Professors Aim to Improve High School Math Teaching : Education: Armed with a $231,562 grant, the two Cal State Fullerton educators will work with 36 intermediate and high school teachers.

FULLERTON —  Two Cal State Fullerton mathematics professors are launching a two-year program this fall aimed at improving the math teaching skills of high school and junior high school teachers.

Armed with a grant of $231,562 from the California Postsecondary Education Commission, Profs. David L. Pagni and Harris S. Shultz will work with 36 mathematics instructors from Valley High School and Carr and Spurgeon intermediate schools in the Santa Ana Unified School District.

Shultz and Pagni will be working with the teachers on how best to meet new state guidelines for mathematics education.

“We will be working to develop better teaching skills and help teachers to better develop new lesson plans,” said Pagni, who also directs a similar program for elementary school teachers in the Santa Ana district.

But the ultimate aim, say the professors, is to boost the number of women and minorities who succeed in careers requiring college level mathematics.

“One of our main goals is that in three years from now, we will have an increase in the number of (Santa Ana Unified) students opting for college mathematics prep courses,” Pagni said. “We hope to put mathematics in the spotlight.”

Separately, the two professors also have received grants from the National Science Foundation totaling $70,000 to improve the study of mathematics at the elementary and secondary school levels.

Shultz was awarded $49,000 to investigate the needs, teaching methods and educational backgrounds of mathematics teachers in American Samoa. He shares in the grant research with an Atlanta professor.

Pagni received $29,448 to underwrite research entitled “Calculators and Mathematics Project--Los Angeles,” a program aimed at assessing the impact of calculators and computers on the mathematics curriculum at the elementary school level.