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Curriculum & Department Guidelines & Recommendations

MAA members represent the full spectrum of mathematical sciences professionals. Representing a wealth of experiences and diverse perspectives, MAA guidelines and recommendations have long been recogized as the primary source for departments and programs in undergraduate mathematics.

In addition to the core resources accessible through the menu items on the left, the following programs are among those that MAA offers.

Basic Library List

The Basic Library List contains a list of books in the mathematical sciences recommended for college, high school, and public libraries. It is designed to provide students with introductory sources that might not be part of their curriculum; to provide reading material that is collateral to regular courses; to provide faculty with reference material that is relevant to their teaching; and to provide appropriate references for students in disciplines that use the mathematical sciences.

WeBWorK

WeBWorK is an open-source online homework system for math and sciences courses.

MAA-Maplesoft Placement Testing Suite

This testing suite gives you the option of allowing your students to use calculators while solving problems in the Placement Testing Suite, maintaining the stringent statistical controls and high content validity of traditional MAA placement tests.

Characteristics of Successful Programs in College Calculus

The MAA is conducting a study of Calculus I instruction in American colleges and universities sponsored by NSF (DRL REESE #0910240). The goals of this study are:

  • To improve our understanding of the demographics of students who enroll in calculus, and
  • To measure the impact of the various characteristics of calculus classes that are believed to influence student success.

Role of Calculus

In March of 2016, MAA hosted the Workshop on the Role of Calculus in the Transition from High School to College Mathematics to bring together a group of high school teachers, mathematicians, mathematics and science education researchers, state and district supervisors of mathematics, and representatives of organizations with a stake in the issues surrounding calculus in high school. This workshop explored a wide range of issues around calculus in high school from access to the effects of the pressure to enroll under-prepared students to the impact of high school calcus on subsequent success in college.

A joint publication by MAA and NCTM of papers from the workshop is available here.

Teaching and Learning

Teaching and learning mathematics is what most MAA members do for most of their lives. Helping us all to think about how best to teach and about how students learn is an important part of the mission of the MAA. Our Teaching and Learning section hopes to provide useful and thoughtful articles about teaching mathematics.

Joint Statements