Wednesday, march 15, 1978
daily nebraskan
page 7
Professor dedicated to math skills
By Mary Fastenau
A lifetime of study, plus dedication and concern, adds
up to Milton Beckmann, UNLniath professor.
Beckmann, who specializes in math competency
problems, said teachers complain about competency, but
it is not a new problem, nor is there a sure formula for its
solution.
"My whole life has been dedicated to competencies,"
he explained.
Beckmann joined the UNL staff 28 years ago. He since
has developed his own test for mathematical literacy.
His results of 25 years of testing recently were
published in The Mathematics Teacher, a magazine for
math educators.
The tests were given to ninth graders at the beginning
of the year and again at the year's end. The tests were ad
ministered in 1950-1951, 1965-1966 and 1975-1976 in
Nebraska schools.
Results show the lowest scores in 1950-1951 with a
definite increase in 1965-1966. Beckmann said students at
the beginning of ninth grade in 1965 did better than those
at the end of ninth grade in 1951.
There was a decrease from 1965-1966 to 1975-1976,
but Beckmann said test scores still were higher than those
from 1950.
Beckmann said the decrease stems from "A general cul
tural shift," more permissiveness in schools, less family
unity, more resistance to authority and less fascination by
sciences and technology.
He cited increased social problems and athletic activi
ties for both boys and girls as possible reasons for the de
cline. He said problems in math competency go back to 1 906
when the Chicago Board of Education complained of stu
dents doing poorly in mathematics.
Beckmann explained that the math competency
problem becomes apparent before or during every war
when there is a great push toward math and science.
He pointed out an article in the October 1943 issue of
The Mathematics Teacher which showed that in tests
given to men in the Army, one in four correctly answered
the question "5 is 20 percent of what number?"
Beckmann said a commission was created after the war
that developed a 29-point check list of basic math compe
tencies. From this list Beckmann devised the problems for
his mathematical literacy test.
From the results of his testing and that done by several
graduate students, Beckmann said he thinks the high
school math programs have a dual responsibility. First, to
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UNL Professor Milton Beckmann specializes in math
competency problems.
provide training for leaders in science and math and
second, to insure competence for ordinary citizens.
He said he thinks teachers should do a better job and
that more time should be dedicated to math studies.
Math deserves the same amount of time as athletics or
music, Beckmann said.
"Not that athletics and physical education are not im
portant," he said. "I would just like to see that they spend
as much time on that as on math."
Athletics have been very important in Beckmann's life.
He lettered in baseball at UNL and was an all-university
boxing champ.
He said that "someone is doing something right"
because "practically all" UNL students take calculus as
their first math course. Beckmann explained that when he
attended UNL, he had to have 16 hours of math credit be
fore he could take calculus.
Beckmann's test results are backed up by 15 years in
Nebraska public schools and four children of his own. He
spent five years teaching junior high math in Kearney,
four and one-half years as superintendent in Gibbon and
two years in a similar position in Scribner.
He came back to UNL after a request from the former
Dean of Teachers College, Beckmann commented.
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ahead
Arthur Kraft, acting associate dean of the College of
Business Administration, was named one of four of
Lincoln's outstanding young individuals by the Lincoln
Jaycees.
The award honors persons 19 through 35 who are
active in the community.
UNL geology students selected Samual B. Treves for
the Outstanding Faculty Member award arjd Sue Brillhart
for the Outstanding Teaching Assistant award in an
election sponsored by the UNL Geology Club. The club
may have the election annually.
James Foertsch, a UNL graduate student, has received
the $500 J.C. Seacrest Fellowship for 1978. The fellow
ship is awarded annually to top UNL students doing post
graduate journalism work.
Timothy W. Burroughs, a UNL journalism graduate stu
dent, has been awarded the $5,000 Gilbert M. and Martha
H. Hitchcock Fellowship for 1978. The award was
established in 1975 by the Hitchcock Foundation to en
courage working journalists to return to the university for
full-time graduate work.
Dr. Carmen H. Grant, a University Health Center
clinical psychologist, is recipient of the American Board
of Professional Psychology (ABPP) diploma in clincial
psychology. It is the highest distinction given by the
ABPP. Grant is one of 10 recipients in Nebraska and
currently is the only woman recipient in the state.
A book by UNL economics Professor George E. Rejda
has been nominated for one of two Wright-Kulp awards.
The awards, presented by the American Risk and Insurance
Association, are given for outstanding books about risk
and insurance.
UNL physics Professor Robert Fuller was elected vice
president of the American Association of Physics Teachers
(AAPT). The 10,000-member association promotes teach
ing physics and physics' role in our culture.
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