ARUME is Founded

Association for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education Formed

The Association for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (ARUME) was formed at the Annual Meeting of the AMS/MAA in San Antonio, Texas on January 14, 1999 with one hundred twenty people in attendance. The purpose of ARUME is to foster "basic research in undergraduate mathematics education (RUME) and its application to improving teaching practice. ARUME will pursue its goals in at least two ways. The first will be to provide organizational support for the conduct of RUME and its dissemination through talks, conferences and publications. The second will be to interact with those who teach post secondary mathematics and are the potential consumers of the results of RUME and also can provide critical assistance in the grounding of research efforts in the realities of the teaching enterprise." As a result, ARUME will maintain a close relationship with the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) as well as seek to build relationships with other organizations concerned with the learning and teaching of mathematics.

During the San Antonio meeting, paper and poster sessions addressed a variety of topics such as students' intuitive number theory rules, preservice teachers' conceptions of variable, the effects of writing on calculus students' understandings of limit, and graduate students' mathematical beliefs. The following officers were elected: Coordinator, Ed Dubinsky; Coordinator-Elect, Annie Selden; Secretary/Treasurer, David Meel; Organizational Director, Mickey McDonald; Program Chair, Julie Clark. Membership in ARUME is open to anyone interested in the pursuit of its goals; to become a member contact David Meel ([email protected]. bgsu.edu). ARUME will sponsor paper sessions and an expository talk at the MathFest in Providence, Rhode Island July 31- August 2. In addition, ARUME is assisting in the organization of the Fourth Annual Conference on RUME to be held September 16-19 in Chicago, Illinois with the Exxon Education Foundation as primary sponsor. Further information can be found at http://galois.oxy.edu/mickey/rume99.html.