Non-STEMDevelopmental Math Courses

Content and Training

MATD 0485 “Developing Mathematical Thinking”

• Advance preparation for Non-STEM college-level topics

•Removing the algebra barrier

• New meaning of “mathematics;” relevant to non-STEM students

• Prereqs: comfort with decimals, fractions, percents; reading skills

Why collaborate?

• Students collaborating • Active learning in the classroom

• Appropriate pacing for students

• Reinforce concepts by speaking them

• Individualized, targeted help from instructor

• Instructors collaborating • Time & labor management--too big to do alone!

• Better quality of materials after group revision process

• Support, informal training, idea swaps

Expanding Statistics Coverage

MATD 0485 Developing

Mathematical Thinking

MATH 1332 College

Mathematics (Liberal Arts)

MATH 1342 Elementary Statistics

(Health & Social Sciences)

• Identifying needs of Liberal Arts vs Statistics students

• Statistics preparation: Intermediate Algebra vs Developing Math Thinking

• Changes to degree requirements, esp. Nursing. No college-level math!?!

My Typical Class Day (varies by instructor!)

•Instructor introduction (5 - 20 minutes)

•Students in groups for activity work (30 - 40 minutes)

•Individualized support from instructor (on-going)

•Whole class: Fine-tune/check answers/prep for next activity (10 - 15 minutes)

•More group work (30 - 45 minutes)

•Final clarification/check; assign reading & homework (5 - 10 minutes)

Unit 1: Problem Solving & LogicSection 8: Venn Diagrams

Students get acclimated to new concepts...

Practicing, deepening… Full-out problem solving...

Student Buy-in

• Consistency & structure

• Obvious relevance

• Success breeds success

• Learning how to be a college student

Unit 2: Introduction to StatisticsSection 1, Part 1: Populations & Samples

Intro to Data Collection & OrganizationPart 2: Types of Variables

Intro to Data Collection & OrganizationPart 3: Organizing Categorical Data

Your turn! Choose a Reader for your group. The Reader’s job is to read aloud as everyone follows along.

Implementing statistics content

Setting the tone with students

•Data is messy

•Data is interesting!

Training faculty to teach (and get over anxiety about!) stats

•In-person sessions

•Online training for deeper understanding

•Faculty mentors

Unit 3: Constant vs Proportional GrowthSection 1: Introduction to Patterns of Change

Wrap Up

Faculty buy-in• Stats• academic freedom/varied levels of collaboration

Challenges• spectrum of instructor involvement (boredom to overwhelm)• insecurity with stat content• group pacing (monitoring group speed)• inadequate reading levels• writing complete sentences

Recommendations

• 100% contextual

• instructor website with activities & keys

• ongoing mandatory trainings

• faculty mentor/point-person

Thanks!Anne VanceAssociate Professor of Mathematics

avance@austincc.edu

Colleen HoskingAssistant Professor of Mathematics

cneroda@austincc.edu

MATD 0485: Developing Mathematical Thinking Semester 16 Weeks Monday/Wednesday

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday *Adjust schedule as needed to accommodate for Labor Day (fall) and MLK Day (spring)*

Introduction – Syllabus Activity or some other ice breaker Unit 1, Section 1: Critical Reading and Expressing Mathematical Ideas Reading & Writing in Math Activity, pts 1 & 2 Unit 1, Sections 2: Estimating with Percents Estimating Percents Activity

Unit 1, Sections 3: Solving Percent Problems Using Equations Estimating and Problem Solving with Percents Activity Percent Increase and Decrease Problems Activity

Unit 1, Section 4: Estimation Estimation Activity Start Unit 1, Section 5: Problem Solving Guess and Check Activity Start General Problem Solving Strategies Activity

Finish Unit 1, Section 5: Problem Solving Finish General Problem Solving Strategies Activity Unit 1, Section 6: Inductive & Deductive Using Patterns to Solve Problems Activity Using Deductive Reasoning to Solve Problems Activity

Start Unit 1, Section 7: The Metric System and Dimensional Analysis Metric System Activity Start Unit Conversion Activity

Finish Unit 1, Section 7: The Metric System and Dimensional Analysis Finish Unit Conversion Activity Unit Conversion Activity: Square and Cubic Units

Start Unit 1, Section 8: Logic and Venn Diagrams Venn Diagrams and Logic Activity Venn Diagrams and Counting Activity

Finish Unit 1, Section 8: Logic and Venn Diagrams Venn Diagrams and Two-Way Tables Activity Unit 1 Review

Unit 1 Exam (Option: If behind schedule, review on this day and put Unit 1 Exam in testing center)

Unit 2, Section 1: Reading an Applied Math Textbook Unit 2, Section 2: What are Data? Unit 2, Section 3: Collecting Data Unit 2, Section 4: Organizing Categorical Data Introduction to Data Collection & Organization Activity

Unit 2, Section 5: Collecting Data to

Understand Causality

Reading our Statistics Textbook

Statistical Studies Activity

Unit 2, Section 6: Visualizing Variation in Numerical Data Visualizing Variation in Numerical Data: Histograms Activity

Unit 2, Section 7: Summarizing Important Features of a Numerical Distribution Describing Distributions: Shape, Center, and Spread Activity

Technology Day in the computer lab (if possible at your campus), otherwise instructor will demonstrate software Using Technology in Statistics (StatCrunch) Activity

Unit 2, Section 8: Visualizing Variation in Categorical Variables Graphing Different Types of Variables Activity

Unit 2, Section 9: Summaries for Symmetric Distributions Unit 2, Section 10: Summaries for Skewed Distributions Numerical Summaries Activity

Finish Unit 2, Section 9 & 10 Unit 2, Section 11: Comparing Measures of Center Comparing Measures of Center Activity

Unit 2, Section 12: Using Boxplots for Displaying Summaries Boxplots Activity Unit 2 Review

Unit 2 Exam (Option: If behind schedule, review on this day and put Unit 2 Exam in testing center)

Start Unit 3, Section 1: Patterns of Change Introduction to Mathematical Tables Activity Introduction to Pattern of Change Activity

Unit 3, Section 1 (continued) Linear Patterns of Change Activity

Unit 3, Section 2: Exponential Patterns of Change Percent Increase and Decrease Review Activity Exponential Patterns of Change Activity

Unit 3, Section 2 (continued) Summarizing Patterns of Change Activity

Unit 3, Section 3: Visualizing Variability with a Scatterplot Scatterplot Activity

Unit 3, Section 4: Modeling Linear Trends An Introduction to Writing Linear Equations Activity Modeling Linear Trends Activity

Unit 3, Section 5: Writing Linear Equations & Graphing Writing Linear Equations & Graphing Activity

Unit 3, Section 6: Writing Exponential Equations & Graphing Writing Exponential Equations & Graphing Activity

Unit 3 Review Summary of Writing Linear and Exponential Equations Activity

Unit 3 Exam

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