Math Pathways: Designing for Success featuring Uri Treisman

By Bradley on 04/13/2012 in Disciplines, Inquiry, Math, Presentations

The first of two conferences focused on math instruction and completion in community colleges got underway with a bang in Foster City. Uri Treisman, professor of mathematics and of public affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, laid a foundation of inquiry about developmental education, the struggle of math faculty to raise success rates from 25% to 30%, bright spots of change occurring in the delivery and content of math courses, the need to stop the dumbing down of math courses, and the struggle to change and reinvigorate the structure of colleges. Dr. Treisman focused on five areas in which community colleges needed to focus on:

Content
Structure
Delivery Methods
Instructional Support
Faculty Support

The last example that he shared involved a community college in Georgia. At the college, math faculty invite students from the previous semester that earned an “A” in their class to come and speak to the new semester’s students. A simple effort that promotes student success with actual student success. Instead of the usual fears and anxieties that many students have during the first weeks of a math course, they are shown that success in obtainable and real. Some of the reports and studies that Uri mentioned are listed below.