and the Dana Center/ Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Statway project.
Kathryn Wetzel is a Professor at Amarillo College and is Department chair of the Mathematics and Engineering Departments with over 20 years experience. She is a recipient of the John F. Mead Faculty Excellence Award from Amarillo College and the Minnie Stevens Piper Award from the state of Texas. While her degrees are all in engineering, she is fascinated by how the brain works and has co-written the book Mind Games the Aging Brain and How to Keep It Healthy as well as having written a weekly column on Mental Agility. As the creator of the Mathematics Outreach Center, she is proud to say the Center is also a finalist for the Texas Star Award and the Bellwether Award.
Greta Harris-Hardland has been full-time at Tarrant County College for nine years. She is currently a math department chair, Project Coordinator/Evaluator for the Modmath THECB Expanded Project Grant, and District ModMath Coordinator for the five campuses. Greta served as a Texas ISD math curriculum coordinator to align K-12 mathematics, taught as adjunct math faculty in San Diego and Texas, and taught high school mathematics in Ohio for ten years.
Friday, March 5th, 9:30 - 10:40 a.m.
"Building a Statway to Heaven"
Keynote Speaker: Uri Treismann, Professor of Mathematics and Executive Director of the Charles A. Dana Center, University of Texas
Developmental mathematics has become a burial ground for the aspirations of too many of our students. A new initiative of the Charles A. Dana Center and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is building a set of new pathways to and through college-credit transferrable mathematics courses. It’s a joyful conspiracy and you’re all in invited.
Biography:
Philip "Uri" Treisman is professor of mathematics and of public affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, where he serves as executive director of the Charles A. Dana Center for Mathematics and Science Education. Uri chairs the steering committee of the Urban Mathematics Leadership Network—a coalition of 24 large urban districts together serving four million students that works to improve PreK–12 mathematics teaching and learning. He is a member of the leadership team of the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP) and a senior partner at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He serves on the National Advisory Board of the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) and serves as chief juror and senior research scientist for a Department of Defense-sponsored study of mobility in military families and its effects on their children's education. He serves on the boards of The New Teacher Project and the AFT's Innovation Fund.
Uri serves as a senior advisor to the trustees of the Robert N. Noyce and Charles A. Dana Foundations. For his work on nurturing minority student high achievement in mathematics, he was named a MacArthur Fellow 1992–1997. The Harvard Foundation of Harvard University named him "2006 Scientist of the Year" for his outstanding contributions to mathematics. In all his work, Uri is an advocate for equity and excellence in education for all children.
Friday, March 5th, 10:50 - 11:50 a.m.
"Narrowing the Mathematics Curriculum"
Keynote Speaker: Ron Larson, Author
In the Fall of 2006, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics published its recommendations for overhauling K-8 education in the United States. The report is called "A Focal Points Curriculum". This talk describes this new "narrower and deeper curriculum" and makes recommendations for a similar narrowing of the curriculum for college courses: elementary algebra, intermediate algebra, college algebra, and precalculus.
Biography:
Ron Larson received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Colorado in 1970. At that time he accepted a position with Penn State University in Erie, Pennsylvania, and currently holds the rank of professor of mathematics at the university. Ron is the lead author of over forty mathematics textbooks from 6th grade through calculus. Many of his texts, such as the 9th edition of his calculus text, are leaders in their markets. Ron Larson is one of the pioneers in the use of multimedia to enhance the learning of mathematics. He has authored multimedia programs that range from 1st grade through calculus. To help with the development of his textbooks and multimedia programs, Ron founded Larson Texts, Inc., which with its publishing wing, Big Ideas Learning, employs about 60 people. Ron's most recent new textbook series is called "Big Ideas Math". It is the first middle school mathematics series to adhere to the NCTM's new "Focal Points Curriculum".
Friday, March 5th, 2:00 - 2:30 p.m.
TexMATYC Official Meeting
Friday, March 5th, 2:40 - 3:30 p.m.
Breakout Sessions:
Session I: "Mayan Mathematics"
Speaker: Heather Gamber, Professor of Mathematics, Lone Star College - CyFairThis talk is for Foundations of Mathematics instructors. Mayan number systems for counting objects and counting calendar years, the symbols and glyphs used and the methods for performing basic operations will be discussed. Mayan geometry revealed in the layout of their pyramids will be presented.
Biography:
Heather Gamber obtained her Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is a founding faculty member of Lone Star College-CyFair where she has worked for the last 6 years. She was awarded a Faculty International Exploration grant to study Mayan Mathematics in Chiapas, Mexico during summer 2009. Dr. Gamber currently serves on the board of TexMATYC as secretary and newsletter editor.
Session II: "Do the Math! Increasing Student Engagement through Course Redesign"
Speaker: Karen Wyrick, Math Department Chair, Cleveland State Community CollegeMath redesign at Cleveland State Community College has been very successful in increasing student learning and success. The program has drawn national attention, winning the 2009 Bellwether Award and being featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Those who are exploring course redesign will be interested in this program.
Biography:
Karen Wyrick is the math department chair at Cleveland State Community College and has taught math for 18 years. She has been involved in the redesign of the math department, which has greatly increased student success in both developmental math and college level math.
Friday, March 5th, 3:40 - 4:30 p.m.
Breakout Sessions:
Session I: "Is 'e' Really Natural???"
Speaker: Joanne Peeples, Professor of Mathematics, El Paso Community CollegeYou’ve seen “natural logarithms” – those with base e - and you’ve used the exponential function base e, just how natural is the number “e” ? I’d like to share with you a bit about the origin of “e”, and weave in some interesting facts and tales about “e”. Hopefully you’ll leave this talk with some new ways to answer the student who asks “what is ‘e’ ?“
Biography:
Joanne has been teaching math at the college level for many years - the last 20+ at EPCC. In 2006 she received the TexMATYC Teaching Excellence Award; in 2009 she won the EPCC Teaching Excellence Award. She is active in professional organizations - and is currently president of NMMATYC.
Session II: "PASS: Prerequisite Assessment of Skills for Success"
Speaker: Ed Bock, Professor of Mathematics, Collin CollegePASS (Prerequisite Assessment of Skills for Success) was instituted at Collin College for mathematics students in three areas: College Algebra, Business Calculus I, and Science Calculus I in Spring 2008. It is a package consisting of a day-one exam and a subsequent day-two informational and advisory set of analyses and recommendations for students taking the exam. The session will highlight the philosophy of the program, the Collin professors' implementation of this package, and a detailed statistical analysis of the program.
A basic departmental philosophy of the goals of the PASS program for each of the three courses will be distributed to all attendees and thus discussed. Participants may review past versions of the PASS exams and examine the skill set required for success in the three aforementioned courses. They may then evaluate and discuss the total package given to the students and consequently remark and critique the suggestions and advice given to the students.
Biography:
Ed Bock earned a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from UT Dallas in 1977 and an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from UT Dallas 1979. He has been a full-time mathematics professor at Collin College in Plano since 1999. He was previously a software consultant for major oil companies Sun, Arco, Mobil, Exxon, and Texaco.
Saturday, March 6th, 9:00 - 10:15 a.m.
"Playing to Learn Math?"
Speaker: Maria H. Andersen, Math Instructor, Muskegon Community College
Current technology gives us systems that teach students algebra using mastery and flexible pacing, but they just mimic the process of working through a textbook (only on a computer screen). We should leverage technology and research about learning to begin using games, play, and pattern recognition as a method for learning algebra.
Biography:
Maria H. Andersen is a math instructor at Muskegon Community College (in Michigan), president of MichMATYC, and director of AMATYC Technology Workshops. She is an expert on teaching with technology and has recently begun experimenting with the use of "play" and non-linear learning in her math classes.
Saturday, March 6th, 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
"Enlivening the Classroom with Data Collection, Contests, and Music"
Speaker: James Stewart, Professor of Mathematics, McMaster University
Professor Stewart will offer suggestions for engaging students¹ attention in the mathematics classroom (college algebra, precalculus, and calculus) in such a way as to increase their understanding and make them more active learners. The methods include collecting data from physical demonstrations, historical anecdotes, contests, and musical performances.
Biography:
James Stewart received the M.S. degree from Stanford University and the Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. After two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of London, he became Professor of Mathematics at McMaster University. His research has been in harmonic analysis and functional analysis. Stewart’s books include a series of high school textbooks as well as a best-selling series of calculus textbooks. He is also co-author, with Lothar Redlin and Saleem Watson, of a series of college algebra and precalculus textbooks. Translations of his books include those into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Greek, and Indonesian.
A talented violinist, Stewart was concertmaster of the McMaster Symphony Orchestra for many years and played professionally in the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. Having explored the connections between music and mathematics, Stewart has given more than 20 talks worldwide on Mathematics and Music and is planning to write a book that attempts to explain why mathematicians tend to be musical.
Stewart was named a Fellow of the Fields Institute in 2002 and was awarded an honorary D.Sc. in 2003 by McMaster University. The library of the Fields Institute is named after him. The James Stewart Mathematics Centre was opened in October, 2003, at McMaster University.
Math Section Chair:
Martha Marrow-Chalhoub, Collin College
With the support of TexMATYC President:
Paula Wilhite, Northeast Texas Community College