“Math is Not Linear”

Re-Thinking Pre-College Math (RPM) Project: Asking the Right Questions to Navigate Our Way out of the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ Bill Moore, Project Director RPM 2010 Summer Institute

The Bermuda Triangle The decision to funnel the most academically at-risk students into colleges that receive the fewest resources has turned out to be something of a disaster… Community colleges don’t have an obligation to work miracles, but they do have an obligation to do better--to ensure quality teaching and academic counseling, to pay close attention to student outcomes, to try new approaches when the old ones obviously aren’t working… Camille Esch, “Higher Ed’s Bermuda Triangle,” Washington Monthly, Sept./Oct. 2009

Core Questions: Rethinking Pre-College Math How do we teach it? How do we know students have learned it? What math do we teach (and why)? Faculty Inquiry Groups

Everybody Knows What Teaching Is “The student described a terrific course offered by the college of agriculture, consisting of realistic problems tackled by student teams exploring and using the resources of a research university. ‘I have never learned so much in a class. I didn’t even know I could learn like that.’ ‘That professor must be a wonderful teacher,’ I responded. The student laughed. ‘We did all the work; he just assigned the problems and helped out. He doesn’t know how to teach.’” Larry Spence, “The Case Against Teaching,” Change, November/December 2001

Reflecting on the Data What stands out to you in terms of these findings and/or significant conclusions you might draw about these data? In what ways are these findings consistent with your understanding of your precollege math students? What’s missing from these data? What other data or analyses would be useful to you as you consider the work you’re doing related to your precollege math program?

Collaboration and Knowledge Exchange in Developmental Math Faculty Collaborations for Course Transformations (FACCTS) National Repository of Online Courses Knowledge Exchange Networks Carnegie Statway Project Developmental Education Initiative Rethinking Pre-College Math