Brock Teaching, Volume 1, Issue 1, Spring 2001

Volume 1, Issue 1, Spring 2001. Published twice a year

Centre for Teaching, Learning and Educational Technologies, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1 • Tel. 905-688-5550, ext. 3933 • E-mail: ctl@butler.ac.brocku.ca • Web site: www.brocku.ca/ctl

• Distinguished Teaching• President’s Lecture

Seriespage 2

• TA Certificate Programpage 3

• Fellows in the Spotlight• Call for Contributions

page 4

Inside thisedition

Guiding principlesof MICA1) Encourage Creativity and IntellectualIndependence.The new MICA courses in first, secondand third year will constantly presentstudents with applied problems whichrequire experimental and heuristicapproaches. In these situations,students will be expected to developtheir own strategies and make theirown choices about the bestcombination of mathematics andcomputing required to obtainapproximate solutions.

2) Develop mathematical concepts handin hand with computers and applications.All students in the MICA programmust learn a programming language infirst year. This programming language,along with programs like MAPLE andstatistical packages like SAS, will beused intensively in the MICA coursesto explore mathematical concepts andapplications.

3) Guarantee Prerequisites.A detailed course outline and aminimum skill set was written for eachcourse. Instructors can look at theminimum skill sets for prerequisitecourses and be reasonably certain thatstudents have a solid background inthose concepts.

4) Strengthen our BSc/BEd program.The concurrent program inmathematics and education has beenvery successful at Brock and attractssome of our best students. A veryexciting aspect of the new program isthat those future teachers will nowlearn to design and create educationalcomputer programs that their studentscan access over the net. We expectgraduates of our teaching program tobe leaders in the use of technology inthe classroom.

5) Create upward mobility.Course prerequisites have been kept toa minimum in order to maximize theprogram’s flexibility and student’soptions. Many of the third-year coursesare accessible with first-yearprerequisites.

6)Strengthen ties with other departments.One of the first things in developingthe new program was to send outquestionnaires to departmentsinterested in our courses. This feedbackwas useful in constructing the newcourses and joint programs.

Mathematics takes an exciting

By Professor Bill RalphWhat’s revolutionary, unique in

Canada, starts in September and wascreated by mathematicians here atBrock? Give up?

The answer is Brock’s newmathematics program called MICA(Mathematics Integrated withComputing and Applications) thatputs Brock in the vanguard inmathematics education. The creationof MICA was anenormous teameffort by them a t h e m a t i c sdepartment in which every detail of ourprogram was rewritten from the groundup. To understand the rationale forMICA, let’s go “back to basics.”

Most people would agree thatstudents should be able to divide 14 by8 without a calculator. But do theyreally need to spend hours and hoursof valuable class time learning to divide2348.77 by 139.453 using pencil andpaper? A parallel situation has emergedin mathematics courses at universitiesdue to the appearance of powerfulcomputer programs, such as MAPLE,which can do so much of the algebraand calculus we once taught. Fifty yearsago, you would be guaranteed a job ifyou knew how to find the area undercurves using calculus. Much of acalculus course would be devoted to

teaching students the hundreds oftricks and algebraic manipulationsrequired to perform those calculations.These days, a Grade 8 student withMAPLE can find such areas faster andmore accurately without knowing anycalculus at all! So where does that leavethe teaching of university mathematics?

In his article in the April 1997Mathematics Notices, renownedmathematician John Conway writes:

“We have to embrace technology, I don’tmean just tolerate it; embrace it and celebrateit... The professional mathematicscommunity must adapt and learn how to bestincorporate technology into instruction. Withthe existence of powerful, inexpensivecomputers, I see mathematics departmentsrethinking their entire curriculum...Otherwise, we are out of business…”

In order to create a curriculum thatmakes effective use of technology,Brock’s Department of Mathematicsbegan by looking at some of the mostsuccessful mathematics programs inNorth America. That exercise was animportant step in defining the goalsand objectives for MICA.

“This is an exciting direction for thestudy of mathematics at Brock,” saysProfessor Eric Muller, Chair,Department of Mathematics. “MICAis a cutting-edge program that willprepare students for mathematics careersin our technology-driven society.”

The pedagogical goal of the MICAprogram is to help students internalizea unified framework of mathematicalconcepts by interpreting themcomputationally, visually andalgebraically. Lectures will focus onmotivating and applying mathematicalconcepts as much as possible. Toencourage creativity, our MICAcourses will challenge students withinteresting projects that require themto develop their own strategies forhandling complex real worldmathematics problems. To help themunderstand the relevance of themathematics they have learned,students will regularly prepare projectsbased on data from researchers in otherdepartments.

With its special attention to the roleof technology, the MICA program willbe unique in Canada and of particularinterest to students looking for careersinvolving applications of mathematicsthat require technology. We expect ourstudents to be in demand for theirability to apply, interpret and presentmathematics using modern tools. Ournew graduates will meet the need formathematicians who are computerliterate and we anticipate them makingsignificant contributions to the practice,creation and teaching of mathematics.We are looking forward to welcomingthe first students this coming fall.

newdirectionwithMICAprogramRight: Professor Bill Ralphstands in front of a projectionof one of his mathematicallygenerated images, entitledSylphs.