The Transformation Of A Mathematics Course:Discoveries Along A Five Year Journey

This paper concludes a five-year multicultural study that gradually transformed a mathematics course that was “Western” in both content and presentation methods into a “Middle Eastern” course offered in an American university overseas to non-native speakers of English. In addition to tracing the development of user-friendly content presentation, it tracks the development of a technique the authors call “project-directed mathematics” and its incorporation with writing as a learning strategy. Data gathered from mostly female students taking courses in Contemporary Mathematics over the five years support the authors’ claims, which include new observations and recommendations that may be adapted to transform other “Western” courses into culturallyappropriate studies.