27 - Launching a Precalculus Reform Movement: Influencing the Mathematics Community

Summary

Introduction

In 1982 I was chair of a mathematical sciences department that included statistics and computer science and a PhD program in mathematics. Resources other than booming student enrollments were scarce. In an act of frustration I wrote a letter to the presidents of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) asking for help in addressing the problems facing my department and many other departments. That letter opened the door to my involvement, over the next decade, in several interconnected efforts where influencing the mathematics community was a central and critical focus, including the Mathematical Sciences in the Year 2000 project, Calculus for a New Century, A Challenge of Numbers [1], and Moving Beyond Myths [2].

The above and other initiatives in the 1980s and 1990s were successful in influencing the mathematics community to revitalize undergraduate mathematics and to reform calculus. The effects of these successes and the lessons learned bear heavily on efforts to influence that community again and improve the preparation for calculus. One of the reasons given to support the need for precalculus reform is the reform of calculus. Some argue that calculus has changed little, and some argue that what changes there have been have not helped. Others have quite different views. However one views calculus reform, it did serve to galvanize the community we address on curricular and pedagogical issues.