Since the late 1980's, the LSU Deparment of Mathematics has steadily increased its role in the professional development of elementary and secondary teachers beyond its basic obligation of offering the math courses reqired for the education degree. An expanding group of faculty have led and participated in special projects aimed at raising the level of mathematics instruction in Louisiana schools. Actions taken include outreach to in-service teachers, fundamental curriculum reform in the mathematics course sequence offered to preservice teachers and cooperation with the LSU College of Education.
Early this decade, Boyd Professor Dick Anderson enunciated the goal of ``recruiting and guiding research mathematicians to get constructively involved in the school mathematics process.'' (letter attached to report on "Improving Mathematics Teaching Skills"). This has taken deep root. University leadership at all levels---the department, the college (Arts and Sciences) and the university---recognizes and concretely rewards all efforts mathematics faculty make to improve teacher preparation. Ron Retherford, Mathematics Chair since 1992, was one of the first faculty recruited by Anderson and, as co-director of the LaCEPT-funded interinstitutional college algebra project (UNCPAL) continues to be one of the most active contributors to teacher preparation. The Department of Mathematics, thus, has a tradition of highly valuing the involvement of academic faculty in teacher training.
Teaching practices must switch from a formal lecture and `memorize and show your work' format toward much increased student-teacher dialogue about ideas, increased consideration of finding different (perhaps easier) but not necessarily formal ways of doing problems, and increased cooperative learning procedures in the classroom.
Middle School Mathematics Revitalization Proposal, p. 8.
Much of the original impetus for departmental involvement arose from Anderson's visionary response to the 1988 NCTM Standards. Ideas developed by Anderson and colleagues in the project entitled ``Improving Mathematics Teaching Skills of Middle School Teachers'' (1989--90, funded by the Board of Regents under the Dwight D.~Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Education Act Grants Program) fed into the conceptualization the original LaSIP and LaCEPT proposals. With major NSF and state funding, effective leadership through the Board of Regents and the participation of state institutions of higher learning all overthe state and of hundreds of dedicated students and teachers, LaSIP and LaCEPT have become highly respected national models for systemic reform in teacher preparation and classroom practice.
After the teaching skills project, Anderson and Retherford expanded the scope of deparmental involvement in in-service teacher training in the Middle School Math Revitalization Project (1990--1992, funded by NSF) and the Rural School Project (1991--1993, funded by LaSIP), which together brought several hundred in-service teachers to the LSU campus for extended summer workshops. The group of faculty involved grew to include Professors Perlis and Madden and Instructor Tullos. Also in 1991, Retherford received LaSIP funding for "Algebra, Number Sense and the Graphing Calculator" project. Instructor Dottie Vaughn worked with this project. It was a first attempt to make high school teachers aware of the capabilities of the graphing calculator as a teaching tool.
Prototypes for the courses M1201: Number Sense and Problem Solving and M1202: Conceptual Geometry were designed by Anderson and Retherford in the early 1990's for the Holmes Program. Retherford and Tullos presented an early version in a series of television broadcasts for LPB in 1992. Tullos began implementing the design in a classroom version that aims to model best teaching practices in fall 1994, and was given release time in the 95--6 academic year to perfect the design. At the same time, Instructors MacAnelly and Kopsco apprenticed with Tullos to learn how to manage the reformed curriculum. These courses have been praised by the College of Education for equipping students with ideal background for math methods courses.
Dates |
Principal Investigators |
Other Presonnel |
Funding Agency |
Title |
'88--'91 |
Miller (College of Ed.) | Anderson,Williamson | NSF | 4th-5th Grade Science and Math |
'89--'91 |
Miller (Retherford) | BoR/MSEA | Improving Mathematics Teaching Skills... | |
'90--'91 |
Anderson/Retherford | Tullos | NSF | Middle School Math Revitalization |
'90--'91 |
Retherford | Vaughn | LaSIP | Algebra, Number Sense & Graphing Calculator |
'91--'92 |
Anderson/Retherford | Madden, Tullos | LaSIP | Rural School Project |
'92--'95 |
Perlis/Charlesworth | Johnson | Exxon/LaSIP | K-3 Mathematics In-Service Model |
'96--'98 |
Oliver/Madden | Rouse/Tullos | LaCEPT | Campus Renewal I, II |
'97--'98 |
Retherford et al. | statewide | LaCEPT | UNCPAL |
| '98--'99 | Lafayette/Madden | many | BoR | CITAL |
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