CSUDH News

The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

Mathematics

Summer Bridge Academy Helps Build Peer Networks for Incoming Freshmen

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Kevin Enriquez, CSUDH student and peer mentor, shares tips on navigating the campus for his cohort of Summer Bridge students.
Kevin Enriquez, CSUDH student and peer mentor, shares tips on navigating the campus with his cohort of Summer Bridge students.

Learning to tap their potential as new California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) students while developing long-lasting friendships and connections on campus, more than 1,000 incoming freshman are participating in the Summer Bridge Academy (SBA), their first step to becoming the graduating Class of 2020.

For six weeks, the students participate in a variety of programs that are critical to developing a strong support system, and essential personal strengths and skills during their first year at CSUDH.

The SBA’s overarching goal is to strengthen the English and/or math skills of incoming freshman who require preparatory courses in those subjects based on their English Placement Test (EPT) and Entry Level Math (ELM) exam scores. They spend many hours in rigorous math or English classes taught by CSUDH faculty as part of the general education (GE) requirement. The rest of the week is focused on the student connection activities and workshops to further prepare them for the fall semester.

Summer Bridge
Students participate in a Summer Bridge scavenger hunt designed to help them discover their strengths and learn from the strengths of their peers.

“One program that we implemented this year is the Strengths Quest Program. We had all the students take an assessment test to identify what their top five strengths,” said Adriana Williams ’08, B.A, communications), a CSUDH academic adviser. They are participating in a scavenger hunt–talking to 10 of their peers–to find those who have different strengths from them so they may learn from each other. Helping them develop such strengths will continue throughout the school year so they may reach their full potential.”

Along with building personal skills and their academic might, the students have been working in cohorts with peer mentors, current CSUDH students who encourage them to seek peer-to-peer networks and cultivate mentoring relationships both during SBA and throughout their college careers.

Kevin Enriquez, a CSUDH computer technology major and SBA peer mentor who participated in Summer Bridge when was a freshman, has really enjoyed working with his cohort of 67 incoming freshman in 2014.

“My group has been amazing. We have all clicked from the get-go, and I just love that. The students have been very engaging and interactive,” said Enriquez. “When I came to Summer Bridge before my freshman year it was nerve-racking at first. I remember commenting on someone’s backpack just to start up a conversation. But as the weeks passed, I began to meet a lot of people who I am still friends with to this day. I hope my cohort experiences that as they continue their education at Cal State Dominguez.”

Ryan Sherman
Ryan Sherman, Torrance resident and incoming freshman.

Ryan Sherman, who graduated from North Torrance High School, plans to major in biology at CSUDH and possibly minor in computer science.

“I really like the Summer Bridge program. So far it has really helped me get familiar with the campus. Now I won’t be one of the kids in the fall getting lost on campus. And I’ve already made some friends,” said Sherman, who is in Enriquez’s cohort. “I have also learned how supportive the faculty are here, and about things to watch out for, such as plagiarism. It’s pretty common today with the Web. I also learned about other definitions of plagiarism that I wasn’t familiar with.”

The new Toros have also been participating in the Passport to Leadership program, which consists of workshops related to career development, college success, and understanding diversity. Administered during SBA by the Office of Student Life, the program must be completed by all Encounter to Excellence (ETE) and Early Opportunity Program (EOP) students, many of which attend SBA, but is also available to all new and current students during the semester who seek better leadership skills.

“I picked criminal justice because I’ve been involved with helping people since I was young. I like to try to help them solve problems,” said Corina Sannicolas, who graduated from Rancho Alamitos High school. “What will be great about going to Cal State Dominguez Hills is that if we need help we can always find someone, like a peer mentor or adviser. Now I really look forward to getting involved on campus–maybe with some clubs–to get to know people, and to better find myself as a person and a leader.”

Where X = iPad: Summer Institute for Algebra Teachers Integrates Tablet Technology

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Twenty-one teachers from middle and high schools in the south region of the Los Angeles Unified School District were back in the classroom for three weeks this summer, but unlike during the school year, they were not in front of the class. Instead, the teachers had become students again, broadening their knowledge in mathematics through the California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) Math Project, a professional development program for K-12 algebra teachers funded by the California Subject Matter Project (CSMP).

LAUSD algebra teachers work on iPads at CSU Dominguez Hills Summer Math Institute.

CSUDH has been a regional CSMP partner since 1986 and each summer puts on these three-week-long institutes teachers receive intensive instruction in mathematics theory and pedagogy to help expand their ability to make math more understandable, relevant and hopefully interesting to their students.  The institute is led by John Wilkins, acting dean of the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, and includes instruction from CSU Dominguez Hills math professors, and K-12 teachers who have become institute master-teachers.

“We try to present algebra from the stand point of challenging the teachers, so if there are gaps in their knowledge we’re able to talk about those things,” Wilkins said. “We’re not here to lecture them about algebra knowledge, but to try to come to a deeper understanding of what the curriculum is so that we can try to move teachers away from just reading examples out of a book.”

What was special this year was the introduction of tablet technology, specifically iPads. As the institute progressed, the iPads went from being an unfamiliar gadget to a valuable tool. The teachers learned how to use the devices not only to search for applications and online resources that could aid them in conveying math concepts, but also as a tool to share – through video and cloud sharing capabilities among other things – best practices with their fellow teachers when they’re back in front of the class.

“While many teachers had iPhones, which gave them an advantage, most teachers had no experience with iPads. But by the end, teachers could take notes, create presentations, capture videos and still photos, and annotate pdfs,” Wilkins said.  “Teachers also learned how to project content wirelessly from their iPad onto the classroom projector. I am very confident that these math teachers are ready to use them in their classrooms and use them as tools for collaborating with other teachers about their math lessons.”

Related article: CSU Dominguez Hills Awarded Federal Grant to IMPACT Math Teacher Development

While the opportunity to gain more math knowledge, learn different strategies to teaching math, and share successful approaches with fellow teachers were attractive components to participants, the introduction of the iPad to this year’s institute was a definite draw.

“I wanted to know how to incorporate the iPad into the classroom and into instruction,” said Patricia Encarnacion, an eighth grade algebra teacher at South Gate’s Southeast Middle School who has been teaching for four years. In that time she has witnessed the rise of technology in students’ lives. She said she wanted to turn what has become a negative – students using their smart phones and tablets in the classes and not paying attention – into a positive.

“They’re (the students) a different generation, too distracted to just listen,” she said. “Rather than punish them for being distracted, how do I use that distraction to get them to learn?… I think it will be a good way to bridge the gap.”

Linda Hermosillo, a 15-year veteran teacher of seventh and eighth grade math, currently at Dana Middle School in San Pedro, said she signed up for the institute because she wants to get students excited about math again and hoped this new technology could help.

“I use technology now… but this is so exciting, so many applications, so many ways it can be used,” she said. “It’s important to have new ideas and getting kids to talk about math.”

The teachers will keep the iPads and incorporate them into their instruction in the coming academic year and will come back together throughout the year to share how their lessons went and what they learned using the iPad in the classroom.  They will be part of a larger cohort of teachers taking part in Project IMPACT, a program that was recently awarded a federal grant to provide sustained professional development over the next three years.

For more information about the CSUDH Math Project, contact Shelia Wood at (310) 243-2203 or for more information about the California Subject Matter Project, visit http://csmp.ucop.edu.

Stephen A. Book (1941-2012): Mathematician, Researcher Had Impact on Student Success and Aerospace Industry

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Emeritus professor of mathematics Stephen A. Book died at his home in Seal Beach, Calif. on January 10. An expert on probability and statistics, he served as a faculty member at California State University, Dominguez Hills from 1970 to 2001.

Statistician Stephen A. Book was an expert on cost assessment.

“[Steve] volunteered his garage for my wife and me to use for storage during our 1972 move from Seattle to Los Angeles,” says Miles, recalling how the friendship began almost immediately upon his arrival to California to take a teaching position at the university. “Soon after our arrival, we were dinner guests in his home. We mourn Steve’s passing and are grateful to have the Book family as friends for what is now almost 40 years.”

A native of Bloomfield, N.J., Book earned his doctorate in mathematics at the University of Oregon. His research interests included serving as a member of two program review groups at NASA that focused on cost assessment, and NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. He reviewed research articles in Russian and German for the journal Mathematical Reviews, and was a contributing editor of the Index of Statistics. He also wrote a text, “Essentials of Statistics,” which was used for many years at CSU Dominguez Hills. Book was a regular speaker for the Math Department Colloquium on campus and also participated in an earlier incarnation of Student Research Day called the CSUDH Celebration of Research and Scholarship.

While still a faculty member at CSU Dominguez Hills, he joined The Aerospace Corporation in 1980. There he worked on a wide variety of Air Force programs. He served as director of cost and requirements analysis and eventually was named a “Distinguished Engineer,” the highest honor bestowed by the corporation. After retirement from teaching, he took a job as chief technical officer at MCR in 2001.  Book was semi-retired and continued to work at MCR at the time of his death.

Toni Boadi, a lecturer in the computer science department and director of the TAPESTRY (Towards an Academic Program to Enhance Student Success in Technical and Research Opportunity) program who double-majored in mathematics and computer science at CSU Dominguez Hills, was a student of Book’s. After graduation, she worked at The Aerospace Corporation upon his recommendation. She recalls his sense of humor – and difficult exams.

“Dr. Steve was an excellent instructor and a kind and compassionate man,” she says. “He set high standards but　created a learning environment that was not stressful. His exams were challenging. However, Dr. Steve allowed us as much time as we liked to complete them. A typical exam might begin at 7 p.m. and we would often remain until 11 p.m.　His approach allowed us more than enough time to think through the logic and soundness of our responses.　He used to joke that we could send out for pizza if we liked.”

Book’s son Robert remembers attending math department events, and says thathe and some of his siblings sat in on their father’s classes while in high school.

“We all very much appreciated the supportive environment at CSUDH when my father was teaching there,” he says.

Professor of mathematics George Jennings remembers his colleague as someone who incorporated “real world” experience into his teaching.

“Steve was able to enrich his probability and statistics classes by drawing on material from his research and industrial experience,” he saysHe was a tough teacher, but the better students told me they appreciated the opportunity to learn from someone who was a leader in his field.”

Book is survived by his wife, Ruth, sons Robert and Lewis Book, daughters Elizabeth Kratz, Victoria Lupia, and Jacqueline Novikov; and eight grandchildren.