The proposal is a planning project that will hold a series of seminars to focus on the special needs that women have in the study of calculus and mathematics. The culminating event will be a faculty retreat and the writing of a report on the faculty member's "shared experiences." The project will be at Spelman College, a traditional black institution for females with strong academic traditions. The program will include formal participation by the chairman of the mathematics department at Agnes Scott College, a female institution with equally strong academic traditions. The year will start with three seminars lead by consultants with special expertise in the area of female studies in mathematics. The consultants are: Elizabeth Fennema, Lenora Bloom and Rhonda Hughes. These presentations and consultations should senistize the faculty participants to the special elements of females studying mathematics. Three additional consultants will assist with three later seminars that will concentrate on the role of computers in the study of calculus. In the spring term, a pilot section of calculus will use and investigate computer software specially designed to assist in the study of calculus. Three undergraduate students will help with the evaluation of the materials. The year will end with a two day retreat in which the senior personnel and a graduate student will conetrate on the successful experiences that the faculty members have had in their years of instructing female students. With the help of the specialized consultants, the faculty will be sensitive to the issues, able to recall and clairify their collected experiences and compile a report of "successful shared experiences."
