A scene from Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which a child proclaimed his hatred of calculus, graced the screen in Houston Hall's Benjamin Franklin Room yesterday afternoon as Mathematics professor Dennis DeTurck asked, "So, How's Johnny Doing in Calculus?"
The presentation -- part of the Provost's Lecture Series -- drew nearly 70 people and explored the implications and challenges posed by K-12 educational "reforms" and other social and technological forces for college-level mathematics.
"It was an eye-opening experience for me," said College freshman Piyush Jain, who is currently a student in DeTurck's Math 104 class.
DeTurck described mathematics as a useful tool, a powerful language, a way of thinking and a discipline all of its own.
"Mathematics is leveraged thinking," DeTurck said.
Relating the correlation between the fictional Johnny's performance in calculus to his socioeconomic status, DeTurck mentioned two programs at Penn that tried to address that situation: Access Science and MetroMath.
"We've got to fight this idea that people have that there's real-life mathematics and school mathematics," DeTurck said. "Education is more squishy, more personal."
Explaining the scientific paradigm of observation, measurement, prediction and control, DeTurck linked the human desire for control of the environment to calculus, the language of change.
The lecture was lively, with DeTurck calling for volunteers from the audience to demonstrate the mathematics of string coils.
Following this immersion into various mathematical examples, however, DeTurck dove into a discussion on educational reform, the impact of technology and issues concerning Advanced Placement courses.
One of the highlights of the lecture was when DeTurck burst into song -- Tom Lehrer's New Math -- to a piano accompaniment.
"In the new approach, as you know, the important thing is to understand what you're doing rather than to get the right answer," DeTurck sang.
The challenge for college-level mathematics, according to DeTurck, is the decreased standardization in curriculum and pedagogy combined with increased diversity in student backgrounds and needs.
DeTurck also cited AP Calculus exams as creating a de facto national curriculum.
"He tied the history of math reform to changes in how students at Penn have learned math," said Lynda Ginsburg, a senior researcher at the Graduate School of Education. "Particularly interesting [was] his observation about how high schools' push [toward AP] AB Calculus has resulted in gaps in their education."
DeTurck officially received the first Evan C. Thompson Endowed Term Professorship for Excellence in Teaching. Starting July 1, the three-year-long professorship will enable him to concentrate on his research interests.
"The most precious commodity around this place is time," DeTurck said. "I am interested in learning how schools function and you have to go out to do that ... . And to help [the community] ... there will be more time for me to do that."
