The Moore Method in 60 Minutes: Presentation by Robert Kauffman

The common wisdom is that it is not possible to fully convey how to use a Moore Method type of teaching to someone who has not experienced it. There do appear to be counterexamples: some have successfully used it without having participated in an MM class as students. Nevertheless most practitioners agree that experiencing it is the best way of learning about it -- and certainly that is the method most in keeping with MM itself.

The challenge of giving something of that experience in under an hour was taken up in several sessions of the Legacy of R.L. Moore conferences in 2003. The idea was to compress and stage actual classroom situations for observation and analysis by the conference attendees. In addition to this presentation organized by Robert Kauffman and John Neuberger there was also one organized by William Ted Mahavier .

The People:

Robert Kauffman (in the blue jacket) obtained his Ph.D. in mathematics with Anton Zettl as his advisor at Louisiana State University in 1968. (Zettl is pictured in the last frame below.) From 1983 until his death in 2004 he was a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 1994 he was a London Mathematical Society Lecturer in England.

Mayumi Sakata Derendinger teaches at William Jewell College. Bob Kauffman was her Ph.D. supervisor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She received her degree in 2001.

John Neuberger is a Regents Professor in the mathematics department at the University of North Texas. His doctoral degree at the University of Texas at Austin in 1957 was supervised by H.S. Wall.

Technical note: The images below and the "Download" text link to Quicktime movie files. Because of their large size they are recommended only for high-speed connections. The viewing size of the picture may be enlarged, and the writing on the board made legible, by saving the file (right clicking on the link is one common way to download) and playing it outside of your web browser. See this Apple link for Quicktime issues and for instructions on obtaining a free download of the software for PC(Windows) or Mac.

Video conversion by DAVID GARRIGUS PRODUCTIONS : 254.399.8333

From a Course in Number Theory
(Legacy of R.L. Moore Conference, 2003)

Part 1:
"The next problem is Theorem 150. Are there any volunteers? "
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9 MB; 12 min.

First part of Kauffman movie

Part 2:
"We would have a sheet we would be working off of. " Some parenthetical remarks.
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9 MB; 12 min.

Part 3:
"I'm still worried about this word 'any'." The need for some formal logic.
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9.4 MB; 13 min.  

Part 4:
"We don't talk about fixing it!"
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8 MB; 11 min.

Part 5:
Audience discussion.
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8.5 MB; 12 min.

 

All material is copyrighted by the Educational Advancement Foundation and the Foundation is grateful for the permission granted by the participants to make these presentations available here.


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Last revised 12/4/06