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Teaching and Learning

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.

Columns

Teaching Time Savers

Teaching Time Savers are articles designed to share easy-to-implement activities for streamlining the day-to-day tasks of faculty members everywhere.

Research Sampler

The Research Sampler, edited by Annie and John Selden, is dedicated to making us all aware of current research in mathematics education.

New: Learning and Teaching Ordinary Differential Equations, by guest authors Chris Rasmussen and Karen Whitehead

Innovative Teaching Exchange

The Innovative Teaching Exchange, edited by Bonnie Gold, is a forum in which we can all share innovative ideas about teaching. If you'd like to contribute (and the column depends, of course, on such contributions), consult the information for contributors to the innovative teaching exchange.

New: Flowcharting Proofs.


Other Teaching-Related Items

Three papers from the West Point Conference on Improving College Algebra:

SIGMAA on RUME. The purpose of the group is to foster research on learning and teaching undergraduate mathematics and to provide a support network for those who participate in this area of research. This SIGMAA also welcomes members who teach post secondary mathematics or are interested in the findings of RUME; such members often provide critical assistance in the grounding of research efforts in the realities of the classroom.

The MAA Teaching Assistants' Handbook provides a practical guide to best practice in teaching collegiate mathematics, and focuses on how leading theories can be applied effectively in a real-world context.

Quantitative Reasoning , a complement to the Standards.

The NCTM has released Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, to replace the 1989 "NCTM Standards". The MAA Task Force on the NCTM Standards has produced a report on their reaction to PSSM, detailing MAA's contribution to the process and the extent to which our concerns were heard. Earlier reports from the Task Force are also available online.

The CUPM subcommittee on Quantitative Learning was created "to examine and make recommendations concerning all aspects of undergraduate mathematics or quantitative literacy requirements, including courses, tests, and other requirements that may be established for all students who receive a bachelor's degree." Their new web page has descriptions of several QL courses and will soon add more material.

Also from CUPM : Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences in 2010: What Should Students Know?

Feature Article: Thomas Rishel on the Growth of Professional Development in Mathematics in the coming years. From a talk given at the National Academy of Sciences Board of Mathematical Sciences annual department chair's meeting in Washington, D.C.

Project NExT: New Experiences in Teaching. If you are a new faculty member who is interested in the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics, you may want to apply to participate in Project NExT. Even if you don't want to apply, check out the Project NExT web site, which contains lots of useful information on teaching mathematics.

Teaching and Learning Past Features.