Attendance. (W means Wednesday only, S means Saturday only)
Committee members:

Bill Barker (Chair), Jack Bookman (S), Wade Ellis, Susanna Epp (W), Susan Ganter, Shelly Gordon (S), Herb Kasube, Linda Kime, David Lay, Bill McCallum

Visitors: Tom Berger, Ron Douglas (S), Bonnie Gold (S), Bill Haver, Deborah Hughes Hallett (W), Bernice Kastner (MAA Rep) (W), Harvey Keynes (S), Jim Lightbourne (S), John Scott (S), Don Small (W), David Smith, Frank Wattenberg (W)

Membership Changes.

Martin Flashman has finished his sixth year on CRAFTY and therefore leaves the committee. We all extend our thanks to him for his active and valuable service. (However, in the tradition in recent years, "once a CRAFTY member, always a CRAFTY member" --- Martin merely moves into the category of "Friends of CRAFTY" so that his e-mail message box will never be empty. And since Martin continues to maintain the CRAFTY web page --- see below --- he will never be more than a click away.)

We had two meetings in San Antonio. I've combined the results of the two meetings in the following notes, and also listed developments since the January meetings.

(1) San Antonio Events.

Members were encouraged to attend the San Antonio events sponsored by CRAFTY:

CRAFTY/MER/AMS Calculus Reform Special Session.
CRAFTY Panel, "Forming the Crystal Ball for Calculus"
CRAFTY Paper Session, "Integrating Mathematics and Other Disciplines"
CRAFTY Panel, "College Algebra Reform"
CRAFTY Panel, "Effect of Calculus Reform on Student Performance"
CRAFTY Poster Session, "College Algebra Reform"

(2) CRAFTY Web Page.
Members were again invited to comment upon the (draft) CRAFTY web page designed and maintained by Martin Flashman:   flashman.neocities.org/crafty.shtml
Martin has included a lot of good material in this site.

(3) CUPM Curriculum Initiative and "Tulane II": The Curriculum Foundations Project

The majority of CRAFTY's meeting time was devoted to discussing the CUPM's intended curriculum initiative and how it relates to CRAFTY's evolving plans for a "Tulane II" conference on the future of calculus reform. In addition to the two official CRAFTY meetings, there was a third meeting held on Thursday night for those people interested in working on this issue. The discussions and "negotiations" were long and difficult. However, the result was a surprising consensus.

The focus of the Tulane II project will shift from calculus to a broader view of the first two years of collegiate mathematics. Moreover, instead of planning for one conference, the project will consist of a series of "disciplinary workshops" culminating in a curriculum conference. The purpose of the "disciplinary workshops" will be to obtain guidance from our partner disciplines (primarily the sciences and quantitative social sciences) concerning their needs from the first two years of collegiate mathematics. This information will feed into the curriculum conference, the purpose of which will be to integrate all the stated needs into an outline for a recommended program for the first two years of collegiate mathematics instruction. This would be CRAFTY's primary contribution to the CUPM curriculum initiative.

Because of the new focus and design, the "Tulane II" name is no longer appropriate. The new name is the Curriculum Foundations project. The intention is to have the disciplinary workshops funded by the host institutions, not by one large grant (say from the NSF). However, CRAFTY will look for such outside funding for the culminating curriculum conference. (The full Curriculum Foundations project description can be found on the CRAFTY web page.)

As of July, two disciplinary workshops have been scheduled: the first at Bowdoin College at the end of October (physics and computer science), the second at West Point a week later (focused on calculus and the needs of engineering and physics).

A good part of this CRAFTY discussion centered on the CUPM Curriculum Initiative itself. Much was said concerning the balance between content/curriculum issues and pedagogical issues. The majority view was that the CUPM Initiative should center on content, with pedagogical concerns coming in as necessary. The document ultimately produced by the CUPM should articulate goals of what should be learned rather than consist of a list of courses to be taken or topics to be covered.

(4) Events Planned for Washington, DC, January 2000.

 Various people took on responsibility for organizing CRAFTY events at the joint meetings in DC next January. We will sponsor or co-sponsor four events in DC, as described below.

***CRAFTY/MER/AMS Special Session on Mathematics and Education Reform
Organizer: Bill Barker
Description: In recent years we have co-sponsored a portion of this special session, generally consisting of three or four twenty minute talks centered on some CRAFTY-appropriate theme. This will occur again in DC.

***CRAFTY Panel Discussion.
"Compromise and Calculus Reform - Calculus Reform in the Long Run
Organizers: Jack Bookman and Herbert Kasube
Panelists: Mike Reed (Duke University)
Bill Davis (Ohio State)
Mort Brown (U. of Michigan)
Barbara Holland (Wiley Publishing)
Susan Ganter (American Association of Higher Education

Description: The purpose of this panel is to address the following questions:
1. What compromises with the reform agenda need to be (or have been) made in order to meet the approval of the majority of the members of a math department?

2. What, if anything, is lost by making these compromises?

3. Is there a steady state? What would that be?

4. Is there a growing consensus in the mathematical community about what calculus instruction ought to be like?

5. What gets compromised? Content? Alternative assessment? Technology? Pedagogical innovation?

***CRAFTY Panel Discussion.
"Curricular reforms in client disciplines ---Implications for post-calculus mathematics"
Organizers and Moderators: David Lay and Sheldon Gordon
 Panelists: Peter Henderson, Computer Science, SUNY Stony Brook; John Prados, University of Tennessee, past president of ABET; James Stith, American Institute of Physics

Description: Recent curricular reforms in science and engineering may have significant impact on college mathematics courses--on content, mode of instruction, and course enrollment. The most dramatic change affecting mathematics by a client discipline involves the new ABET 2000 standards for review and accreditation of engineering programs. These standards replace the input criteria of specific courses by "outcome" criteria describing knowledge and abilities that engineering graduates should possess.

The panelists will focus on mathematics topics that typically follow the first year of calculus, and they will address the following questions:

1. How will the changes in your undergraduate program affect the mathematical training needed for your students?

2. What mathematical knowledge, general abilities (including scientific writing), and attitudes should your students possess as they prepare to graduate. What role can mathematics departments play in accomplishing this?

3. The mathematical needs of computer science students differ from those of some engineering students. How can mathematics departments best serve these diverse groups?

4. Should the way you use technology in your discipline have some coordination with technology use in mathematics? What about new methods of instruction?

 ***CRAFTY/Committee on Two Year Colleges Panel Discussion.
"What Does Algebra Mean in the Twenty First Century?"
Organizers: Sheldon Gordon, Linda Kime, Ray Collings (Georgia Perimeter College)
Panelists: Linda Boyd (Georgia Perimeter College); Wade Ellis (West Valley College); Carole Lacampagne (U.S. Department of Education) ;Zalman Usiskin (University of Chicago).

Description: A combination of curricular changes at the college and high school levels, changes in what people actually do with mathematics in real-life, and the growing power of technology all are having major influences on the kind of algebra that is taught at the college level. In this panel session, the speakers will address issues such as

(1) What kind of mathematics is actually being used in the workplace today?

(2) What changes in the mathematics preparation of high school students are taking place and what are the implications for the colleges?

(3) What are some of the alternatives to traditional algebra courses at the college level?

(4) What are the implications of modern technology, such as hand-held computer algebra systems, on courses at the college algebra level?