A cross disciplinary team from the University of Massachusetts at Boston is developing a new approach to the introductory college algebra course. This course has a large enrollment nationally, including a disproportionately large number of women and underrepresented minorities. It is often the first and only mathematics course taken by many undergraduates, including prospective teachers. Rather than encouraging, it too often serves to discourage students from pursuing paths that emphasize quantitative skills. Thus it is a critical target for reform, identified by the National Research Council (NRC) as the linchpin of national mathematics education reform efforts. This project will develop, implement, evaluate, and start dissemination of a new approach to introductory college algebra, designed to increase enthusiasm for and competence in quantitative reasoning. It will cover approximately 80% of the traditional material and fully prepare students for subsequent mathematics courses. It will, however, approach the topics in a nontraditional way, with a particular focus on mathematical reasoning, problem solving, and communication, as recommended by the NRC and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The course is computer based and requires access to a spreadsheet and function graphing program. The materials themselves are machine and software independent. Students work in small groups, using algebraic and technological tools to work on open-ended questions based on real world data and physical phenomena. Half the course will be from a social science point of view, half from a "hard" science viewpoint, using topics in astronomy, physics, and the life sciences. Formative evaluation will be accomplished by using teams to simultaneously co-teach and develop the course, by student responses and writings, by tracking students through subsequent placement tests and quantitative courses, and by feedback by outside reviewers. An outside evaluator will provide a summative evaluation. UMass/Boston is an urban, commuter, comprehensive university with the highest percentage of minority students of any college or university in New England. Collaborating institutions are Roxbury Community College, an historically black college, Bridgewater State College, a suburban college with a large teacher preparation program, and Wentworth Institute of Technology, a private college that focuses on educating students for technical careers. This project is designed to aid in the revitalization of undergraduate mathematics teaching by providing a successful national model for introductory algebra.
