CSU, Chico News

To deal with a critical shortage of well-prepared secondary mathematics teachers, the California State University, Chico math department has received a three-year, $245,000 Department of Education grant to fund Project MATH (Mathematics and Teaching on the Horizon.)

The federal grant, part of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, was one of 26 awarded nationally, and was selected out of 4,000 proposals nationwide.

Under Project MATH, CSU, Chico will recruit statewide 14 strong mathematics students to start an intensive mathematics curriculum as freshmen and continue through their four years of college. The program will better prepare them to teach high school math by starting training early and learning the content and teaching methods that are needed to teach in high school today.

Students will benefit from newly developed academic content, extensive classroom contact with local high school students, teaching experience and numerous professional development opportunities. Participants will also work with local high school teachers, who will help the students to develop and implement teaching plans.

“You have the students themselves impacted, but they will affect the local high school students and teachers they are working with,” said Bill Fisher, professor of mathematics. “In addition, they will affect students over the Internet through monthly math problems, and finally they will have a greater impact on the high school students that they will teach.”

Project MATH is a continuation effort of the Interactive Mathematics Teacher Preparation Project, 1994-96. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the grant allowed the department to develop three courses to provide training for juniors and seniors to focus on teaching content and approaches.

With the new program, freshman participants will form a unit, sharing classes together and a section of housing at Konkow Hall.

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 10th, 1999 at 12:31 pm and is filed under 1999 Fall.