University Mathematics in Venezuela Author(s): P. R. Montgomery Source: The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 75, No. 6 (Jun. - Jul.

, 1968), pp. 664-667 Published by: Mathematical Association of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2313802 . Accessed: 27/07/2013 09:44
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2 (April1960). 7. David Page, Do something about estimationl Updating Mathematics, 8. M. L. Stein,S. M. Ulam and M. B. Wells,A visual displayof some properties of the distribution of primes, thisMONTHLY, 71 (1964) 515-520. 9. Scientific Martin 'Mathematical March1964,Cover(and inthatissue, American, Gardner, Games,"120-128). 10. Stephen I. Brown, 'Prime', 'Elementary,' and 'Fundamental' Comparisons, The Pentagon, 26 (1967) 95-105. UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS IN VENEZUELA of Kansas P. R. MONTGOMERY, University

1. Introduction.The writerhas just returnedfroma two-yearstay at the Universityof Oriente (UDO) in Cumana, Venezuela, which is a new university dedicated to educational experimentationand innovation. My stay was partially supported by the Ford Foundation, in a cooperative science project between UDO and the Universityof Kansas. In addition to my normal duties of teachingand servingas advisor to the mathematicsdepartmentof UDO, I bad in the opportunitiesto make several shortvisits to other academic institutions country.These visits were generallyof an "official"nature and hence may not as desired. This report,like the visits, is rathershort and have been as fruitful the general pattern of visits, I hope it accurately reflects like the but, cursory, Venezuela. in level school at post-high mathematics the teaching types of such institutionsin Venezuela. The most There are four different common are the autonomous universitiessuch as Central (UC), Zulia, Los UDO and the Andes, and Carabobo. At the same level are the two institutions, Experimental Center forHigher Education, which are operated directlyunder council. (ME of Education (ME) througha rectorand university the M4inistry recentlyannounced plans to start another universitysimilar to UDO in Caracas.) The ME also operates two normal colleges or Pedagogical Institutes (IP and IPE) forthe purpose of traininghigh school teachers. These Institutesare are not acnot consideredequivalent to universitiesand the degrees they offer universities small are several private Finally, there degrees. cepted as university of whichAndres Bello Catholic Universityis the most important.These private do not play a verylarge role in the educational system.The schools universities size from tens of thousands of students at UC to a few hundred at vary in of these places, most of the mathematicstauglhtis of the algebraIPE. At all calculus variety. 2. Students. Most of the universitystudents come fromfive-yearschools or liceos. However, there are two other types of secondary schools: normal schools, which prepare primary teachers, and technical schools, which teach such diverse subjects as commercial fishing,agronomy, and industrial arts. These students are not accepted into any of the autonomous schools and may only enterUDO or the IP's. The mathematicalcontentof the secondary (and primary)programsis very old-fashionedand does not contain any of the newer approaches. It is tightly

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controlledby ME and has not had any revisionsformany years,althoughthere is presentlyat work a committee of the Ministry studying possible changes. Algebra and Geometry are combined throughoutthe curriculumrather than being divided into separate years as is the case in the U.S. In the past, teachers have tended to omit or treat very lightlycertain subjects, geometrybeing the principal victim. Because of the rigidityof the curriculum,then, the student would never be exposed to this material. No more than thirtyper cent of the people teaching mathematicsin the liceos have had any advanced (i.e., college) trainingin mathematics;the remainderbeing high school graduates only. Because of the nature of the high school testingprogram,the students try to memorizeeverything, even entire pages. In general they have extremedifficultyapplying known material to new problems. Their studying is made further difficult by various other factors,such as classes for 25-30 hours per week; studying usually done in their crowded pensiones or under streetlights; a sizable numberof studentslack textbooks.As would be expected, the failure factorbeing poor background. rate is quite highwith the largestcontributing is composed of part3. Faculty. In general,the facultyof these institutions time instructors who teach for varying numbers of hours per week, and have sole controlover the courses.Two exceptionsto this patternare UDO and IPE, who employ, almost exclusively, full-timeprofessors.This part-time faculty consistsof A.B.-level mathematicsmajors or engineers.However, both UC and UDO have a high percentage of professorswith graduate trainingin mathematics. The facultieshave a quite high ratio of non-Venezuelansand this ratio is higher among those professorswith advanced training. Rather substantial efforts are being made to overcome this dependence on foreignprofessorsby scholarship programswhich have been initiated in several of the universities. are forstudy in the United States, but otherstudents Most of these fellowships are sent to France, Germany,Italy and Puerto Rico. to compute with the part-timehelp, The average teaching load is difficult teach about twelve hours per week. but at UDO, forexample, most professors (This representstwo courses,since most courses meet six hours weekly.) There is very little professional interchange between the universities (sometimes not even within the university).The only scientificsociety with open membershipis the Venezuelan Society for the Advancement of Science, which has a small and not very active mathematics section. At least two of the mathematicsdepartmentspublish quarterliesalong the lines of Mathematics Magazine which are directedat high school students and teachers. 4. Classes. The size of the classes varies fromthe large sections (70-100) of the introductory courses to quite small sections (2-10) forthe advanced mathematics majors. As stated above, most meet six hours per week. This time includes some hours of "practice" which correspond roughly to laboratory in chemistryor physics. Very little homeworkis assigned and little studyingis done outside of class except forpreparationforexams. The practice classes are,

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in theory,intendedto help overcomethislack of outside work.There are widely use them strictlyfordrill, others differing uses of these hours. Some professors incorporate the drill in the lectures, spreading it over several class periods, ignore the drills altogether. and other professors fromwhat is normally enDiscipline in classes and exams is far different countered in the U.S., the studentsbeing less attentive and less orderlyin the however, than the partare much stricter, classroom. The full-time professors time facultyand those with highertrainingtend to be even more so. Texts are not as widespread as in the United States. Many courses have also use and sell an official text, but not all students buy it. Many professors theirown notes. Good up-to-datebooks in Spanish are rare and expensive. types of mathematicsdegrees offered. 5. Programs. There are two different program for prospective high school teachers The most popular is a four-year and is the only programavailable at the IP's. Several of the universitiesalso offer this program.The other,which is considered to be a mathematics major, program The five-year at most universities. is a five-year programand is offered is is not quite the equivalent of a Master's degree although a thesis usually a partial requirement. Both programsare considerablyheavier than the correspondingprograms in the U.S. This is caused, in part, by the lack of graduate schools in Venezuela training elsewhere.At UDO, forexample, forfurther and the lack of opportunity credits in mathematics in the five-year students take more than one hundred program.At the same time, much of the learningand teachingis superficial. Usually the students do not have a choice of courses. Instead, the department offersa pensum, which is a listing of the courses a student must take during each semesterat the university.He then passes the semesteras a unit, not the individual courses, although if a previous course is a prerequisite,it must have been passed. (There are several ways of passing a failed course, not all of which involve retakingit.) Some of the pensums are quite modern and geometryand algebraic topology. Others include such subjects as differential and theory are veryoutdated and includesuch coursesas sphericaltrigonometry of equations. Most of the courses a mathematics student takes are mathematics; very little work is taken outside the department. Minors, or double majors, are unknown. UDO has adopted a credit system similar to that used in the U.S. and although still influencedby the pensums,it promises to give more flexibility and adaptability to both the departmentand the students. In a given semester,under these pensums, a student takes an average of 18-20 credits.The actual numberof class hours is somewhat higherdue to the practice hours. This representsabout six courses and may include one or two courses outside mathematics,in, for example, English, Humanities, or Social Science. 6. Libraries. With the exceptions of the libraries at UC and UDO, these About all that is available to a facilitiesin Venezuela are almost non-existent.

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professoror a student are those books he buys himself,(professorseven have to purchase their personal texts) and these are only available through the Caracas bookstores.UC's libraryis more establishedand has a bettercollection of journals. UDO's libraryhas a wider choice oI books at all levels, due chiefly to the fact that the mathematicsdepartmentreceived $10,000 in 1966 fromthe International Development Bank to purchase books and journals. 7. Conclusion. Judged overall, mathematics is not very popular in Venezuela. More attentionis graduallybeing paid to it, and several ofthe universities are tryingto build better departmentsthat are beginningto shed the service role which has been theirprimaryfunction.Still there are little prospects for a "market" outside of the universities. The most immediateneed at the presentis qualified teachersat all levelsprimary,secondary,and university.For the universities,the scarcity of texts is of crucial importance,and in the secondary schools a curriculumrevision is the problemsofthe departments and universities long overdue. As in everything, have a special character,sometimesreferred to as "Latin," which makes them appear almost unresolvable. The Universityof Oriente, with its experimental nature and approach, could be a strongmodernizing factorif its influence could be spread to the otheruniversities.
TEACHING GROUP THEORY TO COLLEGE FRESHMEN G. E. CARUSO,Lea College on Lake Chapeau, Minnesota

studywas conductedat Nassau CommunityCollege during An experimental of the abstract approach 1965 and 1966 to determinethe relative effectiveness and the concrete approach of teaching the theoryof groups, rings,and fields to freshmen.In the abstract approach, with student participation kept to a followedby examples illustrating weregiven first, minimum, rigorousdefinitions then prethe propertiesof the systems.Proofs of ten theoremson groups wvere sented deductively. In the concreteapproach, specificexamples of the systems were presentedfirst.The students were then encouraged to participate in disthese concrete examples. cussions aimed at discoveringgeneralizations fromn The proofsof theoremsfollowedparticularexamples and problemsexemplifyillg each theorem. The basic hypotheseswere: 1. The experimental(abstract) group will show a higherachievementin learningthe theoryof groups,rings,and fieldsthan the group will show a higherachievecontrol (concrete) group. 2. The experimental ment in delayed recall of these systemsthan the control group. Two sequences of lesson plans were developed in detail, one forthe abstract approach and the other for the concrete approaclh. Eaclh consisted of eleven a pilot study 50-minutelessons and extended over a four-weekperiod. Fromn on the results of a preceding the experimentan item analysis was performed preliminarytest. Two tests were constructed from these results: one to be

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