INTERIM REPORT TO THE EXXONMOBIL EDUCATION FOUNDATION
on the grant to the
Mathematical Association of America (MAA)
in support of the
Association for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (ARUME)
The initial year of ARUME's existence has been extremely successful. We have almost 250 members. We have become an established organization within the Mathematics Association of America as a SIGMAA (Special Interest Group). This goal, initially set modestly to take 2+ years, has already been accomplished. As a result, ARUME is assured of a permanent home within the MAA along with program slots at the Annual and Summer Meetings for research papers, an expository talk, and a business meeting. This will greatly enhance our visibility within the mathematics community and creates enhanced opportunities for dialogue with mathematics faculty in colleges and universities regarding teaching practice.
ARUME members are an enthusiastic and hardworking group. Much of our work has been done through committees of volunteers. Accomplishments of the committees include:
While we are proud of our accomplishments, much work remains to be done. The literature database needs completion and continual updating. Funds to support this are needed and being sought. This will be a valuable resources for anyone wanting to do research in the field, particularly ARUME members. Work on a journal devoted exclusively to RUME has not yet begun -- a discussion and preliminary planning will commence in the coming year.
Milestones for Year 1
In regard to the milestones to be achieved by the end of Year 1 (March 31, 2000), the following progress has been made:
Milestone 1. The organization of ARUME has been established.
At the AMS/MAA Annual Meeting in January 1999 in San Antonio, ARUME was established with a transitional set of by-laws; research paper and poster sessions were held. At the MAA Mathfest in July/August 1999 in Providence, there were research paper sessions, an expository talk, and a business meeting at which a permanent set of by-laws was approved. In September 1999, the first RUME conference sponsored by ARUME was held in Chicago with over one hundred in attendance. [N.B. Attendance would have been higher, except for a hurricane which tied up air traffic over the entire East Coast of the U.S.] Participants were uniformly enthusiastic about the program and appreciated the opportunity to interact with others in RUME, especially several first-time attendees who were pleased to discover an organization that supported their research interests.
At the January 2000 Annual Meeting of the AMS/MAA in Washington, DC, ARUME was welcomed as the first SIGMAA (Special Interest Group of the MAA). ARUME has an MAA Charter and a set of internal by-laws. At the January ARUME business meeting, officers were elected to serve two-year terms. They are: Coordinator-Elect, Marilyn Carlson of Arizona State University; Secretary-Treasurer, David Meel of Bowling Green State University; Program Director, Julie Clark of Emory and Henry College; and Organizational Director, Michael McDonald of Occidental College. Moving into the positions of Coordinator and Past-Coordinator were Annie Selden of Tennessee Technological University and Ed Dubinsky of Georgia State University.
During the first year of its existence, much of the work of ARUME was carried on by its committees: By-laws, Guidelines, Literature, Mentioning, Newsletter, and Website, all of which reported progress at the January 2000 meeting.
Milestone 2. A draft plan for the place of RUME within MAA has been produced.
We are ahead of schedule on this milestone. We have completed the incorporation of ARUME into MAA as a SIGMAA (a Special Interest Group of the MAA). Indeed, as the first SIGMAA, we were welcomed by the MAA President and Executive Secretary at a reception held at the January 2000 AMS/MAA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. An article on this appeared in FOCUS, the newsletter of the MAA, and on MAA Online, its more extensive online version. [See http://www.maa.org/data/news/arume.html .]
Milestone 3. A substantial amount of research has taken place.
The research sessions mentioned in 1. have resulted in a significant number of papers in RUME being presented at conferences. For the January 1999 ARUME sessions at the annual AMS/MAA meeting, 38 proposals were submitted; of these, 11 were accepted for presentation as papers and 14 as posters. For the Summer 1999 MAA Mathfest, there were 21 submissions; of these, 4 were accepted as 30-minute papers, 16 as 20-minute papers. There was also an expository talk about research in undergraduate mathematics education by Annie Selden. At the September Research Conference, there were 59 papers and posters, together with three plenary speakers and a panel. An abstract booklet was printed and distributed to all participants along with e-mail addresses of authors to enable further contacts to be made. This was also available on the Conference website. For the ARUME sessions at the January 2000 AMS/MAA meeting, 25 submissions were received; of these 17 were accepted. There was also a well-received expository talk about research in mathematics education by Hyman Bass and Deborah Ball. Altogether there were 121 research presentations, as well as additional plenary addresses, at these conferences and sessions organized by ARUME.
In addition, a number of ARUME members presented research papers in undergraduate mathematics education at the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) in Haifa, Israel in July 1999, at the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA) in Mexico in October 1999. ARUME member Ed Dubinsky was one of two presenters at the Research Forum devoted to the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Mathematics, organized by ARUME members Annie and John Selden at PME in Haifa, Israel in July 1999. Ed Dubinsky also served as a plenary reactor at the PME-NA in Mexico in October 1999.
Milestone 4. Informal reports of uses of research results.
Various ARUME members report that they use research in their practice --experimenting with such things as cooperative groups, writing assignments, journals, and group projects.
Milestone 5. Expository talks given and expository papers written.
Invited expository talks were given by the then Coordinator-Elect of ARUME, Annie Selden, for colloquia series in the Mathematics Departments of Middle Tennessee State University and University of Arizona. She also presented the ARUME-sponsored expository talk at the MAA Mathfest in Summer 1999. Ed Dubinsky gave several invited talks at universities, including a colloquium for the Mathematics Department of Arizona State University. Other ARUME members report organizing in-service workshops in which research articles were read and topics such as gender differences, Van-Hiele levels of geometry, learning styles, use of technology, and the role of proofs were discussed.
In addition, ARUME members Annie and John Selden served as Associate Editors of the Media Highlights column of the College Mathematics Journal and wrote several abstracts of a variety of research articles on undergraduate mathematics education for each issue.
Milestone 6. A survey of people involved in RUME. Guidelines for tenure/promotion for those in RUME within mathematics departments.
The ARUME Guidelines Committee is developing guidelines such for things as
tenure, promotion, and working conditions of faculty who are specialists in RUME. Its report was presented to the January 2000 ARUME business meeting. (For details of this and other committee reports, see ARUMEonline!.) Further discussions are proceeding on guidelines relative to Ph.D. programs in RUME offered within mathematics departments.
Milestone 7. A survey of Ph.D. programs focusing on RUME planned.
ARUME expects to conduct a survey of the profile of those people involved in RUME who have positions in mathematics departments. In addition, we hope to do a survey of Ph.D. programs focusing on RUME.
Milestone 8. Discussion of general financial support for RUME activities begun.
The finances of ARUME are currently in excellent shape. The September ARUME Research Conference is supported mainly by the registration fees of the participants. All of the organizational work is done on a volunteer basis by the Local Organizing Committee and the Conference Program Committee. ExxonMobil Education Foundation funds have been used mainly to pay the expenses of invited plenary speakers. The program of mini-grants established by the Mentoring Committee, and approved by the ARUME Executive Committee, has been thoughtfully conceived and was implemented for the first time in Spring 2000 using funds from the ExxonMobil Education Foundation.
The ARUME Charter as a SIGMAA calls for annual dues, currently set at $10, to be collected by the MAA with its annual dues. This amount should cover routine day-to-day expenses.
The ARUME Literature Committee hopes to seek support to expand its work on the annotated database of RUME. This task is too large to be done entirely by volunteers.
Respectfully submitted
Annie Selden
Coordinator of ARUME
May 17, 2000