Preaching the Benefits of Math Jam
Wed, 9 January, 2013 at 2:08 pmMath Professor Michael Hoffman and Five Students Will Present Original Research on the Benefits to Students and Faculty of the Popular Program
Cañada College Math Professor Michael
Hoffman is an unabashed supporter of Math Jam. He’ll travel to San Diego with
five students Thursday to the Joint Mathematics Meetings to tell colleagues
from around the country why the program is so successful.
Hoffman and students Amanda Pitts,
Bushra Bibi, Jose Covarubias, Rolando Del Valle, and alumnus Christina Arenas will
be giving presentations on Math Jam and how to start a math club at a community
college.
The Joint Mathematics Meetings hosts the
largest gathering of mathematicians in the United States. It is a jointly held
conference of both the Mathematical Association of America and the American
Mathematical Society. Hoffman said he’s traveled with
students to past conferences and listened as presenters discussed the virtues
of their various programs.
“As I listened, I couldn’t help but
think our programs at Cañada are just as exciting and beneficial to our
students,” he said. “This year, we decided to submit our own abstract.”
Hoffman and Pitts will present “Math
Jam! Building Community and Improving Math Placement at Cañada College,” at
4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, as part of the MAA Contributed Paper Session on
Transition from High School to College: Alternative Pathways.
The students will make a second
presentation titled, “Can you have a math club at a small
community college” Yes, but…” The talk will describe the process of
starting a Math Club and organizing successful events.
Pitts said Math Jam is a great example
of a program that is helping students transfer to four-year colleges and
universities. “There are a lot of students that enter community college with a
high level of interest in the STEM fields but the majority of them drop out or
change majors even before taking transfer-level courses because of the time it
takes to get through remedial math,” she said. “Math Jam helps these students
improve on their math placement test scores so they can skip remedial math and
begin taking transfer-level math right away.”
Hoffman said the program does more than
just help with test scores. “Math Jam builds community among teachers and
students,” he said. “As a teacher, I can watch tutors as they explain math
concepts to students. I am able to observe how the student learns and the best
concepts to use to convey the lesson. As teachers, we get together after these
sessions and really discuss the practice of teaching.”
Pitts, who serves as a Math Jam tutor,
said students forge friendships with other students, tutors and professors and
when they begin class, they feel like they have a support network.
Hoffman said placing motivated students with
faculty and tutors for a week of intensive math training generates instant
results. “It’s amazing how much progress they can make,” he said.
While Math Jam has been in place at
Cañada for the past four years, the concept is relatively new across the
country, Hoffman said. “Every year, we see more and more programs like Math Jam
sprouting up,” he said. “By presenting at conferences like this, we can
establish to other math teachers how successful this program has been. Our goal
is to preach the good word of Math Jam and hopefully see more programs like it
develop across the nation.”
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