In 2014, Dr. Jennifer Hegeman, professor of mathematics and chair of the Department of Computer Science, Math and Physics; was selected for a state task force to create college-level mathematics courses that could serve as alternatives to College Algebra and be more aligned with student majors.<\/p>\n
The result of the task force was a statewide Math Pathways program that gives students more options as they navigate general studies math requirements for their degrees. Students now have four options instead of just College Algebra, including Mathematical Reasoning & Modeling (contemporary problem solving), Statistical Reasoning, Precalculus Algebra and Precalculus.<\/p>\n
\u201cCollege Algebra became a barrier to success because it kept a lot of students from getting their degree,\u201d Dr. Hegeman said. \u201cMath Pathways now opens a lot of doors for students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Math Pathways is also part of the state\u2019s Core 42 program, which makes transferring between Missouri\u2019s public colleges and universities easier by requiring the same general studies course offerings across the state.<\/p>\n
With the four options, faculty in Missouri Western\u2019s academic departments evaluated all their majors and identified the preferred <\/em>general studies math course and the accepted <\/em>courses. That makes it easier for students who are transferring in to Missouri Western. If they didn\u2019t take the preferred course, they don\u2019t have to retake a class if the one they took is in the accepted category.<\/p>\n Dr. Hegeman said an added and valuable benefit of her work on the statewide task force for three years was the relationships that she created with personnel from other Missouri higher education institutions.<\/p>\n To continue the work of the Math Pathways task force, Missouri Bridges for Equity and Alignment in Mathematics (MoBEAM) was formed, and Dr. Hegeman is part of that leadership group, as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2014, Dr. Jennifer Hegeman, professor of mathematics and chair of the Department of Computer Science, Math and Physics; was selected for a state task force to create college-level mathematics courses that could serve as alternatives to College Algebra and be more aligned with student majors. The result of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":5354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4909,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4908\/revisions\/4909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}