Innovative math class attracts mix of students

What do you get when you put high school math teachers, future teachers and non-math majors in the same college class? An innovative way to teach math, say David Finston and Doug Kurtz, NMSU math professors. Math Appreciation, a course for students not majoring in math, demonstrates mathematical concepts underlying things we see in everyday life, said Finston, who heads NMSU's mathematical sciences department. He disliked the available textbooks, so he evolved topics and examples from scratch, including symmetry, probability, acoustics, encoding and surfaces. "I tried to find instances of serious math in the real world that we take for granted," he said.

Dave Finston, left, and Doug Kurtz demonstrate the mathematical concepts for distinguishing surfaces. Photo by Michael Kiernan.

Recently it was suggested that local high schools might want to offer a similar class. So last spring, with a $22,000 Eisenhower Foundation grant administered by the New Mexico Commission on Higher Education, Finston developed a course for current high school teachers and NMSU secondary math education majors.

"We have a long history of working with teachers here," said Kurtz. "Many of them are willing to try something new, but they need materials first."

Finston and Kurtz teamed up to teach the unique course, with students also including NMSU non-math majors. The class met once a week, alternating between lectures and discussion periods. On discussion weeks the class split into six groups, each with a high school teacher, a future teacher and several math appreciation students.

The idea was for the non-math majors to better understand the concepts and for the teachers and future teachers to master explaining them, Finston said. "The most pleasantly surprising part was watching a math appreciation student going to the board to explain something to a high school teacher," he said. "They all respected, worked with and learned from each other."

"This class was definitely different," said Mike Kingery, '96, a Mayfield High School algebra and geometry teacher. "The topics were advanced but had practical applications."

He said he already used some examples in his high school classes. "Anything to make math more applicable to high school students helps me," he said.

Now Finston and Kingery are assembling a teacher's resource book containing lessons developed by Finston and the class participants. They also plan to make it available on the Internet.

Rachel Kendall Dave Finston, left, and Doug Kurtz demonstrate the mathematical concepts for distinguishing surfaces.

Technology-savvy teachers turn trainers

Within five years, 10,000 of New Mexico's teachers will learn to use technology more effectively in their classrooms through the Regional Educational Technology Assistance program.

In June, 10 alumni were part of a group of 44 teachers who attended a RETA-sponsored "Train the Trainers Summer Institute" at NMSU. They learned to lead on-line investigations on the Internet, design problem-centered lessons and teach for creativity. This school year they will lead technology workshops for other teachers.

Improving teachers' technology know-how benefits students in grades K-12 all over New Mexico, said Carmen Gonzales, an NMSU education faculty member and RETA program director. New Mexico Sen. Cynthia Nava, deputy superintendent of the Gadsden Independent School District, is the co-director. RETA reaches 89 public school districts in New Mexico as well as several private schools.

The RETA program's design is simple: give teachers training in ways to incorporate into the curriculum such technologies as multimedia, digital imaging and the Internet. Once teachers are trained, pay them to instruct other teachers, and administrators, at their schools and other schools.

The New Mexico RETA program is funded by an $8.7 million U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant. The grant, administered by NMSU and the Gadsden Independent School District, is one of 20 awarded nationally.

For more about RETA, check out the program's Web site at http://reta.nmsu.edu.

Alumni taking part in technology training at NMSU are, standing, from left, teachers Michelle Stafford Levy, '99, Santa Teresa High School, Santa Teresa, N.M.; Susan Bussman, '88, Truth or Consequences Elementary School; Marsha Freidline, '74, Park Avenue Elementary School, Aztec, N.M.; Chuck Culpepper, '92, '98, Kirtland High School, Kirtland, N.M.; Cissy Lujan-Pincomb, '78, '84, Sierra Middle School, Las Cruces; Carl Bogardus, '72, Chaparral Middle School, Chaparral, N.M.; Marcy

Photo by Michael Kiernan

Oxford, '83, '91, Hillrise Elementary School, Las Cruces; and Laura Sujo de Montes, '99, an NMSU curriculum and instruction professor. Seated, from left, are Susan C. Smith, '80, Onate High School, Las Cruces, and Marjorie Sharp, '60, Sierra Middle School.

Rita A. Popp

Field school unearths signs of ancient culture

In the first excavation of a Mesoamerican-style ball court in New Mexico, researchers from NMSU and Illinois State University hope to find out how prehistoric cultures were organized, what rituals were practiced and how southwestern New Mexico fit in with the larger region in the 1300s. NMSU anthropology professor William Walker and ISU anthropology professor James Skibo are leading a three-year archaeology field school at a site on the northwest frontier of the Casas Grandes culture. The dig began in May at a site called Joyce Well, located in the southwestern corner of New Mexico on the legendary Gray Ranch. About five staff and 25 students from NMSU, ISU and a few other universities excavated the ball court

From left, Gaea McGahee, '99, Laura OGawa and Arturo Marquez-Alameda use survey equipment to create a grid for mapping the Joyce Well site. Photo by Michael Kiernan

and mapped the rooms of a large, 14th-century adobe pueblo. During the next two summers they will excavate the pueblo rooms, believed to have housed about 500 people.

The effort, supported by the Animas Foundation, is called La Frontera Archaeological Program. The site is in a key area of the Southwest, said Walker, because "a lot of ideas and practices filter up from the south through this region."

The entire Casas Grandes region, most of which is in Mexico, is tied together through common religious practices, said Walker, who researches prehistoric ritual behavior. Digs have turned up similar pottery and rock art defining Casas Grandes culture. The sites shared imagery, decoration and architecture, indicating shared beliefs and religious practices, Walker said.

Joyce Well is the first site of its kind to be excavated in the region, he said. Similar sites extend along nearby Deer Creek. "While exploring the area we discovered another ball court that had not yet been noticed," Walker said. "It's one of the most exciting finds of the summer."

The students working on the project are gaining crucial practical experience in careful archaeological excavation, Walker said. "Once you excavate a site it is gone. You must be very careful during the process."

NMSU anthropology graduate student Gaea McGahee, '99, said it was hard work, but a great experience. So far they have unearthed animal bones, corn kernels, shell beads, obsidian points, bone needles and pottery sherds.

Rachel Kendall