Mathematics Department 9000 E. Chaparral Road Scottsdale, Arizona 85256-2626
PH 480.423.6113 FAX 480.423.6101
alan.jacobs@sccmail.maricopa.edu
Alan Jacobs
I'm on sabbatical for Spring '00. Back to teaching in the Fall.
Current Projects
EDCI 620, by distance from Purdue University
Research interest.
I'm co-author of a textbook (15 1-credit modules) for college students, aimed at the courses before College Algebra. I would like to develop a research plan which would take place in the context of the use of these modules. For example, I could be interested in describing the extent to which students become better at seeing patterns in mathematics over the course of a semester, or a corollary, the extent to which students take ownership of the mathematics they learn. I could be interested in exploring the development of student understanding of exponential growth. I could also be interested in exploring instructor learning, as a side benefit of teaching from the modules.
Mentor for Improving Science and Technology Education at Community Colleges: Round II (an NSF Grant), a project of Phi Theta Kappa
Sabbatical Project: STUFLO, a project to document and describe the flow of students through a sequence of courses.
Biographical Information for Alan Jacobs
PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT
January 1984 to present
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Professor, Mathematics, Scottsdale Community College.
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April 1994 to present |
Project Director for Maricopa Mathematics Consortium. Responsibility for leading the development of a mathematics reform curriculum for foundation mathematics, involving faculty from local high schools, the Maricopa Community Colleges and from Arizona State University. This project was supported partially by National Science Foundation Grants totaling $460,000.
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January, 1990 to June 1995
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Chair, Mathematics Department, Scottsdale Community College Responsibility for leading and managing a department of 13 full-time, 3 half-time, and 20 part-time faculty. |
January 1980 to January 1984
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Educational Computer Systems (ECS) Specialist, Maricopa Community Colleges District Office. Provided computer support for instruction. |
August, 1976 to January, 1980
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High School Mathematics Teacher, Phoenix Union High School, Phoenix, Arizona. Bilingual Program.
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August, 1974 to June, 1976
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Teacher in High School/Junior High School, Sjøvegan, Norway. Taught the full range of subjects in a small-town Norwegian school, in Norwegian.
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August, 1969 to June, 1973
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High School Mathematics Teacher, Benjamin Franklin High School & Dewitt Clinton High School, New York City. |
FORMAL EDUCATION
1995-1999 |
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, Graduate coursework |
1970-1972 |
Lehman College, Bronx, NY. M.A., Mathematics |
1968-1969 |
Concordia Teachers College, River Forest, IL. Teaching Colloquy |
1964-1968 |
Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN. BA, Mathematics |
PUBLICATIONS
Jacobs, Alan, The Costs of Computer Technology, Community College Journal, volume 66, number 2, October/November 1995.
Jacobs, Alan, And What Is The Human Contribution?, Peerpoint, March 1995.
Jacobs, Alan, It's a River, Not a Lake, Using Instructional Technology, Maricopa Community Colleges, 1994.
Jacobs, Alan, Master Plan for Instructional Computing, Maricopa Community Colleges, 1986.
RECOGNITIONS
Innovation of the Year, 1998, for Scottsdale Community College. Together with the Mathematics Department, for the Calculus Classroom inplementation.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
MAA, AMATYC, NCTM, ArizMATYC.
RECENT PRESENTATIONS GIVEN
1999 77th Annual Meeting of NCTM, San Francisco, "From Nonsense, to Number Sense to Exponential Sense."
1999 ArizMATYC meeting, Phoenix, AZ, February. "A Sense of Logarithms: A Look at Decibels and Logarithms."
1998 24th Annual AMATYC Conference, Portland OR, "From Nonsense, to Number Sense to Exponential Sense."
1997 23rd Annual AMATYC Conference, Atlanta, GA, "Implementing ALL the Crossroads Standards: The Maricopa Mathematics Consortium (M2C) Curriculum." with David Dudley, Sally Jacobs, Karen Hay
1997 Second AMATYC Southwest Regional Conference, Flagstaff, AZ, "Implementing ALL the Crossroads Standards: The Maricopa Mathematics Consortium (M2C) Curriculum." with David Dudley, Teri Glaess, Melinda Rudibaugh
1997 Fourth Arizona Conference on Mathematics Education, Tempe, AZ, "AMATYC Standards and Community College Mathematics."
1997 MAA Joint Meetings, San Diego, Contributed Paper: Maricopa Mathematics Consortium
1997 MAA Joint Meetings, San Diego, Panelist: "Developing statistical indicators for monitoring and improving undergraduate mathematics education," hosted by Kenneth J. Travers.
1996 ICTCM, Reno, NV, "Fitting 4 round pegs into 3 square holds: the M2C Curriculum addresses pre-standards realities."
1996 NMMATYC 7th Annual Conference, Farmington, NM, "What should a mathematics curriculum look like?" with Sally Robertson.
1996 MAA Joint Meetings, Orlando, Contributed Paper: An Applications-Driven Curriculum: The Maricopa Mathematics Consortium (M2C) addresses the AMATYC Standards.
1996 MAA Joint Meetings, Orlando, Reaction panelist: "Tracking Reform in undergraduate mathematics education," hosted by Kenneth J. Travers.
1995 ICTCM, Houston, "What Drives New Mathematics Curriculum Development?"
1995 AMATYC Annual Conference, Little Rock, "The Maricopa Mathematics Consortium: Implementing the Standards." with Sally Robertson
1995 AMATYC Annual Conference, Little Rock, "Dilemmas and Opportunities: The Chair’s Role in Implementing Change." with Tom Adamson
1995 Cooperative Learning in Higher Education Conference, Tempe, "Getting Everyone to Argue"
RECENT GRANTS
1996 Principal Investigator for NSF ATE Grant: Maricopa Mathematics Advanced Technology Education 2000, DUE 9602386, $353,235, with Marilyn Carlson, ASU, and Tom Trotter, ASU
1995 Principal Investigator for NSF ILI Grant: Seamless Integration, DUE #9551867, $29,089
To build a calculus classroom with networked computers, to implement reform calculus, matched by $29,089 from Scottsdale Community College.
1995 Maricopa Colleges Lodestar (speaker series) Grant: $10,000.
CURRICULUM DESIGN
1997-99 Author of several modules in the Maricopa Mathematics Project, together with seven other faculty. These modules will be published by Houghton Mifflin Co.
1996 Principal Investigator for NSF ATE Grant: Maricopa Mathematics Advanced Technology Education 2000, DUE 9602386,
To develop course materials for community college mathematics, before College Algebra.
1994-96 Project Director for Maricopa Mathematics Consortium, NSF DUE #9352897, $100,000,
To develop a before-calculus curriculum in the spirit of mathematics reform.
1990-91 Author of a complete set of Hypercard tutorials for Arithmetic Review.
Personal Interests
Scottsdale Community College Band
Last Revised: February 6, 2000