A Tale of Four Departments: Interdisciplinary Faculty Learning Communities Informing Mathematics Education

Authors

Bryan D. Poole, Lee UniversityFollow
Caroline Maher-Boulis, Lee UniversityFollow
John Hearn, Lee UniversityFollow
Jason Robinson, Lee UniversityFollow
Patricia McClung, Lee UniversityFollow
Amanda Jones, Lee UniversityFollow

Publication Date

2022

Abstract

As a result of the Curriculum Foundations Project and the SUMMIT-P consortium, faculty from four different departments at Lee University created a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) with the goal of improving students’ attitudes toward undergraduate mathematics courses, including students’ perception of the utility of mathematics in their lives and the feelings of anxiety that they experience in these courses. The interdisciplinary collaborations resulted in introducing novel activities and manipulatives in various mathematics courses (Introduction to Statistics, Concepts of Mathematics I and II, and Algebra for Calculus). This paper first describes the efforts of creating the inter-departmental FLC. Second, it discusses the interventions that were introduced in the mathematics courses. Finally, it reflects on the lessons learned while participating in the learning community. The goal is to guide and challenge readers to consider how similar collaborative opportunities can be initiated at their own institutions.

Volume

18

Issue

1

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25891/9bqk-av84

Recommended Citation

Poole, Bryan D.; Maher-Boulis, Caroline; Hearn, John; Robinson, Jason; McClung, Patricia; and Jones, Amanda (2022) "A Tale of Four Departments: Interdisciplinary Faculty Learning Communities Informing Mathematics Education," Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations: Vol. 18: No. 1, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/jmsce_vamsc/vol18/iss1/3