Teaching Laboratories in Mathematics and Astronomy

霍夫斯特拉大学建议通过为数学系和物理系（包括天文学）建立一个专门的教学实验室来加强对非专业，特别是未来K-12教师的科学教育。该实验室每年将为820名学生提供“数学漫游”和“数学探索”课程（MATH 12和16），每年为625名学生提供“太阳系”和“恒星与星系”课程（ASTR 11和12），预计每年为120名学生提供“模型与算法”课程（MATH 13，暂定名称），该课程将在该项目的支持下开发。这一建议的主要目的是让学生积极地学习数学和天文学的主要概念和方法：观察、发现、描述（如规则或算法）和验证的过程。一些主题将在数学和天文学中进行研究；在这种情况下，每门课程的治疗将是独立的，但学科之间的联系也将被探索。拟议的教学实验室将包括18台联网的高端个人电脑，以及一个讲师站、投影仪和打印机，以满足所有受影响课程的教学需求，并将基于个人电脑的CCD相机连接到现有的望远镜上，以方便收集数据，供天文学11和12的后续分析。拟议的教学实验室将补充霍夫斯特拉大学校园内现有的几个开放获取实验室。该项目预期将改善地方和国家的教学，后者通过专业会议和期刊以及霍夫斯特拉大学全球网站上的课件传播课堂材料和结果。

Hofstra University proposes to enhance the science education of non-majors, and especially prospective K-12 teachers by constructing a dedicated Teaching Laboratory for the Departments of Mathematics and Physics (which includes Astronomy). The laboratory will serve 820 students enrolled annually in the courses "Mathematical Excursions" and "Explorations in Mathematics" (MATH 12 and 16), 625 students enrolled annually in the courses "The Solar System" and "Stars and Galaxies" (ASTR 11 and 12) and an anticipated 120 students enrolled annually in a new course "Models and Algorithms" (MATH 13, provisional title) to be developed with support from this project. The major thrust of this proposal is to involve students actively in learning major concepts and methodologies of both mathematics and astronomy: the processes of observation, discovery, description (as rules or algorithms) and verification. Some topics will be studied in both mathematics and astronomy; in which case the treatment in each course will be self-contained, but connections between the disciplines will also be explored. The proposed Teaching Laboratory will include 18 networked high-end PC's together with an instructor station, projector and printers serving instructional needs in all of the affected courses and PC-based CCD cameras to be attached to existing telescopes to facilitate gathering data for later analysis in Astronomy 11 and 12. The proposed Teaching Laboratory will complement several existing open-access laboratories located throughout Hofstra's campus. This project is expected to improve instruction both locally and nationally, the latter through dissemination of class materials and results via professional meetings and journals, as well as courseware on Hofstra University's world wide web site.