Master of Science in Mathematics Learning and Teaching

Effective math instruction evolves from a learning community that is continually engaged in mathematical collaboration and communication. That's the innovative premise of Drexel's online Master's in Mathematics Learning and Teaching (MLT), a joint effort between the school's award-winning Math Forum@Drexel and its top-ranked School of Education, a leading provider of online math and science instruction. MLT graduates are trained to improve math in middle and high school through shared, solution-oriented teaching methods.

MLT's one-of-a-kind graduate program combines the best of the Math Forum’s dynamic resources with an experiential, research-based curriculum centered on problem solving through communication and individualized instruction. Students work independently on rigorous math assignments and collaborate on the outcome within a community of fellow students and faculty, to produce student-centered, technology-enhanced strategies for middle and high school math learners of all abilities. This process of learning and teaching through discourse becomes the model for classroom instruction.

The MLT curriculum builds on leading-edge aspects of education and math in areas such as evaluation and diagnostic teaching and offers electives that explore higher education and learning technologies. Using The Math Forum as an on-site learning laboratory, students are encouraged to make connections between theory and practice and to challenge and defend their own math reasoning in order to evaluate and solve issues effectively as teachers. A virtual field placement component allows students to apply their knowledge in a classroom setting that is videotaped and evaluated for credit.

For individuals interested in the MLT who work full-time and are unable to commit to the full degree program, Drexel's Certificate of Graduate Studies in Mathematics Learning and Teaching [p.2.42] provides an opportunity for math teachers to enhance the quality of their math instruction. Using a student-centered approach, the goal is to develop diagnostic skills that will help instructors determine the most effective teaching methods. Students in the certificate program take five three-credit courses alongside those in the M.S. program and are encouraged to matriculate into the degree program.

Through its unrivalled curriculum, the objective of the MLT program is to have students engage in doing, thinking, and learning mathematics with colleagues and classmates in a problem-based, student-centered and technology-enhanced environment. The program welcomes applicants prepared to advance their math insights to the highest level in order to teach it at its most basic, who can use exceptional, solution-centered tools to kindle life-long math learners.