Newspapers / North Carolina Central University … / July 11, 1966, edition 1 / Page 3
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Monday, July 11, 1966 THE SUMMER ECHO Page Three NCC’s Interim Committee—Dr. Brown, Mr. Jones, Dr. Edmonds College Closes 1965-66 Year Under Interim Administration Mathematics Teachers Comment On 'New Math' Objectives By Mrs. Martha Jones and Irving McCollum For the first time in its his tory, North Carolina College ended an academic year without a president when it observed its 55th annual commencement in May. Since February, when Dr. Samuel P. Massie resigned the presidency, administrative af fairs of the college have been conducted by an interim com mittee consisting of William Jones, NCC business manager, as chairman; Dr. Helen G. Ed monds, dean of the Graduate School; and Dr. William H. Brown, professor of education. At the 55th convocation. In terim Committee chairman Jones conferred approximately 500 undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees to candi dates from the college’s four schools. This is not the first time, however, that the institution has been administered by an interim committee. From October of 1947, following the death of Dr. James E. Shepard, who founded the institution, until January of 1948, when Dr. Alfonso Elder was appointed the school’s sec ond president, an interim group conducted college affairs. Dr. Elder was inaugurated on June 1, 1948. In the opinions of many ob servers, the college, under the administration of the present interim committee, has contin ued its operations with stability and progress. “Things are run ning surprisingly well, with no foundering or confusion,” one faculty member observed recent ly- Dr. Edmonds, speaking for members of the Committee, re viewed its activities during the second semester and pointed out the following: —Sensing of the unique role of the Interim Committee by the student body. “By their aca demic pursuits and constructive student programs, they played a tremendous role in bringing the academic year to an end harmoniously,” she said, adding that unusual cooperation by the graduating class evidenced a re markable heightening of matur ity in the class’ support of cer tain Interim Committee deci sions. —The maintaining of high faculty morale. Dr. Edmonds said the Committee attempted to approach the basic issue of salary inequities through ad justments and through recom mendations of increases for teachers who pursued advanced degrees and who studied with a view to enhancing their compe tencies within specialized fields. Significant research by faculty members was also recognized, she said. On the faculty, committees are also at work on such inter nal areas as tenure, rank, pro motions, academic leave, and faculty institutes. —Projecting toward the fu ture. The Committee has recom mended the maintenance of fac ulty strength through employ ment of qualified personnel, some who are new and others who are replacements. —Organizational changes. The administration has recommend ed that a computer center for administrative, research, and teaching purposes be established. This will make more functional the separate parts of computer services now on the campus, the Committee believes. —Physical improvements. A high-rise building to house 400 women students and a new cafe teria, approved during the ad ministration of President Elder and begun under the adminis tration of Dr. Massie, are near ing completion. Committee Chairman Jones indicated that the women’s residence will be ready for occupancy by the open ing of the fall semester. In anticipation of broadening food services and accommodat ing more students, the adminis tration employed a fulltime food services director at the begin ning of the second semester. Dr. Edmonds said. The cafeteria now under construction will be ready for service by September 1, it is believed. The widespread use of com puters and the terrific expansion of mathematical knowledge have made necessary the introduction in the elementary schools ideas which were formerly taught in only colleges and graduate schools. This material is usually re ferred to as the “new mathe matics.” But “new mathematics” is really traditional mathematics in new clothes. Its puzzling fea tures seem to center on its termi nology, symbolism, and ap proach. It emphasizes the “why” of mathematics as well as the “how” of mathematical opera tions through the logical devel opment of the structure of mathematical systems. It stresses that the doing of any type of mathematics is concerned with thoughts of concepts rather than the arrangements of symbols. It aims at precision and clarity by differentiating between pure ideas and representations of these ideas. All mathematics is presented as logical systems of specific patterns and structures and the laws that govern these patterns and structures. Thus, it becomes a united subject in which the development of thought patterns, the discovery of relationships, and the form ing of generalizations can be more readily developed. New terminology expresses old ideas. Expressions such as sets, open sentences, number bases, modular arithmetic, bi nary system and Boolean algebra are used. But a set is simply a well-defined group or collection of symbols, objects, or ideas. The things which compose or make up a set are its members or ele ments. Sets may be combined into unions, or they may inter sect. Then they may not inter sect and are therefore disjoint. The operations of sets may be taught through pictures (Venn diagrams) or other types of symbolism. Thus arithmetic may become the study of sets of numbers, algebra, the study of sets of unknown and variables, and geometry may be thought of as the study of sets of points ar ranged in lines, planes, and solids. Similarly the study of number bases stresses the structure of number systems and thereby shows that there is nothing un usual about the number 10 as a number base. Any whole number above 1 can be used as the foun dation or base of a number sys tem. This clarifies the ideas of place value, grouping, and re grouping. Elementary Boolean algebra and symbolic logic are used to teach reasoning. Modular arith metic is found to be the usual fundamental operations conduct ed only with tlxe remainders left over when each number is di vided by a constant base. A mathematical sentence uses mathematical symbols to express a complete thought. For exam ple, in 3 + 2:= 5, 3-1-2 acts as the subject, = as the verb, and 5 as the object of the verb. These mathematical sentences may be open or closed, true or false. The correct answers to the open sen tences are the solution sets. From these few examples it can be seen that new mathemat ics aims to teach a pupil the fundamental operations of arith metic, algebra, and geometry while it helps him understand what mathematics is all about. m NEW MATHEMATICS—Mrs. Martha Jones and Irving McCollum are teachers of the courses in “new mathematics” being conducted on the campus. The top photos show Mrs. Jones introducing students to places, lines, etc., and McCollum observing while a student works with a form ula for the union of two angles. In the bottom photos, the teachers check illustrations in texts with students. NCC is offering three courses in the “new” mathematics—401, Con temporary Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers; 402, Algebraic Symbolisms and Techniques for Elementary Teachers; and 403, Topics for Modern Geometry for Elementary Teachers.
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July 11, 1966, edition 1
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