Cooperative Learning in Undergraduate Mathematics Education: Developing a Comprehensive Program for College Faculty

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Cooperative Learning in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (CLUME) is a national program to provide faculty with the knowledge, skills, and experience to implement cooperative learning in undergraduate mathematics courses. Numerous reports document deficiencies in mathematics education and call for change in the pedagogical methods employed in the nation's colleges and universities. This project focuses on cooperative learning as a strategy applicable to courses at all collegiate levels from remedial to majors. It is a pedagogical approach that can be used in classes of any size, and embodies a kind of thinking which may have profound impact on a faculty member's ideas about teaching and learning. CLUME activities will provide faculty who have differing levels of interest and expertise an opportunity to explore and evaluate the effectiveness of cooperative learning. The cornerstone activities are a 12-day summer workshop providing intensive training in the theory and practice of cooperative learning, an academic year apprenticeship period with mentoring and electronic networking, and a 3-day follow-up workshop during the succeeding summer. In addition to the workshop cycle, the project includes shorter introductory experiences: mini-courses at national AMS/MAA meetings, short courses and panels at MAA sectional meetings, and national conferences. CLUME will have impact beyond the funding period. It will develop a cadre of experienced practitioners of cooperative learning capable of providing training for others. Materials developed as part of the workshop experience will be available to the mathematics community at large. Of particular interest are the CLUME activities targeting faculty and departments who have large responsibilities for pre-service teacher preparation. Special attention is paid during the recruitment phase to securing the participation of those faculty, and specific components of the workshop activities will focus on cooperative learning in the K-12 setting. An evaluation comp onent will document successes and limitations of cooperative learning. CLUME will promote cooperative learning in the professional organizations (AMS/MAA/AMATYC) and will increase collaboration between two- and four-year college faculty.