Master of Mathematics for Educators (MME)
The Master's of Mathematics for Educators (MME) program at WPI is designed to allow primary, secondary or junior college instructors of mathematics the opportunity to get an advanced degree which truly relates to their career, in a convenient and economical manner while still retaining their teaching position. Since 2004, we have added a number of courses specifically designed for Middle School instructors due to the increased demand for content in that area of teaching. Please inquire if you wish more information in this area.
Candidates for the evening program of master of mathematics for educators degree must have a bachelor's degree and must possess a background equivalent to at least a minor in mathematics, including some calculus and either teacher certification in mathematics or science or a full-time teaching position in one of these disciplines. Students are encouraged to enroll in courses on an ad hoc basis without official program admission. However, these students will not be eligible for any financial aid and must pay full tuition for each course. A typical student could complete the program in a little over two years, taking two courses each semester. However, the program can accommodate other completion schedules as well each person is encouraged to develop a Plan of Study consistent with their own needs and time demands with as few or as many courses per year as is appropriate.
Why consider an MME degree?
The demands of teaching mathematics today are substantially different than they were as recently as 10 or 15 years ago. New state requirements, changing needs of students, AP exams, technology and NCTM are all potential factors in this change. Teachers today must consider new methods including group learning, projects, laboratories, computer assisted work, as well as mathematical topics not previously found at the secondary level. These new topics might be discrete math, graph theory, linear algebra, fractals, statistics or mathematical models. Since many of these topics were not part of the instructor's original background, appropriate course work is a way to update that background. In short, a strong content background in mathematics is a necessary condition for teaching today.
Massachusetts Licensing
As of Oct 1, 2001 when the new Massachusetts teacher license laws (603 CMR 7.00 ) went into effect, teachers became required to have a master's degree with at least 15 of the credits being in their area of instruction and at the graduate level. The MME degree of WPI satisfies this and thus leads directly to a Professional License for people holding an Inititial License. (It does not take care of the Initial License, however. That is a separate endeavor.)
Schedule & Requirements
The MME schedule is based upon a three semester year with two courses per semester. All but two of the courses are two credit. Classes run from 4 pm to 6 pm and then 6:30 until 8:30 in the case of 2 credit courses, one evening a week (Tuesday). Currently, the calendar is:
| Fall semester (14 weeks): | September 1 until Dec 15 |
| Winter semester (14 weeks): | January 5 until April 20 |
| Summer (14 meetings): | April 28 until July 10 |
The first class this fall will be on Tuesday, September 2. Classes do not meet on those weeks when there are high school vacations. Thus in a given year, a student could take as many as 6 courses. Every attempt has been made to make the schedule as convenient as possible for the participants relative to their own schedules and needs.
The MME Degree Requirements consist of 30 credits:
24 course credits (9 2-hour courses and 2 3-hour courses)
1 project (total of 6 credit hours)
The courses are taught by WPI's own mathematics faculty. They are offered on a two year cycle as follows:
Geometer's Sketchpad package extensively in that course. Issues in Education debates the pros and cons of the NCTM Standards as well as the challenges of the Massachusetts MCAS exams.Most of our courses have two main objectives: the obvious is that we are trying to build up the students mathematical background. In addition to that, we often give assignments which require the student to relate some of the material to their own courses so that there is something to "take back" with them. For example, in Mathematical Modeling, we just finished studying simple harmonic motion resulting from second order differential equations. While it is unlikely anyone would be teaching this at the high school level, some byproducts might be useful. For example, we looked at situations which give rise to "beats" and "resonance". These can be coupled with challenging and interesting problems in trigonometric functions. We asked questions of the students such as: "how do you get a piano tuned?" and "how do AM and FM radio stations transmit voice and music?".
The Project
Each student is required to complete a project of 3 semester duration, totaling 6 credit hours. The essence of this project is that the student, at the institution at which they teach, design and implement an innovation of some kind, and then gather and analyze data concerning the effectiveness of that innovation. This is done through the sequence of courses:
- MME 592 Project Design
background research, design and creation - MME 594 Project Implementation
the innovation is actually put into effect - MME 596 Project Evaluation
results are collected and analyzed and assessment is done using standard statistical techniques
Technology
We recognize that technology may have significant impact on education. Special purpose software; the Internet; Computer Algebra Systems such as Maple and Mathematica; Geometer's Sketchpad, and spreadsheets are all possible tools at our disposal. however we view all of these with traditional scientific skepticism: we feel we must prove that they can make a contribution before we accept them. We do not embrace technology for technology's sake but rather as a possibly effective contributor to the educational process. Data collection and assessment are where the determination of the effectiveness is made. Two examples of technology worth mentioning follow.
Geometer's Sketchpad is perhaps the finest example of a "dynamic" interactive package for studying plane geometry. While words do not do it justice, this Windows and Mac based package allows the user with a mouse to create geometric objects with ease on the screen. What is noteworthy is that they may then make changes in those objects (move a vertex of a triangle, or a focus of a parabola for example) and instantly see the changes impact on the object. This happens instantly ,with complete accuracy.
Additionally, theorems may be proven (as shown in the image below), and properties demonstrated which traditional paper or blackboard work could never duplicate. For the more advanced, Sketchpad may set up recursive relationships and generate fractal patterns such as the well known Koch Snowflake (shown at right). We use Sketchpad in 3 areas: plane geometry, analytic geometry (conic sections) and calculus (optimization).
Maple is one example of a "computer algebra system". This package allows the user to issue commands to perform algebraic tasks such as solution of equations, factoring or differentiation. These tasks may be of a numerical nature or symbolic. It is also quite adept at the enormous calculations associated with number theory, as well as matrix algebra. The upshot is that students can explore mathematical models far more effectively due to an order of magnitude increase in accuracy and speed. We might be exploring, for example, a population model where the 10th and 11th powers of a 12x12 matrix are needed. Once the matrix has been entered or downloaded, as the case may be, these computations come down to one line commands. Maple is used for the laboratory portion of many of our courses. It is available on all WPI computers and student versions for both the IBM and Mac are available in the college's bookstore for very modest cost. It should be mentioned that our use of Maple in no way suggests an preference of it over other software that people might already be using (Mathcad, Derive, Matlab and others); it is simply our tool of choice to support our own courses.
Other examples of technology that students become competent at while in our courses are:
- Matlab - used for analyzing sound, including music files and speech by us. (We have fun mathematically deciding if a guitar is in tune by using Fourier Analysis to compare its strings).
- The Texas Instruments CBL - used for gathering temperature data and motion detection
- Excel - as an all purpose numerical tool. It can make quick work of series summations, numerical simulation and linear regression analysis
Tuition
We recognize that a program for teachers must be economical. Toward that end, we offer a 40% discount off of our normal graduate tuition to teachers.
Forms
- Application for Graduate Study (required along with 3 letters of reference and undergraduate transcript)
- Financial Aid (Loan) Application
- Plan of Study Form
- Online Registration for Courses
- Office of the Registrar (deadlines & more forms)
- Application for Graduation (May and October annually)
Questions?
Please feel free to call Dr. John Goulet at 508-831-5036 or email to goulet@wpi.edu. You are encouraged to visit the campus and talk about the program at any time, as well!
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: April 14, 2008 09:34:06