{"id":122,"date":"2006-07-31T21:24:05","date_gmt":"2006-07-31T21:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sixthform.info\/maths\/?p=122"},"modified":"2007-10-31T14:37:13","modified_gmt":"2007-10-31T14:37:13","slug":"more-on-maths-teaching-in-he","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sixthform.info\/maths\/?p=122","title":{"rendered":"More on Maths Teaching in HE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks to Gooseania<\/a> for bringing to my attention a couple of interesting papers on teaching mathematics in US universities.<\/p>\n

1. Teaching at the University Level by Steven Zucker<\/a> explains how the student grading of course teaching can lead to dumbing down of courses. The teacher tends to please the student at the expense of covering the difficult parts of the mathematics course. The author believes that it would help greatly if students were to be told on arrival at university the huge difference in what is expected of them as compared to the schools they have just left.<\/p>\n

It is unfortunate that in the UK it is so difficult to persuade non-mathematical teaching experts<\/i> (so-called) that maths is hard and that I don’t expect students to understand it first-time round, which is why I spend so much time at the end of an A level course revising everything. It is true that at A level and beyond few students really understand the mathematics they have been taught until a year later (and after the exams) when they have to use it and suddenly the mist clears. I well remember looking back on a tough measure theory course that I didn’t really understand at the time, thinking ‘oh it’s obvious now’. It’s a natural part of learning mathematics and should be accepted as such.<\/p>\n

2. Teaching Mathematics Graduate Students How to Teach by Solomon Friedberg<\/a> is a paper on the usefulness of mathematical case studies for new university teachers who haven’t got the experience to judge how to pitch their courses. He gives a case study where a student argues that he should have got full marks in the following exam question (the italics are mine): <\/p>\n