Developmental Mathematics and its Applications (DevMap) Project

参加两年制大学的学生往往缺乏在大学工作中取得成功所需的基本技能。这对于科学、数学、工程和技术（SMET）课程的学生来说是一个特别严重的问题，他们可能在数学背景上有很大的缺陷，但对未来的成功有很高的期望。在这种情况下，学生需要建立自己的数学技能和信心，在他们的能力，以解决具有挑战性的问题，以在他们选择的数学密集型计划取得成功。我们建议开发一个两个学期的计划，将提供一种替代方法，目前在大多数两年制和四年制大学教授的初级和中级代数课程。在1997年国家职业教育研究中心（NCRVE）的研讨会“八年级以后”上，工业界代表强调了“系统思维”的必要性，这种思维使雇员能够认识到在受到多种输入和各种约束的情况下所固有的复杂性。此外，以科学为基础的领域，如农业生物技术，需要技术人员能够根据相关因素提出问题，并设计实验来确定这些不同因素的影响。然而，在两年制和四年制的大学里，大多数数学发展项目都为学生提供了相当于高中数学课程的复制品，他们要么学习过，要么忘记了，要么从未学习过。我们现在有机会实现真实的积极变革。1989年出版的全国数学教师理事会标准和1995年由美国两年制学院数学协会出版的《数学的十字路口：微积分之前的大学数学入门标准》都提倡对数学内容采取综合方法。 考虑到学生对发展数学的需求，AMATYC标准的愿景和COMAP的经验，我们建议创建一个为期一年的序列，发展数学及其应用（DevMap）。我们相信DevMap方法有几个好处：1.该计划将不会被分为所谓的代数，几何，中级代数和三角的主题，虽然在这些课程的所有主要概念将被覆盖。2.基于应用的课程将吸引选择接受中学后教育的成年学生;应用程序可以从学生可能发现自己工作的领域或他们从日常生活中认识到的情况中提取。3.解决DevMap中提出的问题将需要以自然的方式集成技术，而不是目前在许多发展数学项目中使用的“演练和实践”技术。

Students who attend two-year colleges often arrive on campus lacking the basic skills necessary to succeed in college-level work. This is a particularly serious problem for students in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (SMET) programs, who may have significant deficits in their mathematics backgrounds but high aspirations for their future success. Students in this situation need to build both their mathematical skills and confidence in their ability to solve challenging problems in order to succeed in the mathematics-intensive programs they have selected. We propose to develop a two-semester program that will offer an alternative approach to the elementary and intermediate algebra courses currently taught at most two- and four-year colleges. Students completing this program will be prepared to enter a course in precalculus.At the 1997 National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) workshop, "Beyond Eighth Grade," industry representatives emphasized the need for "systems thinking" that enables employees to recognize complexities inherent in situations subject to multiple inputs and diverse constraints. In addition, science-based fields such as agricultural biotechnology require technicians who are able to formulate a problem in terms of relevant factors and design an experiment to determine the influence of those various factors. Yet, most developmental programs in mathematics, at both two- and four-year colleges, offer students what amounts to a replication of the high school mathematics curriculum they either studied and forgot or never studied. We now have a chance for real and positive change. Both the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards, published in 1989, and Crossroads in Mathematics: Standards for Introductory College Mathematics Before Calculus, published by the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) in 1995, advocate an integrated approach to mathematics content. Given students' needs in developmental mathematics, the vision of the AMATYC Standards, and COMAP's experience, we propose to create a one-year sequence, Developmental Mathematics and its Applications (DevMap). We believe that there are several benefits to the DevMap approach:1. The program will not be divided into topics called algebra, geometry, intermediate algebra, and trigonometry, although all the major concepts in those courses will be covered. 2. The applications-based curriculum will appeal to mature students who choose to pursue postsecondary education; the applications can be drawn from areas in which students may find themselves working or from situations that they recognize from their daily lives. 3. Solving the problems posed in DevMap will call for integrating technology in a natural way as compared to the "drill-and-practice" use of technology currently found in many developmental mathematics programs.