Dave Sobecki,
Miami University Brian Mercer,
Parkland College
ISBN: 1259218856 Copyright year: 2015
“Why do I need to know this?” This question is the bane of the math teacher’s existence. Of course, we know that the benefits of mathematical education go far beyond using specific procedures: It’s about exercising the brain, learning problem-solving skills, and understanding the importance of being numerate in our society. But what if we considered that question in a deeper way: what do non-STEM students really need? And what if we agreed to move past the “this is important because it’s important” mentality, and thought about the topics and activities that will best serve a group of students that are, for the most part, poorly served by traditional developmental algebra?
Our project is the result of attempting to do just that. It’s not about watering down the curriculum in an attempt to pass more students. It’s about providing non-STEM students with an alternate pathway that will get them into the college-credit math courses they need without getting trapped behind the roadblocks that the traditional developmental math track has become. Most importantly, it’s about focusing on context and critical thinking, and showing these students why the math they’ve struggled with for so many years is relevant in their lives.
What we’ve discovered along the way is how much richer the experience can be for non-STEM students when they stop trying to memorize and mimic, and start to really think and learn. By using a workbook format, focusing on active learning, incorporating technology, and approaching every single topic from an applied standpoint, we’ve been able to build a course (and a book) that elicits our favorite response from students: “This doesn’t feel like a math course. We’re kind of using math…” YES. Yes we are.
If you look very carefully, you’ll find many of the topics that typically make up the core of the developmental algebra curriculum. We like to think of it as giving your children medicine they don’t want by mixing it into a bowl of ice cream. By making everything contextual, and liberally mixing in important study skills and a variety of topics that are usually in the province of liberal arts math, we’re making the process of learning useful problem-solving skills through algebra more palatable for students, which at the end of the day is a significant part of the battle. When your students open their minds to the possibility of really understanding a math course, and really seeing how math can be useful, they blossom into the learner that we try to bring out in all of our students.
In some cases, students may be inspired to change their path, moving into a STEM-related field. If so, that’s great! Taking the pathways course in no way precludes that. In fact, the emphasis on conceptual understanding will hopefully make students more likely to succeed in a further algebra course than force-feeding them the same algebra that they choked on in previous courses, either at the high school or college level.
We hope that you find our vision useful, contemporary, and maybe even inspiring. We’d love to hear what your vision is, and how we can improve our materials to make Pathways the book that can turn that vision into reality. Please contact us!
Dave Sobecki davesobecki@gmail.com
Brian Mercer bmercer@parkland.edu
2015