The common denominators: A collaborative approach to teaching reasoning skills through literature and mathematics

At a highly technical institution, this interdisciplinary problem-solving course was designed for students who had been placed on probation or suspended. Two professors, with divergent backgrounds in mathematics and literature, collaborated in the research, planning and teaching. The course stresses the cross-disciplinary applications of tools such as analogy, using a variety of assignments in mathematics, logic and literature. The importance of both ill-structured and well-structured problems is discussed, as is the rationale for including oral presentations, group problems, and a formal debate in the curriculum. The article emphasizes the value of cross-disciplinary collaboration for studentsand faculty, as it presents an approach to teaching reasoning skills that could be applied to a variety of academic settings.She is currently Chairman of the Reading and Writing Department of the Learning Development Center at Rochester Institute of Technology where she also teaches courses in the College of Liberal Arts. She has given professional presentations on teaching interdisciplinary problem solving, using student research to examine ethical issues, and implementing writing across the curriculum. She has also reviewed several contemporary novels and written on the fiction of Henry James.She is currently an assistant professor in the Mathematics Department of the College of Science at Rochester Institute of Technology. She has given numerous presentations at regional and national conferences on interdisciplinary problem solving, mathematical problem solving, using writing to teach mathematics, art and mathematics, and math anxiety. She is Past-President of the New York College Learning Skills Association and a 1983 recipient of the Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching at Rochester Institute of Technology.