New Departmental Programs Enhance Teaching and Learning Styles Math "Tl1ere is no way we can teach c riti ca l thinking unless we change our traditi onal me thod o f 1eacl1ing," Dr. Bobby Coker . dean of t11e School o f Educa ti on . said. At leas t one facult y member in the ma111 departnK'nt has been acting on 1l1a1idea. formally cci lled cooperative learning. for the pcist five yems. In Introduc tion to Ma1l1ema1ica l Tl1ough1 . Dr. Trcivis Tl1ompson has used a non-traditional cipproacl1 in teaching log ic ci nd methods o f proof wl1icl1 helped his students develop c riti ca l 1l1inking skills. His c lcisses fo llowecl 1l1is routine: Tl1ompson lectured briefly and then the s tuden ts hroke into problem-solving g roups o f four o r five. stciying in these groups throughout 1l1e semes te r . Tl1ompson sa id that coopera tive lea rning enabled 1l1e s tudent s 10 ·peer tec:icll. " One student would often g rasp 1l1e problem-solving concept bf'tter 1l1an the 0 1l1e r s tuclents in l1is group and could explain it c lea rl y. J\ differen t studen t would probably have a be tt er perception o r the problem during the next session . However . sometimes they would be s tumped by a prob! m. Thompson would l1elp 1l1em. but sa id Ile preferred ''Moore's methocl." cin idea suggested by ci Texas tecicher: "I le wl10 learns the bes t is l1e wl10 is to ld 1l1e least. " Another aspect or t11e cooperative lea rning method wcis the account abilit y o f the students to the ir problem-solving group. Each group wc:is tccim-con tro lled. ·They took the ir own ci tt endcince and lea rned 10 func tion as a team." Tl1ompson said. Each group member rated all 0 1l1e r g roup members on his or he r cooperation . contribution and participation in the g rour. "It wcisn·1 just our grad we w e re concerned wi1 l1 . but the grad o f 1l1e whole g roup. It put respons ibilit y on each member to participate." Oscar Gcircici. junior. sa id . Two o tl1er bene fit s of tl1e c lass. according to Tl1ompson. were improved social ski lls and self con fidence in problcn1 '->o lving I arned by eacl1 s tudent . Thompson believes 1l1a t coopemtive learning can work in any academic lisc iplinc . Garcia said 1l1 C1 t the benefits of thi s c lass went far beyond his "traditionfll" mat l1c lasses. I le sa id he learnecl to think more crit ica lly on l1is own through tl1i s coopera ti, ·e lecirning experience. - Lois Voyles Computer Science In its firs t year as an academic department. computer sc ience was able to brancl1 out from m c:i tl1cma1ics 10 meet 1l1e s1)ec ifi c needs o f s tudent s who desired a s trong cmpl1asis in compu t r skills and programming fo r the world of business. With compe tition C"lm ong o the r co ll eges cincl univers ities increasing in the ar ci o f computer science. Hcirding expcincled it s program and developed a s trong curri culum to reinforce students' marketabi lit y in a competitive profession. Because o f socie ty's demcind fo r students wi th s trong comput er capcib iliti es. Dr. Tim Ba ird . chai rman o f the newly- fo rmed department. Sfl icl it had been "j us t ci mcitter o r time" un til the new dcpcirtment l1ad to be formed. In til e process of starting the sepmate program. the compu ter s ience facu lt y ci lso revised the curriculum. "The cl partmcnt has really grown in the amount of courses o ffe recl ." Baird saici. Two core c lasses. Int roduc ti on 10 Sof tware Deve lopmen t and Object-O ri en ted Programming. replciced Pascal with "C" langucige ancl macte possible the basis for both a Bachelor of Art cincl ci Bacl1e lor of Science clegree in computer sc ience. Tl1e competitive nature of compu ter science led to success ful partic ipation in computer compe titions among college ancl univers it y students nationwide. This invo lvement he lped to fine tune skills fo r students and allowed Dr. Ron Pacheco, ass is tant profc sor of math and computer science. to use his experti se as a regiona l c l1i ef judge in the five-stat e region . Dr. Steve Bab r , professor of math cine! computer science. also served as a regional judge cind was c l1ciirmcin of til e s tatewide computing conference. Harding·s studen t computing team has pa rti cipated in the competitions for s v ral years. They plc:iced 1l1ird last year in tile s ta te cont es t. with a three-person team solv ing a presented problem during a five-hour time limit. More than I oo s tudents benefited from the new department in it s firs t year. Since the split of math and compu te r sc ience into two separa te departmen ts was mainl y for inc reased v isibi lit y. 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