I WEATHER: Friday, increas
ing cloudiness. High in the lower 40s.
Friday night, partly cloudy with a low in
the 20s to low 30s Saturday, consid
erablecloudiness with a slight chance
of showers Highs in the 40s to lower
50s.
December 4, 1987
I Inside:
Wire.Page 2
Editoral.Page 4
Sports.Page 5
Classifieds.Page 6
_Vol. 87 No. 69
Educators are calculating calculus changes
By Amy Edwards
Senior Reporter
Students taking calculus at the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln may
sec changes in the course during the
next few years.
One problem with calculus classes
at UNL and other U.S. institutions is
that about 40 percent of the students
who enroll in the courses do not
complete the course with a grade of C
or better, said Frank Gilfcather,
mathematics and statistics professor
at UNL.
This poses a problem because cal
culus is a requirement for business,
engineering and science majors, he
said.
A few students who are prepared
lor calculus still have trouble in the
class, Gilfcather said. But one of the
biggest complaints of faculty mem
bers is that students aren t properly
prepared for the course, he said.
More than half of the mathematics
and statistics professors (each calcu
lus classes to more than 5,000 students
each semester, Gilfcather said.
Gilfcather said calculus instructors
across the country are looking better
ways to teach the subject.
The National Science Foundation
and the National Research Council
gave a conference in Washington,
D.C., this semester to initiate a debate
on how calculus can and should be
changed.
Calculus is now a “filter course,”
Gilfcathcr said. He said Bob White, a
keynote speaker at the Washington
conference, summed up the needed
changes in calculus by saying,
“Mathematics must become a pump
rather than a filter.”
The conference, “Calculus for a
New Century,” was the first step in
initiating debate, Gilfcathcr said.
NSF' also plans to finance changes
in calculus programs with S2 million
a year for the next several years.
Jack Eidswick, UNL associate
professor of mathematics and statis
tics, attended the conference and re
ported some of the common com
plaints about calculus courses:
• the classes arc too large.
• the students arc unprepared and
unmotivated.
• texts are loo hig and are not chal
lenging.
• the failure rate is too high and
standards too low.
• instructors and students arc unen
thusiastic.
• students don’t learn the concepts
of calculus, and most of what they do
learn is irrelevant to their ultimate
work.
Essentially, everything instructors
attempt to teach can be done by a
computer, and much of that can even
be done by a modern calculator, Gil
feather said.
Very few’ students are sufficiently
inspired by their calculus experience
to major in mathematics. The best
students usually are lost to other areas,
he said.
Eidswick said that so lar debate
about calculus curricula has presented
major problems and no solutions.
But UNL math professors are
working to find solutions, he said.
Gil feat her said a link with Dartmouth
College and Prairie View University
in Texas w ill be proposed to NSF for
a project on calculus course evalu
ations. Gilfeather said officials hope
toobtain the S2 million NSF financing
for the proposal.
The proposal will examine calcu
lus courses in concept and teaching.
Dartmouth College is a selective col
lege, Prairie View is a successful
minority college, and UNL is an open
admissions, land-grant university.
Gilfeathcr said the diversity in these
universities could provide a success
ful link.
Gilfeathcr said a new calculator,
the Hewlett Packard-28C, may be
used in classrooms to “free calculus
from tedious computations and make
it less of a cookbook course and more
of a concept course.”
Gil leather said this would proba
bly make calculus harder for most
students.
Ronald G. Douglas, dean of physi
cal sciences at the Stale University of
New York at Stony Brook, will pres
ent the benefits of the new calculator
and possible changes in calculus pro
grams at UNL on Dec. 7.
The discussion, “Calculus: Oppor
tunities and Challenges,” will be in
Old father Hall 309 from 2:30 to 3:15
p.m. Gilfeathcr said faculty members
and other people who are interested in
curriculum development are urged to
attend.
Douglas’ efforts to bring about a
change in calculus curricula led to a
conference at Tulane University in
January 1986. Eidswick reported five
main points concerning curriculum
changes that came from the Tulane
conference:
• New emphasis should he placed
on the concepts of calculus.
• New emphasis should be placed
on modeling techniques.
• Less emphasis should be placed
on routine problems and drill work.
• Modem technology, especially
computers and calculators, should be
put to good use in teaching calculus.
• Calculus should be made “excit
ing.”
Eidswick said new programs do not
need to make calculus more difficult.
There should be a shill in programs
away from routine work to conceptual
work.
Whether courses teach from the
abstract to the particular or from the
particular to the abstract, Eidswick
said, they should eventually focus on
the concepts of calculus
“This is not a revolution, but an
evolution,” Eidswick said. “Calculus
will change overnight. The
chu .vill probably be gradual over
the next 1 (X) years.”
Abel resident charged
for snow fight damages
By Victoria Ayotte
Stall Reporter
A University ol Nebraska-Lincoln
student has been charged with third
degree assault and two counts ol van
dalism in connection with Monday
night’s snowball light.
John Barbee, an IK-ycar-old resi
dent of Abel Hall, was charged
Wednesday in Lancaster County
Court.
Barbee allegedly assaulted another
student Monday night, resulting in an
eye injury, said John Colborn, deputy
Lancaster county attorney. Barbee
also is allegedly responsible for dam
age to split-rail fences at Delta Upsi
lon and Sigma Alpha Mu fraternities,
Colborn said.
The suspect will go to a docket call
on Jan.4,Colborn said. Barbee and his
attorney will advise the court whether
he wants to go to trial or plead guilty,
Colborn said.
The penalty for the assault could be
a year in jail, a S1 ,(KK) line or both.
Each vandalism charge could have a
penalty ol three months in jail, $5(X)or
both.
Three other suspects will be
charged on Dee. 18,Colborn said.One
suspect was arrested for obstructing
an officer, one lor vandalism, and one
for shooting off fireworks, he said.
Colborn said he has not reviewed
the reports yet and has not decided
what he will charge the suspects with.
UNL police have interviewed 15 to
20 suspects in connection with the
snowball fight, but have made no
other arrests yet, said Gail Gade, UNL
chief of police.
Police will conduct more inter
views this week and possibly next
week, Gade said. Some arrests could
be made after police review videotape
and pictures taken Monday night, he
said.
Police took names of 144 students
as they returned to residence halls
from the snowball light Monday
night. Gade said officers also visited
fraternities alter the light to gel stu
dents’ names.
The videotape and pictures will be
used to identify those responsible for
damage resulting from the l ight, Gade
said. It has not yet been determined if
the videotape or pictures will be
admissible evidence in court, he said.
Mother Coose float to lead
Star City Holiday Parade
By Kim Beavers
Staff Reporter
The Siar City Holiday Parade is
scheduled to travel Lincoln’s down
town streets Saturday, with Mother
Goose in the lead and Little Bo Peep
not far behind.
The parade, called “Nursery
Rhyme Holiday,” is part of activities
planned throughout the weekend.
The activities will begin tonight at
6 with a kickoff celebration at the
Hilton Hotel, 141 N. Ninth St., fol
lowed by a “lighting” of the Hay
market District at 6:30. Proceeds will
go to the Folsom Children’s Zoo.
The parade is scheduled to begin at
11 a.m. Saturday at 10th and O streets.
The floats’ themes range from
“Little Bo Peep” and “The Old
Woman in the Shoe” to “Pat a ('ake."
And, of course, Santa and his sleigh
will travel the parade route. There are
more than 20 iioats in the third annual
Star City Parade.
Barb Hager, executive director of
the Downtown Lincoln Association,
said she expects more than 60,0(H)
people fo attend the parade Saturday,
even more than last year.
“This is a more balanced parade
this year in that the the quality is
better, the balloons will fly higher and
the floats will be more creative. I
definitely think it’s more profes
sional,” Hager said.
Hager said parade policies allow
See PARADE on 3
Eric Gregory/Daily Nebraskan
Kevin Aylesworth, a graduate student working toward a doctorate in condensed-matter
physics, puts a condom on a vacuum-pump pressure regulator in Behlen Laboratory.
Condom use stretches to science
By Mick Dyer
Staff Reporter
Traditionally, condoms have
always played a role in campus life
at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln. The first condoms used
on campus, during the sexually
repressive Victorian era, were
made from the intestines of sheep
or pigs. They were uncomfortable
and required careful maintenance
since they were intended to be
reusable.
World War 1 brought a revolu
lion in the clastic materials indus
try, as nations searched for a
cheaper source of rubber to power
their war machines. Latex rubber
was accidentally discovered by a
scicntistcxpcrimenting in Thomas
Edison’s Fort Myers, Fla., labora
tory. This made condoms cheaper
to produce, and they became avail
able after the war.
In addition to the traditional use
of condoms — to prevent un
wanted pregnancy or disease —
the condom began playing new
roles in campus life. Students
filled them with Milk of Magnesia
and threw them off the roofs of
their houses at unsuspecting pas
sers-by below. They were
stretched over the exhaust pipes of
cars, causing great embarrassment
to the driver when the car back
fired.
Condoms also have been stan
dard features on some scientific
research instruments at the univer
sity for several years.
Kevin Aylcsworth and Dave
Billesbach, doctoral students in
condensed-matter physics, use a
machine called a light-scattering
cell to scatter laser light through a
crystal. By analyzing the way the
crystal scatters the light, they can
determine things about the forces
that hold the crystals together.
They use condoms on the light
scattering cell to create a flexible
vacuum seal. The condom helps
them take more accurate measure
ments when they vary the amount
of pressure being applied to the
See CONDOMS on 3
/
_I