Outcomes and Future Directions

Training and Development:

The experience of working on the grant gave three interns from the Department of Communication "real life" experience. Two of the students helped with the surveys regarding the ads, and one of the students was solely responsible for developing ad concepts, designing the ads, and working with the school newspaper to make sure they were placed for publication. Although this student found the work the most difficult, she also learned a great deal about how advertisements may be received by the public as well as about ad design.

Jill Shahverdian, the doctoral student who led the problem-solving and orientation/support sessions, was able to develop a range of new techniques for teaching calculus, gain better interpersonal skills for building learning communities, and conduct in-depth studies of recent research pertaining to women in mathematics. She also learned how to conduct interviews. Perhaps the best indicator of how her involvement in the project has helped her is her tremendous success on the job market.

Richard Blecksmith, who taught the intervention section of Calculus I, had previously experimented with activities similar to those he used this fall. The intervention gave him an opportunity to develop his ideas about a more participatory Calculus I curriculum. (top)

Outreach Activities:

The PIs made presentations about the project at NIU's summer institute on multicultural education curriculum transformation and for NIU's Women's Studies faculty associates.

The Chicago Tribune's spring education supplement carried an article that discussed our project. The article, "Women Recruited for Science Field," was written by Nancy Amdur and appeared in the March 4, 2001, paper. On February 11, 2002, Northern Today, the weekly newspaper for Northern Illinois University Faculty and staff, carried an article by Tom Parisi, "NIU researchers work to dispel myths about women and mathematics." These two articles enabled us to reach out and educate members of communities who might not have been aware of our activities. (top)