Blithe on Maths

As Course Supervisor for both the Maths courses mentioned in Peter Beach's constructive article (Salient, March 13) I would like to reply to some of his points.

First, the success of the Keller Plan in Math 205, as measured by both staff and student response, led us to consider teaching other Math courses by this method, and it has been introduced in Math l15 this year. However, it is not clear that this approach will work well in all Math courses. In particular where skills in solving substantial problems must be acquired, it may not be the best method. Another constraint is the very considerable amount of time needed to prepare a Keller Plan course.

I agree with Peter that the associated tutorials are very important. Last year in Math 205, two hour sessions were arranged in the hope that students would do a substantial amount of work for the course at them, working in groups. These sessions were poorly attended, partly because they had to be held in Fairlie Terrace. This year I have arranged one hour tutorials in a more convenient location. Attendance has increased, but is not yet as high as I would like. I hope this will improve over the next few weeks, and page 7 would welcome any suggestions as to how to persuade students to attend.

As for course content, we try to ensure that the student who completes 9 modules of the total 15 'just passing' the course has a good grasp of the basic techniques. They are, after all, required to pass the module tests at a level well above the usual 50%. This may require more than 'minimum effort' for some, but then many students who try to get through courses with maximum effort fail.

The later modules (especially the last three) do include additional material. Since students who reach this level have already secured a good grade, these modules are intended to extend and/or interest the better students.

Finally, with questionnaires. I have always found that the most useful answers are those to questions asking for comments on the best and worst aspects of the course, and for suggestions for improvements. Most changes to the course have come from consideration of these replies. However, I also hope that students will take up Peter's final challenge and that there will be further articles on teaching methods in Salient.