PSTUM-list February 2005

pstum-list@lists.fas.harvard.edu

19 participants
25 discussions

A rumination on pedagogical content knowledge for college teaching of mathematics

by S. Hauk

Hi all, I posted to the list a note on a grant project I am developing which would produce a collection of video and textual case materials for the development of college mathematics instructors (Hauk, 2005). In that message, as Dara Sandow has noted, I mentioned a difference between the focus of IMAP materials for prospective K-12 teachers and the materials the proposal would develop: pre-service school teachers, particularly for grades K-8, struggle with mastering the mathematical content they will teach, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) tend not to do so. Prospective school teachers take several classes about the nature of thinking and learning, GTAs tend not to do so. What both prospective teacher populations have in common is the struggle to develop robust pedagogical content knowledge from an uneven base of content and pedagogical understandings. Here's where I get to the short version of what "pedagogical content knowledge" means in the proposed work, at the moment.... Researchers have been focusing increasing attention on "knowledge for teaching," a constellation of ideas sometimes associated with the phrase "pedagogical content knowledge" (Shulman, 1986, 1987). Included in "pedagogical content knowledge," as we are conceiving it for this project, is substantive subject matter or content knowledge about topics, procedures, and concepts along with a comprehension of the relationships among them. In its most robust form, this part of mathematics pedagogical content knowledge is what Ma (1999) called “profound understanding of fundamental mathematics.” Additionally, pedagogical content knowledge incorporates syntactic knowledge of the culturally embedded nature and forms of discourse in a subject (both in and out of educational settings) as well as anticipatory knowledge, an awareness of the diverse ways in which learners may engage with content, processes, and concepts. Finally, the ability to adapt teaching according to content and socio-cultural context and use content, syntactic, and anticipatory understandings in the classroom can be called knowledge for action (Ball & Bass, 2000). A teacher with well-developed pedagogical content knowledge has the ability to foster deep understanding among students while also sidestepping misunderstanding. For example, a third grade teacher helping students learn about fractions can engage students with the ideas of quarter of an hour and quarter of a dollar in such a way that learners are unlikely to confuse the 15 minute-units of a quarter-hour with the 25 cent-units of a quarter-dollar. Similarly, a college teacher with rich pedagogical content knowledge is aware that though her students are adults, they may not share her mathematically enculturated views and may never have experienced mathematics as interesting or clear. Moreover, this awareness may be enacted in many ways in her teaching of college mathematics: in proscriptions about learning established (Davis & Simmt, 2003), in the classroom milieu fostered (Yackel, Rasmussen, & King, 2000), or in the ways questioning is used (Hufferd-Ackles, Fuson, & Sherin, 2004) (just to name a few). One step in examining the growth of pedagogical content knowledge among college mathematics teachers is to understand the perceptions and conceptions that a graduate student learner who is also an in-service college teacher might construct in developing content, syntactic, anticipatory, and action knowledge for mathematics teaching. A multi-pronged approach to such investigation includes (at least) examination of individual teacher views of content, syntactic, anticipatory, and action knowledge; awareness of the challenges and potential changes to those views engendered by a professional development program; subsequent review of the teachers’ views and in-class actions; and analysis of learning outcomes for the students of those teachers. These research and evaluation strands are woven into the proposed video-case development work. This message posted to: Rume(a)betterfilecabinet.com, ta-research(a)list.une.edu, pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu References Ball, D. L., and Bass, H. (2000). Interweaving content and pedagogy in teaching and learning to teach: Knowing and using mathematics. In J. Boaler (Ed.), Multiple perspectives on the teaching and learning of mathematics (pp. 83-104). Westport, CT: Ablex. B. Davis and E. Simmt (2003). Understanding learning systems: Mathematics education and complexity science. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 34(2), 137 - 167. Hauk, S. (2005). "Preparing and supporting college teachers - Video case project", RUME list post of Jan 31, 2005. Hufferd-Ackles, K., Fuson, K. C., and Sherin, M. G. (2004). Describing levels and components of a Math-Talk Learning Community. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 35(2), 81-116. Ma, L. (1999). Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics: Teachers' understanding of fundamental mathematics in China and the U.S. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Shulman, L.S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4-14. Shulman, L.S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1-22. Yackel, E., Rasmussen, C., and King, K. (2000). Social and sociomathematical norms in an advanced undergraduate mathematics course. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 19, 275-287.

19 years, 2 months

Re: Video-cases meeting at the RUME conference in Phoenix

by S. Hauk

Hi all, I am organizing a get-together at the Phoenix RUME conference with a focus on the video-cases for college mathematics teaching project on which several of us are working. I arrive on Friday 2/25 by about noon. Consequently, I am asking everyone interested in such a meeting to look for me during the afternoon coffee break on Friday (at around 3:40) so we can organize a time (and place) for us to gather. Thanks! Shandy PS: My picture is on my webpage (although I can't guarantee I'll be wearing the same hat): http://hopper.unco.edu/faculty/personal/hauk/index.html [posted to: ta-research(a)list.une.edu, pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu, rume(a)betterfilecabinet.com ]

19 years, 2 months

RE: [PSTUM-list] New (Location of) TA Preparation Resource

by Raphael, Louise A.

Dear Dara, Nice to see that you are participating in this e-list. Enjoyed your comments. I received some news from Rose a while back. Take care. All the best, Louise -----Original Message----- From: Dara Sandow [mailto:sandowda@msu.edu] Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 2:34 PM To: Preparing and Supporting Teachers of Undergraduate Mathematics Subject: Re: [PSTUM-list] New (Location of) TA Preparation Resource Dear all, I took a quick look at the various lists of resources identified and was struck that they all seem to be college-specific. Although I've done some TA training (with the Emerging Scholars Program, many years ago), I've mostly worked in secondary math teacher preparation/professional development. My experience is that secondary math teacher educators draw on materials from other levels, and even other disciplines, when they seem useful (although probably more from elementary math ed than college math ed, perhaps because more has been developed at the elementary level). I recognize that there are differences in teaching at the different levels and that TA'ing is different than teaching one's own course, but I'm wondering how people feel about the addition of materials from other levels (and, assuming they're welcome, what kind of annotation people think would be needed re: their use). Sincerely, Dara Sandow At 1:01 AM -0800 2/6/05, Eric Hsu wrote: >Hi all, > >I have taken TJ Murphy's list of links and papers and am now hosting >it in wiki format at > >http://betterfilecabinet.com/cgi-bin/ta/index.cgi > >I am leaving it all publicly editable (but will intervene if people >start vandalizing it). The site has a basic search engine too. > >This means that you all have the authorization and encouragement to >update this site yourselves. If you want to change a page, just hit >the EDIT button... you don't need to know HTML. Just type in plain >text into the box. You can mark text with special symbols to format >it specially. The main ones I use are *bold*, /italic/, and > >* list >* of >* items (note the space between * and the item) > >You can look in the Help page or at the existing pages to see other >formatting options. Or you can type in plain text and let me format >it later. If you don't want to edit the page, send me the changes >and I'll post them for you. > >best wishes, Eric > >ps. For those who care, there is an RSS feed on the site which you >can auto-discover or just use ><http://betterfilecabinet.com/cgi-bin/ta/index.cgi?action=plugin&plugin_nam e=FeedEH&type=RSS> >-- >Eric Hsu, Assistant Professor of Mathematics >San Francisco State University >erichsu(a)math.sfsu.edu >http://math.sfsu.edu/hsu >_______________________________________________ >PSTUM-list mailing list >PSTUM-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu >http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/pstum-list _______________________________________________ PSTUM-list mailing list PSTUM-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/pstum-list

19 years, 2 months

Re: [Ta-research] A rumination on pedagogical content knowledge for college teaching of mathematics

by Tim Gutmann

I want to add a thought to Shandy and Dara's comments about pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as it referrs to TAs. The primary issue that Shandy and Dara have discussed is that of the importance of PCK and how the related K-12 teacher research might be adapted to tell us something about what kinds of PCK TAs need. A second and related question is how TAs perceive their need for PCK and what motivations they have for picking it up. Unlike K-12 teachers and preservice teachers, many TAs are not working as TAs only because want to teach. (For many this may be an extremely important motivation, but it generally is not the only one.) As such they can be expected to have a number of goals competing for their attention. In this setting, we have to think carefully about how to make PCK available and desirable to TAs (the desirable component being self-provided by K-12 professionals). In writing this I feel as though I am suggesting TAs don't want to be good at teaching and therefore we need to find ways to provide this want for them. I don't mean to be saying this. Rather, I think we need to recognize their specialized motivations for being in the field and find ways to integrate an understanding of the need for PCK into the existing environment. Perhaps this is as simple as structuring experiences into the time TAs do devote to teaching to help them reflect on the process. (At many institutions TAs work with minimal guidance during the semester, or receive instructions about how or what to present. What is most frequently lacking is a time when TAs discuss what they have done, what results they saw, what they struggled with, (all past tense) and then think about the mechanics or the PCK issues that might address concerns they have.) If nothing else, this approach asks TAs to consider PCK at a time when they are devoting energies to teaching and may help those whose primary reason for being in a graduate program is not teaching to recognize their needs while performing in this aspect of their work. Tim. About me: I haven't written a BIO for some of these lists so... My degree is in mathematics education from UNH and is as much anthropological as anything else. I looked at the enculturation experiences of a new member in a mathematics department (someone who had just completed his degree and was in his first faculty position). As part of this I worked to describe the social system in the department and the specific way in which mathematics was a component of that system. Presently I teach at the University of New England and I have been focusing my energies on understanding TAs, again with a bias toward an interest in the way values are communicated and enculturation occurs. -------------------------------------------------------- Tim Gutmann; tgutmann(a)une.edu faculty.une.edu/cas/tgutmann Decary 302, 207-283-0170 x 2764 -------------------------------------------------------- The more we complain, the longer God makes us live.

19 years, 2 months

p.s. re: Preparing and supporting college teachers - Video case project

by Dara Sandow

Dear all, When I responded to Shandy's email last week, I forgot to mention one thing re: point (a) ("among the significant differences between IMAP and the proposed cases are: (a) the video-case tools and accompanying text will be developed for an audience with a mastery of mathematics who have little or no formal training in pedagogy"). In K-12 math ed, people are starting to look at "mathematical knowledge for teaching" / "teachers' mathematics" -- a kind of mathematical knowledge that math teachers need and that other users of mathematics are unlikely to need. An example from secondary math / college algebra is an understanding of the different ways that equals signs get used (e.g., in equations to be solved, in defining functions, in other definitions -- whether they be properties like transitivity or the conditions under which we say that two real numbers are equal, in theorems, in arithmetic "sentences"). I know of two research groups looking at this (one at Michigan State and the University of Maryland, focusing on school algebra, and one at the University of Michigan, focusing on some subset of the math taught in elementary school); there may be others. A textbook addressing this at the secondary level also came out a couple of years ago: _Mathematics for high school teachers: An advanced perspective_ (Usiskin, Peressini, Marchisotto, and Stanley, 2003). My reason for mentioning all of this: although most math grad students have a deeper mathematical knowledge than most secondary math teachers, the construct of mathematical knowledge for teaching is likely relevant at the college level as well, in which case TA's (and math faculty) will need to develop some additional mathematical knowledge -- knowledge that is not likely develop in their work as researchers -- and not just pedagogical knowledge. Dara P.S. Since I'm new to two of the lists I'm posting this to and new members have been asked to introduce themselves: I'm a doctoral student in math ed at Michigan State, in the Teacher Education Dept. Prior to starting my doctoral studies, I taught high school math for a few years in the US and in the Central African Republic (in the Peace Corps) and worked on a variety of K-18 math ed projects for several years at UC Berkelely and UT Austin, mostly with the Dana Center for Mathematics and Science Education. My interest in the teaching preparation of math grad students is part of a broader interest in math teacher education; my experiences as a TA in the Math Dept. at UC Berkeley and training TA's working with the Emerging Scholars Program at UT Austin enter in as well. My dissertation work explores the reasoning of a non-random sample of calculus teachers re: the design of their calculus courses (e.g., what alternatives people know of, which alternatives people prefer and why, and what the process of (calculus) course conceptualizing involves for these people). While at MSU, I've worked with the secondary math teacher preparation program, as well as with secondary math teacher professional development and research projects. At 8:01 AM -0700 1/31/05, S. Hauk wrote: >Hi, > I am working on a grant proposal aimed at improving college >mathematics teaching and learning through the creation of video-case >tools for teacher-scholar development of mathematics Graduate >Teaching Assistants and new faculty, and for enhancing the >professional development of junior and senior faculty. The project >creates a tool similar to the Integrating Mathematics and Pedagogy >(IMAP) Project K-12 materials for teachers. However, among the >significant differences between IMAP and the proposed cases are: (a) >the video-case tools and accompanying text will be developed for an >audience with a mastery of mathematics who have little or no formal >training in pedagogy; (b) the case tools will be sufficiently >self-contained that they can be used as part of a distance-learning >course on college teaching; (c) the materials will include classroom >video-clips as well as materials about out-of-classroom interactions >like office hours, email communication, advising of undergraduate >and graduate students, and communicating with junior and senior >colleagues about teaching. > Some field-test agreements are already in place as is an >initial publication agreement with the CBMS and the AMS (who >published Friedberg et alia's (2001) fictionalized case studies for >college teaching book). > I am looking for folks who are interested in field testing >materials, perhaps even testing a case or two on a prototype DVD in >Fall 2005 (also for anyone interested in becoming more significantly >involved in the project). Please contact me directly at hauk(a)unco.edu > >Thanks, >Shandy >PS I also posted this message to the listserv hosted by Tim Gutmann >on research and practice about TA and new faculty development: >ta-research(a)list.une.edu (subscribe through >http://list.une.edu/mailman/listinfo/ta-research ) >and to Derek Buff's new listserv: pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu >(subscribe through >http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/pstum-list ) > >==================================== >Shandy Hauk, hauk(a)unco.edu >Department of Mathematics, CB122 >U. of Northern Colorado >Greeley, CO 80639 >Phone: 970 351 2344 Fax: 970 351 1225 >===================================== > > >_______________________________________________ >Rume mailing list >Rume(a)betterfilecabinet.com >http://betterfilecabinet.com/mailman/listinfo/rume_betterfilecabinet.com

19 years, 2 months

Some TA preparation references

by S. Hauk

Hi, I wanted to share with you a web site that TJ Murphy (at the University of Oklahoma) has begun to put together): http://www.math.ou.edu/~tjmurphy/CMIPAD/CMIPAD.html On that site she is gathering information about resources for the preparation of college mathematics instructors (GTAs, new faculty, etc). Right now, though there are spaces for more, the most information is available under the "articles" "books" and "websites" links. Shandy ==================================== Shandy Hauk, hauk(a)unco.edu Department of Mathematics, CB122 U. of Northern Colorado Greeley, CO 80639 Phone: 970 351 2344 Fax: 970 351 1225 =====================================

19 years, 2 months

RE: [PSTUM-list] Re: PSTUM-list Digest, Vol 2, Issue 3

by Eldon McMurray

There is considerable dialogue and questioning. It is under copyright to Houghten Mifflin, but as long as you attribute it properly you can use it in your teaching. >>> LeveilleN(a)uhd.edu 02/04/05 8:38 AM >>> It is a little choppy in that it is hard to know if one should wait for something, or something more, to happen or if one should go to the next slide. The content is also a little choppy. Are verbal introductions given before the cases are read? Even a title such as "Case 1." would help the flow. Do you have any particular discussion questions (open ended I hope) to go with these? They could be added to the power point so it would be a stand-alone teaching tool that leads into small or large group discussion. Is there a sound track? I presume that we can use bits and pieces for our own purposes now that this is generally available. Let me know if you have copyright, etc. restrictions. Thank you. N. Leveille -----Original Message----- From: pstum-list-bounces(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu [mailto:pstum-list-bounces@lists.fas.harvard.edu]On Behalf Of Eldon McMurray Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 11:07 PM To: pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu Subject: Re: [PSTUM-list] Re: PSTUM-list Digest, Vol 2, Issue 3 I am very interested in applying this thinking framework to case study teaching. Please look over the Powerpoint presentation and send me any feedback you may have. Thank you, Eldon L. McMurray Director Center for Faculty Excellence Utah Vally State College 800 West University Parkway Orem, UT 846058 801-863-8550 >>> mersetka(a)gse.harvard.edu 02/03/05 11:22 AM >>> Dear Colleagues, My name is Kay Merseth and I teach at the graduate school of education at Harvard. My specialty is case based study in the education of teachers at the K-16 level. My colleagues and I have written several cases about high school classrooms but I think many of the issues that are relevant here would also apply for TF's at the undergraduate level. Our cases all stress the mathematics, the pedagogy, the student comments and the context. It would be very easy and quite exciting to compile some cases about undergraduate teaching. I know Sol Friedberg at Boston College has work on these some. I attach a case to give you a sense of the materials that we use to train teachers (that is if this listserve will accept attachments). Looking forward to the conversations. --On Thursday, February 03, 2005 12:00 PM -0500 pstum-list-request(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu wrote: > Send PSTUM-list mailing list submissions to > pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/pstum-list > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > pstum-list-request(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > You can reach the person managing the list at > pstum-list-owner(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of PSTUM-list digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. introduction: Gary Harris (Harris, Gary) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 16:21:03 -0600 > From: "Harris, Gary" <gary.harris(a)ttu.edu> > Subject: [PSTUM-list] introduction: Gary Harris > To: <pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu> > Message-ID: > <55CA02C1ECF1CB40B2A0AF7B32F0DFDD1BFB7000(a)BRONTES.net.ttu.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Dear Colleagues, > > > > My name is Gary Harris and I am the Director of Undergraduate Programs > in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Texas Tech > University. In the spring of 2000 I was asked by our chair and the > director of graduate programs to create a 3 credit hour course devoted > to issues involving teaching math at the undergraduate level. I would > like to say that this was motivated for all the obvious great reasons; > however, I suspect the main motivation was the fact that our state > regulatory agency requires that all instructors of record (aka actual > teachers of the classes) for college level math classes have at least 18 > hours of graduate level mathematics credit, and our university decided > to get serious about adhering to this rule. Hence this would be one way > for our new TA's to get an extra 3 hours graduate math credit their > first semester, while at the same time maybe picking up something > useful. In any event I began to look for appropriate materials and > activities and was ready to offer the course to 20 new teaching > assistants in the fall of 2000. The course has been offered each fall > semester thereafter. > > > > Early on I helped to field test some of Friedberg's case studies and > have used them regularly. I also use material from Rishel's Handbook > for Mathematics Teaching Assistants, as well as other materials. Also a > significant part of the course involves video taping and class > evaluations of student mini-lectures. > > > > I currently have a graduate student working on a Masters Thesis in which > he is trying to assess the effects of our course on our graduate > students attitudes and practice with regard to teaching mathematics at > the college level. He and I would be very interested to hear about > experiences any of you may have with such a course, as well as pertinent > references. > > > > I look forward participating in an interesting discussion on this timely > and, I think, very important topic, > > > > Gary Harris > > > >

19 years, 2 months

RE: [PSTUM-list] Re: PSTUM-list Digest, Vol 2, Issue 3

by Leveille, Nancy

It is a little choppy in that it is hard to know if one should wait for something, or something more, to happen or if one should go to the next slide. The content is also a little choppy. Are verbal introductions given before the cases are read? Even a title such as "Case 1." would help the flow. Do you have any particular discussion questions (open ended I hope) to go with these? They could be added to the power point so it would be a stand-alone teaching tool that leads into small or large group discussion. Is there a sound track? I presume that we can use bits and pieces for our own purposes now that this is generally available. Let me know if you have copyright, etc. restrictions. Thank you. N. Leveille -----Original Message----- From: pstum-list-bounces(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu [mailto:pstum-list-bounces@lists.fas.harvard.edu]On Behalf Of Eldon McMurray Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 11:07 PM To: pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu Subject: Re: [PSTUM-list] Re: PSTUM-list Digest, Vol 2, Issue 3 I am very interested in applying this thinking framework to case study teaching. Please look over the Powerpoint presentation and send me any feedback you may have. Thank you, Eldon L. McMurray Director Center for Faculty Excellence Utah Vally State College 800 West University Parkway Orem, UT 846058 801-863-8550 >>> mersetka(a)gse.harvard.edu 02/03/05 11:22 AM >>> Dear Colleagues, My name is Kay Merseth and I teach at the graduate school of education at Harvard. My specialty is case based study in the education of teachers at the K-16 level. My colleagues and I have written several cases about high school classrooms but I think many of the issues that are relevant here would also apply for TF's at the undergraduate level. Our cases all stress the mathematics, the pedagogy, the student comments and the context. It would be very easy and quite exciting to compile some cases about undergraduate teaching. I know Sol Friedberg at Boston College has work on these some. I attach a case to give you a sense of the materials that we use to train teachers (that is if this listserve will accept attachments). Looking forward to the conversations. --On Thursday, February 03, 2005 12:00 PM -0500 pstum-list-request(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu wrote: > Send PSTUM-list mailing list submissions to > pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/pstum-list > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > pstum-list-request(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > You can reach the person managing the list at > pstum-list-owner(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of PSTUM-list digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. introduction: Gary Harris (Harris, Gary) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 16:21:03 -0600 > From: "Harris, Gary" <gary.harris(a)ttu.edu> > Subject: [PSTUM-list] introduction: Gary Harris > To: <pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu> > Message-ID: > <55CA02C1ECF1CB40B2A0AF7B32F0DFDD1BFB7000(a)BRONTES.net.ttu.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Dear Colleagues, > > > > My name is Gary Harris and I am the Director of Undergraduate Programs > in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Texas Tech > University. In the spring of 2000 I was asked by our chair and the > director of graduate programs to create a 3 credit hour course devoted > to issues involving teaching math at the undergraduate level. I would > like to say that this was motivated for all the obvious great reasons; > however, I suspect the main motivation was the fact that our state > regulatory agency requires that all instructors of record (aka actual > teachers of the classes) for college level math classes have at least 18 > hours of graduate level mathematics credit, and our university decided > to get serious about adhering to this rule. Hence this would be one way > for our new TA's to get an extra 3 hours graduate math credit their > first semester, while at the same time maybe picking up something > useful. In any event I began to look for appropriate materials and > activities and was ready to offer the course to 20 new teaching > assistants in the fall of 2000. The course has been offered each fall > semester thereafter. > > > > Early on I helped to field test some of Friedberg's case studies and > have used them regularly. I also use material from Rishel's Handbook > for Mathematics Teaching Assistants, as well as other materials. Also a > significant part of the course involves video taping and class > evaluations of student mini-lectures. > > > > I currently have a graduate student working on a Masters Thesis in which > he is trying to assess the effects of our course on our graduate > students attitudes and practice with regard to teaching mathematics at > the college level. He and I would be very interested to hear about > experiences any of you may have with such a course, as well as pertinent > references. > > > > I look forward participating in an interesting discussion on this timely > and, I think, very important topic, > > > > Gary Harris > > > >

19 years, 2 months

Re: [PSTUM-list] Intro and request for ideas and info

by Eldon McMurray

THis is a simple critical thinking framework, but it also works as a reasoning model for math. It is based on a correlation between learning styles and four aspects of critical thinking as recognized by the Delphi Study. I have attached an article and a Powerpoint. I hope you find them as helpful as our math professors have. I am intersted in your feedback. Best Regards, Eldon L. McMurray Director Center for Faculty Excellence Utah Valley State College 800 West University Parkway Orem, Utah 84058 801-863-8550 mcmurrel(a)uvsc.edu >>> pkirby(a)zeno.math.fsu.edu 02/03/05 11:00 AM >>> Greetings all, I am an Assistant in Math at Florida State University and part of my job is to coordinate the training and evaluation of our TA's. We usually have a 3-4 day training session before the semester begins to get new TA's ready for recitations. We also have a 6 week course (5 hr/week) during the summer for both new and old TA's that goes into all aspects of teaching both recitations and solo. This semester we are trying a 6 week workshop (1.25 hr/week) focused solely presentations. Historically, most of our TA's were asked to begin graduate school in the summer so they could take our 6 week course. More recently, with budget cuts only a small portion of our new TA's are now asked to begin in the summer. We are also getter quite a few graduate students that do not plan to go into academics. We have a good financial math and bio math program that has attracted many students planning to go into industry. Unfortunately, that also means that we have a lot of TA's that do not see the value of teacher training. Anyhow, I want to change our program so that it balances the needs of our department to have qualified teachers with the needs of the graduate students to not be "unreasonably" burdened with demands on their time. I use quotes because what is an unreasonable burden is debatable, but it is pretty clear that requiring a full 6 week TA class is considered unreasonable for many of our TA's. I have some thoughts on the directions I might take, but I think I will leave it unsaid for now and instead ask what ideas do you have? Also, I would welcome any materials you would be willing to share with me such as TA training manuals, schedules, observations forms, and other misc forms or information you find useful. Please feel free to use the e-mail address given below to respond directly to me if you wish. Thank you ahead of time for your feedback and/or materials! Penelope Kirby ________________________________ Penelope Kirby TA Training and Evaluation Coordinator Department of Mathematics Florida State University Tallahassee FL 32306-4510 (850)644-0667, 108-E MCH e-mail: pkirby(a)math.fsu.edu _______________________________________________ PSTUM-list mailing list PSTUM-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/pstum-list

19 years, 2 months

Re: [PSTUM-list] Re: PSTUM-list Digest, Vol 2, Issue 3

by Eldon McMurray

I am very interested in applying this thinking framework to case study teaching. Please look over the Powerpoint presentation and send me any feedback you may have. Thank you, Eldon L. McMurray Director Center for Faculty Excellence Utah Vally State College 800 West University Parkway Orem, UT 846058 801-863-8550 >>> mersetka(a)gse.harvard.edu 02/03/05 11:22 AM >>> Dear Colleagues, My name is Kay Merseth and I teach at the graduate school of education at Harvard. My specialty is case based study in the education of teachers at the K-16 level. My colleagues and I have written several cases about high school classrooms but I think many of the issues that are relevant here would also apply for TF's at the undergraduate level. Our cases all stress the mathematics, the pedagogy, the student comments and the context. It would be very easy and quite exciting to compile some cases about undergraduate teaching. I know Sol Friedberg at Boston College has work on these some. I attach a case to give you a sense of the materials that we use to train teachers (that is if this listserve will accept attachments). Looking forward to the conversations. --On Thursday, February 03, 2005 12:00 PM -0500 pstum-list-request(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu wrote: > Send PSTUM-list mailing list submissions to > pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/pstum-list > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > pstum-list-request(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > You can reach the person managing the list at > pstum-list-owner(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of PSTUM-list digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. introduction: Gary Harris (Harris, Gary) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 16:21:03 -0600 > From: "Harris, Gary" <gary.harris(a)ttu.edu> > Subject: [PSTUM-list] introduction: Gary Harris > To: <pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu> > Message-ID: > <55CA02C1ECF1CB40B2A0AF7B32F0DFDD1BFB7000(a)BRONTES.net.ttu.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Dear Colleagues, > > > > My name is Gary Harris and I am the Director of Undergraduate Programs > in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Texas Tech > University. In the spring of 2000 I was asked by our chair and the > director of graduate programs to create a 3 credit hour course devoted > to issues involving teaching math at the undergraduate level. I would > like to say that this was motivated for all the obvious great reasons; > however, I suspect the main motivation was the fact that our state > regulatory agency requires that all instructors of record (aka actual > teachers of the classes) for college level math classes have at least 18 > hours of graduate level mathematics credit, and our university decided > to get serious about adhering to this rule. Hence this would be one way > for our new TA's to get an extra 3 hours graduate math credit their > first semester, while at the same time maybe picking up something > useful. In any event I began to look for appropriate materials and > activities and was ready to offer the course to 20 new teaching > assistants in the fall of 2000. The course has been offered each fall > semester thereafter. > > > > Early on I helped to field test some of Friedberg's case studies and > have used them regularly. I also use material from Rishel's Handbook > for Mathematics Teaching Assistants, as well as other materials. Also a > significant part of the course involves video taping and class > evaluations of student mini-lectures. > > > > I currently have a graduate student working on a Masters Thesis in which > he is trying to assess the effects of our course on our graduate > students attitudes and practice with regard to teaching mathematics at > the college level. He and I would be very interested to hear about > experiences any of you may have with such a course, as well as pertinent > references. > > > > I look forward participating in an interesting discussion on this timely > and, I think, very important topic, > > > > Gary Harris > > > >

19 years, 2 months

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

PSTUM-list February 2005