Resume of Jerome
Dancis, Ph.D.
Department of Mathematics,
University of Maryland, College
Park, MD 20742-4015
Telephone: 301 345 2973 e-mail: jdancis@math.umd.edu
website:www.math.umd.edu/~jnd
U.S.
Citizen
B.S. (Applied Math with 40-credit
physics minor), Polytechnic Inst.
of Brooklyn, 1961
Ph.D. (Math) University of Wisconsin, 1966
April-July, 2007 I am an official of the state of California, appointed by the California State Board of Education to be a Content Review Panel (CRP) member. I will ensure that four mathematics textbook series, submitted for adoption for the Grades 4-7 Intervention Program are accurate and aligned to the especially good California mathematics standards.
1966-Jan.
2005. Lecturer, Assistant
Professor and Associate Professor of Math, University of Maryland at College
Park (UMCP). (Mostly)
* Taught Pre-calculus, Calculus, Abstract
Algebra, Linear Algebra for Engineers, Applications of Linear Algebra,
Geometry, Topology (abstract geometry – graduate and undergraduate),
Programming in Basic for Calculus, and Probability.
* Member of several undergraduate
mathematics curriculum committees, which changed curriculum, wrote course syllabi
and chose textbooks.
1969-1970 Research
Associate, University of Chicago.
1961 (Summer) Physicist, U.S. Naval Research Laboratories,
Washington, D.C.
Consultant work.
2005 (September 8-11) Member of validation study team for Math [teachers of] (grades 6-12) assessment, American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence
2004 Member of the Mathematics Standards
Study Group (MSSG), which met to provide advice to state school mathematics
supervisors about revising state mathematics standards. [Noted in the Notices
of the AMS (American Math Society,
a professional organization of college math professors) at http://www.ams.org/notices/200411/comm-standards.pdf] Financed by the National Science
Foundation (NSF).
2000 Mathematical Advisor for Harcourt's Grade 6 mathematics textbook. Ensured accurate mathematics, appropriate conceptual development, and alignment with the [1999] California Mathematics Content Standards. Changes helped and were crucial to getting book accepted by the California Board of Education.
2004 and 2001 Reviewed drafts of and suggested improvements for two
college math textbooks, which were later published by Prentice Hall.
1988 Refereed article for American
Educator (journal)
1987 Consultant to Magnet Program at Suitland H.S. (Prince
George's County, MD)
1969-1970 Office of Naval Research
(ONR) (post-doctorial) Fellowship
1995-1996 Lily-Center for Teaching
Excellence (UMCP) teaching fellow
1991-1994 Senator - Campus Senate,
University of Maryland
1968 and 2002 Member, Policy Committee, Math
Dept., University of Maryland
Selected Education Articles
Maintain my own educational
website, with links to many reports listed in this resume.
1. "Supposedly
Difficult Arithmetic Word Problems -- Keep It Simple for Students
(KISS)" (2003)
Provides simple unified methods for solving difficult word
problems. It's appendix is:
2. "Algebraic
Word Problems" - Provides solutions and lesson plan for a few
difficult Algebraic Word Problems.
3. "Toward Understanding and
Remembering How to do Hand Calculations with Fractions" Using the methods of this paper will
considerably reduce the need for memorization and homework. Also, it will
reduce students making "dumb" mistakes.
4. "Reading
Instruction for Arithmetic Word Problems: If Johnny can't read well and follow
directions, then he can't do math". (2005)
Written for teaching regular students, but much is doubly useful for
teaching at-risk and special students.
5. "Pattern
Mis-Recognition [in Math Instruction]" (2004)
Contrasts correct versus Mathematically wrong pattern recognition.
6. "Calculus Background for Linear Differential Equations" (1999) Useful Calculus problems for future engineering and physical science students.
7. "Student
modeling of physical phenomena as they derive standard integral formulae - -
One way to reduce proof phobias",
Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies
(PRIMUS), XI (2001) 124-146.
Promotes understanding of this
aspect of AP calculus. The editor wrote: "This is
a wonderful paper. I live this approach when I teach integration at [the U.S.
Military Academy] West Point "honors" students. … It is wonderful. We need to publish this work. … I apologize for missing [your]
talk. I would have jumped on you for the journal!!!"
8. "The
effects of measurement errors on systems of [simultaneous] linear algebraic
equations", International Journal of Mathematics Education for Science
and Technology, (1984).
Crucial for real life calculations.
Makes a college senior level topic accessible to high school seniors.
1. "Group
learning helps minority students excel at university", Cooperative
Learning 12 (Oct. 1991) pp. 26-27.
Earlier version appeared in The Maryland Federation Teacher IV*2
(May 1988), Page 3. Half of
article quoted by Al Shanker in weekly advertisement in "The Week in
Review" section of New York Times, August 14, 1988, p.7. Parts quoted in Washington Post,
(March 7, 1989), p. B3. (Expansion
on my website and was on reading list for Claryce Evans's teaching mathematics
course at Harvard University (1993))
2. "Toward
a lean and lively calculus course - with small group discovery work and more
emphasis on understanding", Undergraduate Mathematics Education
(UME) Trends, ( May 1995).
3. "A
Guided Small Group Discovery Method", ibid. (July 1995).
4. "Middle
school math teaching and how it harms our children", (The cover article.) Humanistic
Mathematics Network Journal, Issue #20, July 1999 Pages 3-7. Avoiding this NOT TO DO list will improve instruction.
5. "Changing the Subject Or Would you hire a good clarinet teacher to teach your child the violin?", ibid. Pages 7-9
"From
the Editor" page:
"Every week or so, we are confronted with newspaper articles about
new proposals to reform the teaching and learning of mathematics. Some of the proposals have merit."
"The situations described in the two articles by Jerome Dancis, beginning on Page 3, are not mentioned in editorials or proclamations from a governor's office. The victimization of those students is ignored by the politicians and editorial writers. I hope that the publication of the articles will contribute to an awareness of and the repair of the scandalous situation."
6. "The
Texas Method and the Small Group Discovery Method", coauthor Neil
Davidson, printed by Legacy of R. L. Moore Project at Center for American
History, Univ. of Texas, Austin. (1999) Also at http://www.discovery.utexas.edu/rlm/reference/dancis_davidson.html
or access from http://www.discovery.utexas.edu/rlm/reference.html
"Goals
for high school Instruction in Mathematics." (1999) (on my website)
There are 25 of my newspaper education articles listed on
my website at
http://www.math.umd.edu/~jnd/subhome/Newspaper.htm
My article "A better way to give scholarships," was forwarded to all members of the Senate of Maryland by the president of the Senate of Maryland.
My work
prompted 5 opinion articles in The New York Times, Washington Post
and Baltimore Sun. I
was quoted in 10 newspaper articles in USA TODAY, Washington Post,
Baltimore Sun, The CQ Researcher (CQ is for Congressional Quarterly), Ft.
Worth Weekly.
1999 Panelist at the "Discovery-based
Teaching of Undergraduate Mathematics Courses" session at the Mathematics
Association of America (MAA) annual meeting.
1999 "Student derivation of standard
integral formulas - One way to reduce proof phobias", leadoff presentation
at the "Proof in Math Education" session at the annual MAA meeting.
1998 Panelist at the Discovery
Learning Conference, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX.
1991 Joint Calculus Reform Seminar and
Math Education Seminar, UMCP
1992 Invited talk at [College]
Freshman Year Experience conference on Science and Technology Education at
Worchester Polytechnic Institute in Worchester, Mass.
1992 Invited to talk at International
[College] Faculty Development Conference.
Advisor. 2005 Member of Math advisor team for
Certificate in Teaching Math to Diverse Learners in Secondary Grades at Johns Hopkins University School of
Professional Studies in Business and Education (http://cte.jhu.edu/MathCertificate)
Alerted supervisors of mathematics
of Prince George's County (MD) Public School System (PGCPSS) to serious
flaw in grading methods.
Subsequently, mathematics supervisor conducted workshop for mathematics
teachers on appropriate grading methods. (1987) Supervisor later invited me and I served as
member of PGCPS Mathematics Program Area Team. Advised supervisor about math curriculum. (1990)
Pedagogy. Was trained in Discovery Learning Method
of instruction, complete with how to divide problems into student-appropriate
bite-size pieces from my (National Academy of Sciences) professor, R.H.
Bing. Learned Small Group
Discovery Method of instruction from Univ. of Maryland Math Education Professor
Neil Davidson, past president of the International Cooperative Learning
Society. With Davidson, wrote
article on both methods. Devoted
15% of class time to group guided-discovery learning. More guided-discovery learning occurred as homework. Devoted
100% of class time to guided discovery learning in topology (abstract geometry)
classes.
In all my
classes, in late 1970's, taught my students enough APL programming so that they
could do computer calculations for all the math in the course. Taught uses of
graphing calculators to calculus and pre-calculus classes.
I
am a proponent of word problems and have written articles on them.
Math research. Wrote two research papers on how to
speed up math calculations on computers for solving large systems of
simultaneous equations that arise in engineering. Wrote ten research papers on abstract geometric (topology)
and ten on matrix algebra. (Listed
on my website.)
Membership Mathematics Association of America (MAA) (professional educational association of college mathematics teachers.)