Software for Active Learning in Mathematics and Teacher Preparation

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Mathematics educators, through the NCTM Standards and MAA Professional Standards for Teachers of Mathematics, call for more active learning at all levels of mathematics education. This project is developing a teaching approach for the finite mathematics course, taken by elementary education and business majors, which implements the goals of these standards in both curriculum and instruction. The course materials incorporate active and collaborative learning techniques, writing, and a problem-solving approach which emphasizes critical thinking. The software keep the structure of SEEN, an award-winning humanities software program, with tutorials that teach mathematical strategies plus a bulletin board that encourages peer collaboration. The SEEN-MATH software is being written so that the tutorial inculcates Polya's problem-solving model with tools such as graphing and calculator capabilities. In addition, to train and retrain mathematics teachers, thus affecting the educational infrastructure, SEEN-MATH is being used with elementary education and secondary mathematics education majors, and presented in an in-service workshops for teachers, allowing them to use the Polya tutorial and also adapt the software (in its author mode) to their students and classes as a model of active learning.