Minicourse #8: "Cooperative learning in undergraduate mathematics education"
Organized by Barbara Reynolds, Cardinal Stritch College, Janet Ray, Seattle Central Community College, and Ed Dubinsky, Purdue University.

The goal of this minicourse is to introduce participants to the use of cooperative learning in undergraduate mathematics courses at all levels in all types of post secondary schools from two year colleges through research institutions. Participants will engage in illustrative cooperative learning experiences, discuss the nuts and bolts of using cooperative learning in the classroom, talk about ways in which things can go wrong when students work in groups, consider ways of avoiding or overcoming these pitfalls, hear about experiences of faculty who have been using cooperative learning for years in classes ranging from developmental mathematics to abstract algebra, discuss learning theory which attempts to explain why this method is so promising, and look at studies of the effectiveness of cooperative learning.