Mathematics education is a primary activity of the Department of Mathematics at Oklahoma State University. In the broad overall view, mathematics education encompasses pure and applied mathematical research, mathematics teaching at the Baccalaureate, the Master's, and the Doctorate level, the development of mathematics curriculum, the use of the latest that technology has to offer to promote and enhance mathematics learning, pre-service and in-service programs for mathematics teachers at all levels, and the development of programs to increase the awareness and importance of mathematics among students in their early formative school years. The Department of Mathematics at OSU has been and is currently very active in all of these areas of mathematics education.
The Mathematics Department has established an outstanding record of federally funded projects of national importance and impact in mathematics related to student and teacher development. During recent years leadership has come from our department with the administration and implementation of seven major student/teacher development projects funded from federal sources. Project objectives include producing a catalog of industrial problems to be used as instructional materials for use in a college mathematics classroom, mathematics career awareness materials for high school students, applied mathematics learning modules for both the high school and college mathematics student, designing and implementing a new teacher preparation program for middle school teachers of mathematics, and researching whether teleconference instruction can help the entry year teacher of high school mathematics become better at problem solving and at the teaching of problem solving. These projects, taken collectively, illustrate the commitment and energy of the department to improving the learning and teaching of mathematics. Many of these projects are currently in progress.
Highlights of departmental activities in mathematics education follow.
Development of Mathematics Curriculum
The Department of Mathematics has an outstanding record of accomplishments in the area of the development of mathematics curriculum. The record and the tradition began with the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project to the OSU Department of Mathematics to develop instructional materials for applied mathematics utilizing actual industrial case-studies of applied mathematics. The case studies in applied mathematics led to further funded projects in curriculum materials development in applied mathematics. The Teaching Experiential Applied Mathematics (TEAM) project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education and sponsored by The Mathematical Association of America (MAA), developed written material, video, and microcomputer software on industrial applied mathematics for use by other college mathematics instructors as classroom materials on applied mathematics. The Application in Mathematics (AIM) project, again funded by NSF and sponsored by the MAA, carried the OSU model of applied mathematics, with materials similar to TEAM, to the secondary school classroom. The TEAM and the AIM materials are currently in use in college and high school classrooms across the United States.
Mathematics Awareness Programs
The Mathematics Department has long recognized the value of presenting to students the importance of mathematics as a key to career choices in adulthood, and the importance of doing so early in their school years, while their academic choices still lie ahead of them. OSU addressed this need with the NSF-funded Mathematics at Work in Society (MAWIS) project. MAWIS is a career and mathematics awareness package, consisting of written and video materials which are targeted for students of grades 8 and above. The MAWIS project was conceived and developed by faculty of the OSU Department of Mathematics for the MAA. MAWIS materials were disseminated by the MAA nationwide.
On the statewide scene the Mathematics Department has been the leader in instituting the Early Placement Evaluation in Mathematics (EPEM). This is a mathematics evaluation program designed to inform high school juniors about their present level of mathematics skills in terms of college requirements, to provide information regarding mathematics requirements for degree programs at Oklahoma institutions for higher education, and to increase the awareness of the importance of mathematics learning in high school for success in college. The EPEM program provides each student tested with a personalized report containing his/her college mathematics placement level, a list of mathematics competencies and deficiencies, and recommendations on how to prepare mathematically for college during their senior year of high school.
Pre-service and In-service Preparation Programs
The Department of Mathematics is an active partner with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction of the College of Education in the design, development, and implementation of pre-service and in-service programs for teachers of mathematics at the secondary and middle school level. As an example of this partnership for pre-service programs, the OSU Department of Mathematics was instrumental in securing NSF-funding for a five-year project to design and develop a four-year undergraduate academic program for the preparation of students for middle school (grades 5 - 9) mathematics teaching.
In-service programs for mathematics teachers offered by the Mathematics Department have included workshops and seminars by our faculty on a multitude of topics usually in response to requests by schools and their teachers. A strength of OSU is its teleconferencing facility, the Educational Telecommunications Center. The Department of Mathematics produces an impressive and wide variety of in-service and enrichment presentations from this state-of-the-art telecommunications facility. Just a sample of the topics presented include: teaching problem solving, a mathematical perspective on the Electoral College System, topics in probability and statistics, mathematics preparation for the college bound, and others. The NSF-funded project ``Teleconferencing Instruction in Problem Solving'' (TIPS) is another example of in-service outreach programming by the Mathematics Department via telecommunications.
Technology in Mathematics Instruction
The Mathematics Department has designed and developed a model facility for mathematics learning for students at OSU. This facility is called the Mathematics Learning Resource Center (MLRC). It includes a microcomputer lab, a video review lab, and a tutoring lab staffed by qualified undergraduate mathematics majors. The Department's faculty have developed an extensive library of microcomputer software and video review cassettes which offer to OSU students individualized instruction on any topic of mathematics from arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry to calculus, and all the way up through linear algebra and differential equations. The MLRC is a learning center where students who need help on a topic of mathematics can get it on a drop-in basis at their choice of a microcomputer work station, a TV monitor, or with the aid of an experienced mathematics tutor.
The MLRC also serves as a research lab for faculty in the area of mathematics education enabling them to develop, test, and implement the latest in microcomputer technology to mathematics instruction. Telecommunications technology and its role in mathematics learning is another area of current departmental activity. The Department is presently working with the OSU College of Arts and Sciences in testing the feasibility of delivering teleconference instruction via satellite of needed mathematics courses to high schools across the nation. Pre-Calculus and Advanced Placement Calculus are being offered primarily to rural schools desiring to present a college level calculus course to their college- bound students.
Cooperation with Department of Curriculum and Instruction
The Mathematics Department enjoys close ties of professional cooperation with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education. Both departments are active partners on the DIRECT Middle School Mathematics and Science Project, the TIPS Project, and the Ed.D. Degree program. In addition, the departments have marshaled their expertise to conduct in-service workshops and seminars as well as teleconferences on problem solving and other enrichment topics in mathematics for teachers and students. This climate of cooperation fosters interactions over a multitude of mathematics education issues that result in action in the form of successful proposal ideas for federal funds.
Faculty:
Doug Aichele: The school mathematics curriculum,
specifically the geometry curriculum, and the professional development
of mathematics teachers.
Dennis Bertholf: Mathematics education.
James Choike: Applied mathematics, especially problems that arise in an
industrial and multi-disciplinary setting; incorporating technology into
mathematics curriculum design; mathematics reform issues at middle,
secondary, and collegiate levels.
Benny Evans: Mathematics education. Technology in the classroom.
Marvin Keener: (currently Executive Vice President, Office of
Academic Affairs) Mathematical modeling of problems originating in
industry.
John Wolfe: Issues in K-16 mathematics education such as reform
as envisioned by the curriculum, evaluation, and professional standards
of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, equity and minority
issues, the role of technology, and the role of state coalitions; early
intervention testing programs.