Year-long Undergraduate Research Projects

Abstract

Undergraduate research has become the centerpiece of many institutions of higher education’s efforts to attract and recruit high school graduates. Since 1987, throughout my tenure at Bloomsburg University, I have involved over 20 students in my research. In my experience, there is clear evidence that students of mathematics substantially benefit if they engage in research during their undergraduate studies. Whether the student plans to apply for employment after graduation or continue with graduate studies, the undergraduate research experience has a tremendous effect on the student’s success. In this paper, I will provide some personal insight on my experience in working with undergraduate students. In most cases, my experience has been in working with one student on a long term (one semester or mostly year-long) research problems. I will discuss my approach to identifying students, the type of projects, providing guidance, and finally the challenges that we face in supervising undergraduate research. To exemplify, emphasis will be placed on the status of a recent 1-year research project, which was funded by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, and a senior undergraduate student worked on it for one year.     

Introduction to the Special Issue: Using Inquiry-Based Learning in Mathematics for Liberal Arts Courses

Abstract

Mathematics for liberal arts courses are a staple of most mathematics departments and are often populated with students who have disengaged from mathematics. Inquiry-based learning is a student-centered pedagogical tool for re-engaging students in mathematics. In this paper, we introduce a Special Issue of PRIMUS on “Using Inquiry-Based Learning in Mathematics for Liberal Arts Courses.”     

Computer Science in Liberal Arts Colleges

When a liberal arts college decides to include computer science as one of its academic disciplines, a number of questions arise. What is an appropriate curriculum? What sort of laboratory support does this new discipline need? How does a small liberal arts school attract, retain, and evaluate faculty in this area? Do computer science faculty become a separate department or remain joined with mathematics or some other discipline? In short, what must be done to put computer science on equal footing with mathematics and other scientific disciplines? This paper addresses these questions.     

Improved Appreciation of Mathematics Through an IBL Liberal Arts Mathematics Course

Abstract

The author has taught an inquiry-based liberal arts mathematics class using the text “The Heart of Mathematics: An Invitation to Effective Thinking” by Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird a total of 20 times since Spring 2001. The students in this class have almost all been in non-technical majors and many started the semester with negative or ambivalent attitudes toward mathematics based on their prior experiences. The author has gathered responses from students in this class that illustrate significant changes in their attitudes towards mathematics during the course. In particular, the responses gathered at the end of the semester are often eloquent about understanding the great ideas of mathematics that students confronted in this course and about seeing many more and varied connections between mathematics and the “real world” than they had previously realized existed.     

Tailoring Modified Moore Method Techniques to Liberal Arts Mathematics Courses

Abstract

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) techniques can be used in mathematics courses for non-majors, such as courses required for liberal arts majors to fulfill graduation requirements. Unique challenges are discussed, followed by adaptations of IBL techniques to overcome those challenges.     

谈文科高等数学中定积分定义的教学

由于文科学生与理工科学生相比,其数学基础较差。因此,在讲授高等数学时,应差别对待。基于此,对文科高等数学中定积分定义的教学进行了探讨。     

The student–staff partnership movement: striving for inclusion as we push sectorial change

ABSTRACT

A growing number of practitioners are re-envisioning higher education through student–staff partnership. Such a culture shift toward partnership can only be achieved through collaborative efforts among academic developers, other faculty/staff, and students. Using evidence from literature and my own reflections, I map the ways this partnership movement is unfolding across contexts. In doing so, I hope to provide a sense of camaraderie for practitioners in outlining how individual practices contribute to sectorial change, to question how we could be more inclusive in this movement, and to provide suggestions for expanding the movement in the future.     

Exploring the Impact of Prior Experiences in Non-Formal Education on My Pedagogy of Teacher Education

The purpose of this article is to use self-study methodology to analyze critically the impact of 30 years of non-formal education on my development as a teacher educator. I begin within a particular conception of self-study research and make a case for situating martial arts as non-formal education. The data for this article are presented as a series of episodes, in which I write a short paragraph about each phase in my development as a martial artist and comment on my approach to learning and teaching, where appropriate, during each episode. At the end of the article, I draw several links to self-study literature and to my own understanding of teacher education. In so doing, I demonstrate the value of examining the impact of non-formal education experiences as a teacher educator.     

Weaving the Arts into Jewish Education: Integration at the Blossom School,an Arts‐Based Jewish Day School

The Baltimore Hebrew College

I came to the U.S. from my home town Jerusalem in 1929, when I was 16 years of age. My father had emigrated from Eretz Israel in 1921 because of the severe economic conditions that prevailed after World War I. Gradually, he brought over all the members of his family. He hoped that he and his sons would save enough money in the New World to establish a vital profitable enterprise in Eretz Israel, and the family could then return to its native land. In New York, we lived at first in Brownsville, at that time the most dynamic center of Brooklyn Jewry. A year later, I moved to Baltimore where my father was employed.     

Gallery of the Future: New Directions in Arts Education

The arts at the end of the 20th Century are dynamic: they are playing an increasingly important role in the life of individuals and the structuring of society. But they are also changing dramatically. It is my argument that arts education will need to change practice to match. The aim here is to discuss some of the key changes and values that will require a response from schools. Where do we look for evidence of these changes? Can we say what they are? I believe that we can. There are specific themes or directions now current in the arts which are likely to continue into the future. In the main they stem from the dynamism created by the interaction between art, technology and social change.     

My Wildest Dream: A Letter to My Black Son

Abstract

This article is a letter to my son. In this letter I tell him the truth of my reality in theological education, as one filled with sexism, racism, and various other experiences. I express my fears for him in this world as a black boy who will grow into a black man. I also discuss my hope for his future and the future of theological education. I discuss how I believe that playing, changing the rules, and having good friends to play with could aid in creating a better future not only for him but theological education as well.     

Media Exposure on Student Work: Spotlight on Undergraduate Research

Abstract

This paper describes efforts by the author to engage and motivate students in undergraduate research by giving them a large audience and engaging the media in disseminating their work. I provide an introduction to public relations from the point of view of a mathematics professor, and describe some lessons I have learned in my own attempts to engage newsprint, radio, and television sources in stories about undergraduate research in mathematics. After describing some partially successful early attempts, the paper discusses a recent event in which undergraduate research in mathematics became, briefly, a “hot news item” in Central Washington. The paper concludes with some thoughts about the benefits of this type of work to our students and our profession.     

Using the Arts to Raise Awareness and Communicate Environmental Information in the Extension Context

Abstract

Extension services face an increasing challenge as the state of Australia's environment declines. It is, therefore, opportune to explore some innovations in the way extension is traditionally delivered. This paper introduces the concept of the visual and performing arts being useful in extension of natural resources management issues such as land water degradation, biodiversity conservation, catchment protection and vegetation management. The paper surveys how the arts and science have met historically and contemporaneously, focusing on examples from ecology such as wildlife and botanical art. It then examines how extension practitioners view the arts, through an analysis of interviews with 26 extensionists working in natural resources management. Extensionists identified five areas that the arts might be utilized to help increase understanding and knowledge of natural resources issues: improving presentations; improving public campaigns and general awareness-raising; aiding facilitation and community development; reinforcing values and beliefs; and helping build a culture that is environmentally sustainable. Despite the potential value of arts in extension, few practitioners in extension use the arts to any great extent to assist in the communication of their messages. The research points to new opportunities for natural resources agencies and conservation organizations to improve their reach into the community. By building a relationship with the arts community they will be able to improve the efficacy of their extension.     

Activity genre: a new approach to successful inclusive teaching

In this paper, I examine why constructivist practice in mathematics education, while appealing to pre-service teachers' hearts and minds, does not necessarily deliver the empowered and liberated students that many educators and policy developers seem to take for granted. I argue that this may be so because constructivist practice, although it fosters the construction of important and necessary intellectual knowledges, reinforces power/ knowledge relationships of teacher authority that these students experienced at school. I draw on a post-structuralist analysis of my own constructivist practice in teacher education to show how investments of power/knowledge and subjectivity were played out to effectively maintain the status quo , severely limiting the students' experiences and appreciation of problem-solving or investigative ways-of-being in mathematics (education). In the conclusion, I suggest steps that might be taken in teacher education to help students recognise the powerful constitutive effects of discourses and to think about the kinds of classroom relationships that might be most engaging and enabling for learners.     

Recognition and development of academic talent in educationally disadvantaged students

Abstract

We studied 36 students identified as “educationally disadvantaged” who scored above average on standardized achievement tests and completed a program to reinforce their academic skills in either language arts or mathematics. We pretested and posttested an additional (control) group of 28 students who received no instructional intervention. We found a significant effect of the instructional intervention for both achievement and aptitude test scores in language arts as well as mathematics. Gains in mathematics were significantly greater than in language arts. After instructional intervention, the majority of students were eligible and academically qualified for challenging gifted‐talented programs. These findings are consistent with two other similar research projects using the same instructional program and model, suggesting stability of results. We discuss implications of this study for identifying and developing academic talent in such a population.     

Education for Sustainability in the Parks: A Project Inspired by Chet Bowers

Since its inception, the education for sustainable development (ESD) movement in higher education has been doomed. Its standards of sustainability, bound to measures of development which suggest human flourishing is equated with the western ideals, is precisely the double-bind Chet Bowers so passionately stood against. His critical perspective on education itself and the ecopedagogy shared in Educating for Eco-Justice and Community (2001) as well as the critical analysis he demonstrates in How Language Limits our Understanding of Environmental Education (2001) are exactly what is needed to reorient a movement which in most cases is now focused on efficiency. I will share the story of my own discovery of Chet Bowers’ work and its subsequent manifestation in my work both within the greater community and within the context of higher education therein. With this as a backdrop, I critique the ESD movement as fundamentally flawed due to its double-binds and metaphorical missteps, and I reconceptualize sustainability as a guiding vision rather than a target. I call for a shift from ESD to Victor Nolet’s (2010) Education for Sustainability (EfS) and recontextualize the movement within the framework of community. Finally, I share a piloted normative approach founded on Bowers’ eco-justice principles.     

Examining the Creative Arts Doctorate in Australia: Implications for supervisors

Abstract

One of the significant roles performed by the higher degree research (HDR) supervisor is to assist students to prepare their dissertations for examination. At a time when there is increasing interest in how the academy manages the transition of creative arts HDR candidates from apprentice to peer, there is also concern about the processes, practices, and policies associated with this largely under-researched area of research training. In a recent national Office of Learning and Teaching funded project, we investigated the policy expectations, expert and peer beliefs and expectations, and examiners’ practice around HDR examination, and canvassed the creative arts academic community for their recommendations on best practice in the examination of creative arts doctorates. An unexpected finding was the role of the HDR supervisor in relation to these key areas, and the impact of supervisors upon the examination of students’ theses. This article presents our findings with special reference to the role, understandings, and aspirations of HDR supervisors in the context, and process, of preparing their students for creative arts HDR examination.     

Conversational Pedagogy: Exploring Interactions Between a Teaching Artist and Young Learners During Visual Arts Experiences

In many early childhood classrooms, visual arts experiences occur around a communal arts table. A shared workspace allows for spontaneous conversation and exploration of the art-making process of peers and teachers. In this setting, conversation can play an important role in visual arts experiences as children explore new media, skills, and ideas. The investigation of informal conversations during visual arts experiences will serve to improve understandings of the cognitive, imaginative, social, and affective components of young children’s creative endeavors. In particular, the exploration of conversational discourse contributes to understandings of conversation as an integral component of pedagogy in early childhood arts. As an exploration of the nature of conversation as pedagogy in early arts experiences, I present a ‘telling case’ (Mitchell 1984) featuring the collaborative work between a teaching artist and two young students as they explore and create together. The findings from this research have important implications for early childhood and art education teacher educators striving to develop supportive educational practices that will assist early childhood teachers in promoting supportive visual arts practices.     

丰子恺:大众文艺的热心提倡者

丰子恺是一个大众文艺的热心提倡者。在20世纪30年代“左联”发起的文艺大众化运动中,他虽然没有发表多少文章参加讨论,但从20年代起到抗战初期,他不但在理论上积极提倡,而且在漫画和随笔的创作中实践着文艺大众化。由于丰子恺同“左联”距离较远,其思想体系、文艺观点同大多数左翼作家有较大区别,也由于他关于文艺大众化的理论和实践有一定的局限性,因此一向不为人们所注意。研究文艺大众化运动的历史,不应遗忘丰子恺。     

关于大学文科数学课程体系建设的思考

为了提高文科学生的综合素质,很多文科专业开设了大学数学课程。文章针对专业培养目标,从文科数学课程体系建设方面探讨了文科专业开设数学课程的必要性,文科专业与数学课程的关系,以及文科数学课程开设的实施方法。