Mathematics

Bay Area Region
November 17, 2001, Oakland

Marshall Cates
Lead Faculty Mathematics

15 faculty from community colleges and the CSU were in attendance. We started by having each person identify the reasons they were in attendance, or identifying what they most wanted to discuss. The role/position/depth of "Proof" arose as one of the main concerns, primarily as it is involved in Discrete Mathematics. Several points were mentioned. 1) Many CSU's have a separate course on Proof, some at the upper division level, some at the lower division level. The prerequisites were usually pre-calculus or calculus. We reviewed the Draft DS requirements CS 2001 provided by Computer Science. Except for the probability, it seemed in line with what is done in CC and CSU Discrete Mathematics Courses. Campuses that have such a course were asked to send M. Cates a copy of their course descriptions so that subsequent groups could start to work on a CAN descriptor for Discrete Mathematics. Next we had a short description of the CAN project and reviewed the current CAN descriptions to identify which might need modification. We managed to get through CAN Math 21. In nearly all of the pre-calculus CAN descriptors, there may be a problem with the Prerequisite of Geometry. While we all use geometry in the course, most of us do not have a Geometry course that could serve as a prerequisite.CAN 18 may need modification to more specifically include some Integration. CAN 19 and 20 may need parametric equations, CAN 21 should consider polar coordinates.

Our plan is to continue the review for problems at the next regional meeting and then start a process to produce new CAN descriptors where called for.

After lunch we met with the other science groups to see if we supported a proposal for an alternative to IGETC . IGETC is not the ideal program for science majors as it delays the major courses too long. For science majors it is better to spread GE out over most of the four years, provided the basic English is handled early. We supported an effort to propose an alternative to IGETC and charged Fink, Cates, Williams ,and Schiffman to develop a proposal.

The Math group met split and met with Business and Computer Science. With Business, Business Calculus was discussed; many programs are abandoning calculus, most supplanting it with Discrete Mathematics. The need for more business application to appear in mathematics classes was also brought out. Finally, Statistics was discussed as a major need of Business. In the CSU it is mostly taught in Business, while in the CC it is a math class.