Mathematics for Social Scientists

The origins, rationale and development of the course ‘Mathematics Applied to the Social Sciences’ (MACS), created in 2001, is described and some ideas around the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools for students other than the future scientists and engineers are discussed. ICMI Study 24 - SCHOOL MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM REFORMS: CHALLENGES, CHANGES AND OPPORTUNITIES - Tsukuba, 26-30 November 2018

School Science and Mathematics, 1978

This paper is concerned with high school and college freshmen students who are not interested in an academic career in mathematics, physics, or any discipline in which the mathematical component is dominant. This population is very large. We find, for instance, in the CEEB report " College-Bound Seniors, 1973-1974" that freshmen preferences in majors are in the following order: (1) biological sciences, (2) business, (3) health-related majors, and (4) social sciences.

2000

In 1995, the National Science Foundation (NSF) developed a special initiative called Mathematical Science and Their Application Throughout the Curriculum (MATC) which was designed to promote comprehensive improvements in undergraduate education that lead to increased student understanding of and ability to use the mathematical sciences. The program funded seven comprehensive projects which varied in focus and structure. This report provides detailed information about this initiative and its findings. It concludes that the mathematics initiative provides an opportunity for higher education institutions to work together to reform undergraduate mathematics education so that students are both more appreciative of the role of mathematics and mathematical thinking in academic and applied endeavors, and more able to use mathematics. The initiative is introduced and its development, interorganizational, and interdisciplinary arrangements are discussed. (ASK) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

One important function of school mathematics curriculum is to prepare high school students with the knowledge and skills needed for university education. Identifying them empirically will help making sound decisions about the contents of high school mathematics curriculum. It will also help students to make informed choices in course selection at high school. In this study, we surveyed university faculty members who teach first year university students about the mathematical knowledge and skills that they would like to see in incoming high school graduates. Data were collected from 122 faculty members from social science (history, law, psychology) and engineering departments (electrical/electronics and computer engineering). Participants were asked to indicate which high school mathematics topics and skills they thought were important to be successful at university education in their field. Results were compared across social science and engineering departments. Implications were drawn for curriculum specialists, students, and mathematics educators.

Rethinking the Mathematics Curriculum, Studies in …, 1999

CBMS Issues in Mathematics Education, 2003

Welcome to the fifth volume of Research in Collegiate Mathematics Education (RCME V). This and the four previous volumes serve purposes similar to those of a journal. Each presents readers with peerreviewed research on questions regarding the teaching and learning of collegiate mathematics.

School Science and Mathematics, 1987

South African Journal of Science, 2017

Editor in Chief Instituto Politécnico Nacional T he previous issue of Educational Innovation stimulated a dialogue on the relevance and future of academic journals; the journal contents provided keys to reflecting on the role of scientific publication in the Internet age. Different concerns about academic integrity are illustrative of a vast and complex problem that is already recognized, but not sufficiently analyzed from the inside of these kinds of publications. The pages of Educational Innovation were and are still a call to critically reflect upon the mechanisms and the future of academic journals; to this end, the tools were the very publication mechanisms analyzed. One of the results involves proposals that can be summed up in the following way. In each researcher, in each editor, in each jury committee we find tasks that are diversified—as a part of their purpose—and expressed in the reflection on the practices in academic publication that are not always socially beneficial or sensitive to current needs. The implications of reflection can be understood in this way: the perversion of thought and research should be avoided. Both are at stake if we do not seriously assume integrity and its primordial purpose of social and collective benefits towards a humanistic future. Issue 72 and its thematic proposal are still a starting point for reflection, a pause, a search and an exercise of self-inquiry. The implication, for those who understand it, is to preserve critical thinking and a perspective of our duty. Stopping to question our own behavior, reflect on ourselves and our own academic practices is a proposal to revitalize and preserve the memory of the root of academic integrity. In this tenor of self-inquiry, the current issue of Educational Innovation offers a thematic section with two concerns: the development of mathematical thought and the relevance of higher education. The first concern is expressed in the following question: what is the cost of wellbeing in Latin American societies if we do not address the development of mathematical thinking in children and youth? The question implies several issues. One of them is the concern for the long-term effects of the standardized vision of education that is focused on solving equations and neglects what is not quantifiable. Though there are diverse aspects within mathematics performance, they are not always considered, even Revista_Innovacion_73.indd 11 25/04/17 12:54 p.m.