The School of Teacher Education applied for and received the 23-month grant from the California Department of Education's Mathematics Readiness Challenge Initiative, which aims to prepare students for placement into college-level courses in mathematics.
The funds will be used to develop a 12th grade discrete mathematics curriculum with Sweetwater schools.
“I am excited about the opportunity because the product of this grant (will be) a senior year curriculum around discrete mathematics which could support many students in their preparation for college,” said Dr. Randolph Philipp, math faculty in the School of Teacher Education.
Philipp worked with Dr. Osvaldo Soto, a graduate of the Mathematics and Science Education Doctoral (MSED) program between San Diego State University and UC San Diego, and College of Science faculty Bill Zahner on the writing of the grant.
Discrete mathematics includes a diversity of topics such as sets, functions and relations, matrix algebra, graph theory, recurrence relations, logic, and algorithmic thinking among others. Discrete mathematics could be viewed as the math that is necessary for decision making in non-continuous situations.
“This grant involves curriculum development and professional development,” said Philipp. “Working with Sweetwater Union High School District, we will develop and pilot a discrete-mathematics curriculum and conduct teacher professional development to support the teachers as they teach the innovative curriculum.”