The two parts in this special issue address interdisciplinary conversations involving mathematics courses in the first 2 years of undergraduate work. The special issue was inspired by work funded by the National Science Foundation under a grant titled “SUMMIT-P.” The special issue includes papers written about projects both from SUMMIT-P and from outside of SUMMIT-P. Part II focuses on what the results of interdisciplinary collaboration look like in the classroom

Diaz Eaton, Carrie

Ganter, Susan

Hofrenning, Stella

Piercey, Victor

English

Bates College: SCARAB (Scholarly Communication and Research at Bates)

Bates College SCARAB All Faculty Scholarship Departments and Programs 7-15-2019 Introduction to the Special Issue on Interdisciplinary Conversations (Part 2): The Impact of Interdisciplinary Conversations on Courses Susan Ganter Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Stella Hofrenning Augsburg University Carrie Diaz Eaton Bates College, cdeaton@bates.edu Victor Piercey Ferris State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scarab.bates.edu/faculty_publications Recommended Citation Ganter, S., Hofrenning, S., Eaton, C.D., and Piercey, V. 2019. "Introduction to the Special Issue on Interdisciplinary Conversations (Part 2): The Impact of Interdisciplinary Conversations on Courses." PRIMUS 29(9), 903-907. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511970.2019.1626959 This Editorial is brought to you for free and open access by the Departments and Programs at SCARAB. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of SCARAB. For more information, please contact batesscarab@bates.edu. Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttps://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=upri20PRIMUSProblems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics UndergraduateStudiesISSN: 1051-1970 (Print) 1935-4053 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/upri20Introduction to the Special Issue onInterdisciplinary Conversations (Part 2): TheImpact of Interdisciplinary Conversations onCoursesSusan Ganter, Stella Hofrenning, Carrie Diaz Eaton & Victor PierceyTo cite this article: Susan Ganter, Stella Hofrenning, Carrie Diaz Eaton & Victor Piercey(2019) Introduction to the Special Issue on Interdisciplinary Conversations (Part 2): TheImpact of Interdisciplinary Conversations on Courses, PRIMUS, 29:9, 903-907, DOI:10.1080/10511970.2019.1626959To link to this article:  https://doi.org/10.1080/10511970.2019.1626959Published online: 15 Jul 2019.Submit your article to this journal Article views: 610View related articles View Crossmark dataCiting articles: 1 View citing articles Introduction to the Special Issue onInterdisciplinary Conversations (Part 2): TheImpact of Interdisciplinary Conversationson CoursesSusan Ganter, Stella Hofrenning, Carrie Diaz Eaton , andVictor PierceyAbstract: The two parts in this special issue address interdisciplinary conversa-tions involving mathematics courses in the first 2 years of undergraduate work.The special issue was inspired by work funded by the National ScienceFoundation under a grant titled “SUMMIT-P.” The special issue includespapers written about projects both from SUMMIT-P and from outside ofSUMMIT-P. Part II focuses on what the results of interdisciplinary collabor-ation look like in the classroom.Keywords: interdisciplinary, collaboration, mathematics applications,mathematics education1. INTRODUCTIONThis editorial is an introduction to the second of a two-part special issueon Intedisciplinary Conversations. In our previous editorial (Part I), weconsidered the role of working with partner disciplines in mathematicsbroadly. The articles in Part I addressed frameworks, mechanisms, andprograms resulting from collaboration. In Part II, we consider specificprojects and courses developed as a result of interdisciplinarycollaboration.Address correspondence to Victor Piercey, Department of Mathematics, FerrisState University, Big Rapids, MI 49307, USA. E-mail: VictorPiercey@ferris.eduPRIMUS, 29(9): 903–907, 2019Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1051-1970 print / 1935-4053 onlineDOI: 10.1080/10511970.2019.16269592. COURSE-LEVEL INTERDISCIPLINARY CONVERSATIONSThe papers in this part of the special issue provide concrete examples ofcollaborative teaching in mathematics. Aldrich [1] identified three formsof collaborative teaching: collaborative design, linked courses, and team-teaching. Collaboratively designed courses arise from a team, often butnot exclusively interidsciplinary, contributing to the development of oneor more courses that will be taught by a single faculty member or facultyfrom a single discipline (see also [2]). Reforms to courses that wereinspired by the Curriculum Foundations project [3, 4] typically take thisform. Linked courses, sometimes expanded to full learning communitieswith shared living spaces or extracurricular activities, involve two ormore courses that bring different disciplines to bear on a common cohortof students, often with a common theme. For example, Northern IllinoisUniversity offers a curated and coordinated list of themed linked courseclusters to all of their first year students as an alternative to a first yearseminar [8]. Team-taught courses involve two or more faculty memberssharing in the teaching of a course. This might involve two faculty froma common discipline, but different specialties, as well as two facultymembers from different disciplines teaching together. See also [5–7].3. THE IMPACT OF INTERDISCIPLINARY CONVERSATIONSON COURSESOne of the primary benefits of collaborative teaching is found in the richcontexts it affords, contexts that enable learners to connect to prior under-standing and experiences and create concrete opportunities for new and fur-ther learning. Our first entry in Part II illustrates this powerfully. Fisher,Warner, and Mickelson, the authors of “Cardboard Cities, RealMathematics: Employing Quantitative Literacy to Study Gentrification inNYC,” describe an interdisciplinary module in which students not onlyapply mathematics skills to the issue of gentrification, but also to discussissues of social justice, economics, and social studies. In “Interdisciplinarityand Inclusivity: Natural Partners in Supporting Students,” Greer continuesthe theme of collaboration and social justice by chronicling work at a liberalarts college to provide a more meaningful entry into mathematics. Theauthor worked with stakeholders across STEM to design precalculus insuch a way that it respects inclusivity of persons and their disciplinary identi-ties. In the paper, the author describes the collaboration with stakeholdersand provides a helpful table of resulting connection.The next four articles address using interdisciplinary collaboration toimprove traditional mathematics courses. In “Revising General Education904 Ganter et al.Math Courses with Partner Discipline Input,” Hirst and Palmer describeworking with partner disciplines to revise their business calculus, collegealgebra, and other mathematics courses that satisfy their institution’s gen-eral education quantitative literacy requirement. Although their collabor-ation led to the development of rich applications for the mathematicscourses, they also found that some trends in the teaching of mathematics(such as the role of technology) have their limitations. Sears, Kersaint,Burgos, and Wooten, the authors of “Collaborative Effort to DevelopMiddle School Preservice Teachers Mathematical Knowledge” describe anovel collaboration between two mathematicians and a mathematicsteacher educator in developing mathematics knowledge in preservice mid-dle school mathematics educators through the mathematics content andmethods courses. The collaboration between scholars of mathematics andscholars of mathematical education is particularly noteworthy. In“Linking Mathematics and Psychological Science,” Pinter and Jonesdescribe a collaboration between a mathematician and psychologist toconnect a quantitative reasoning course and a psychology course. Theirgoal of connecting the two courses was accomplished through assign-ments, reading and projects. White, in “A Project-Based Approach toStatistics and Data Science,” describes the development of real-life exam-ples and problems for a two semester applied statistic course. Unlike manyof the other papers in this volume where mathematicians worked with aspecific partner discipline, the author of this paper reached out to a widevariety of partner disciplines for novel and realistic contexts.The special issue concludes with “Cryptography in Context: Co-teachingEthics andMathematics.” In this paper,Karst and Slegers describe a partner-ship between a mathematician and a philosopher in teaching an ethics mod-ule in a cryptography course. Scandals involving companies such asCambridge Analytica and organizations such as the National SecurityAgency show the centrality of mathematicians (and cryptography specific-ally) in twenty-first century ethics problems. As such, this paper is as timelyas it is intrinsically interesting. In terms of the collaboration, whereas theother papers in this part of the special issue describe team-designed courses orlinked courses, this paper discusses a co-taughtmodule in a single course.Impactful problems are complicated, messy, and interdisciplinary.Since mathematics programs and courses are about problem solving, thecollaborative element is critical in preparing students to look beyondtheir own disciplinary expertise. When faculty collaborate across discip-linary boundaries, they not only model those conversations, but also pro-vide realistic, motivating contexts in which education is enhanced.The papers in both parts of this special issue provide valuableinsights, from specific course materials to frameworks for starting andmaintaining interdisciplinary conversations. Collectively, they inspire usIntroduction 905to better our classroom design and practices by talking and collaboratingaccross disciplines.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe thank the work of all contributing authors. We also thank theinstitutions in the SUMMIT-P consortium: Appalachian StateUniversity, Augsburg University, CUNY LaGuardia CommunityCollege, Duke University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University,Ferris State University, Lee University, Norfolk State University,Oregon State University, Saint Louis University, San Diego StateUniversity, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech, andUnity College. Finally, we thank the membership of CRAFTY, includ-ing specifically chairs Stuart Boersma and Jennifer Nordstrom.FUNDINGWe acknowledge the funding of NSF DUE IUSE Lead Awards1625771 and 1822451.ORCIDCarrie Diaz Eaton http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3645-4560REFERENCES1. Aldrich, J. H. (Ed.). 2014. Interdisciplinarity: Its Role in a Discipline-Based Academy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.2. Bass, R. 2012. Disrupting ourselves: The problem of learning in highereducation. EDUCASE Review, 47(2): 23–33.3. Ganter, S. L. and W. Baker. 2004. Curriculum Foundations Project:Voices of the Partner Disciplines. Washington, DC: MathematicalAssociation of America.4. Ganter, S. L. and W. E. Haver. 2011. Partner Discipline Recommendationsfor Introductory College Mathematics and the Implications for CollegeAlgebra. Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America.5. Haynes, C. (Ed.). 2002. Innovations in Interdisciplinary Teaching.Westport, CT: Oryx Press.6. Ivanitskaya, L., D. Clark, G. Montgomery, and R. Primeau. 2002.Interdisciplinary learning: Process and outcomes. Innovative HigherEducation. 27(22): 95111.906 Ganter et al.7. Newell, W. H. 1994. Designing interdisciplinary courses. In J. T. Klein andW. G. Doty (Eds), Interdisciplinary Studies Today, pp. 35–51. SanFrancisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.8. Northern Illinois University. Themed learning communities website. https://niu.edu/learning-communities/themed-learning/index.shtml. Accessed 3 May2019.BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHESDr. Susan L. Ganter is professor of mathematics and dean for theCollege of Arts & Sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide. Her work focuses on the evaluation of innovations in post-secondary science and mathematics curricula, also including articula-tion issues from K–12 to college education. Student access and successat the postsecondary level are natural components of her work, includ-ing the implementation and evaluation of programs designed toimprove success rates for underrepresented students. Dr. Ganter servedas Director (since 1999) for the Curriculum Foundations Projecthoused at the Mathematical Association of America. Currently, she isLead PI for the NSF-funded SUMMIT-P consortium.Dr. Stella Koutroumanes Hofrenning is a professor of economics atAugsburg University. She received her Ph.D. from the University ofIllinois-Chicago with research interests in applied microeconomics,econometrics, public policy, and the economics of education. She is amember of the SUMMIT-P management team supporting collaborativeefforts in economics, business and the social sciences with mathematicsand also serves as a co-PI for SUMMIT-P project at Augsburg.Dr. Carrie Diaz Eaton is associate professor of digital and computa-tional Studies at Bates College in Maine. When at Unity College, shewas one of the SUMMIT-P team members. Since moving to Bates, shehas been a “friend” of the SUMMIT-P project, teaching in instersec-tional spaces of mathematics, computer science, biology, and equityand social justice.Dr. Victor Piercey is the director of general education and an associateprofessor of mathematics at Ferris State University in Big Rapids,Michigan. In a former life, he worked as an attorney at Weil, Gotshal,and Manges LLP in New York City. He is interested in identifyingunexpected connections between mathematics and partner disciplines,especially when he can connect his legal experience with mathematics.He serves on the SUMMIT-P management team and is the PI for theSUMMIT-P project at Ferris.Introduction 907

Introduction to the Special Issue on Interdisciplinary Conversations (Part 2): The Impact of Interdisciplinary Conversations on Courses

https://scarab.bates.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1350&context=faculty_publications

Introduction to the Special Issue on Interdisciplinary Conversations (Part 2): The Impact of Interdisciplinary Conversations on Courses

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Bates College: SCARAB (Scholarly Communication and Research at Bates)