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About Sound Mathematics and systematic teaching of college algebra and basic calculus

Larissa FradkinLarissa Fradkin has founded Sound Mathematics to promote a systematic approach to  teaching and learning of college algebra and basic calculus.  The approach had been tried and tested in class.

Larissa had been an academic/faculty at London South Bank University, teaching college algebra and basic calculus to large classes of STEM students for 16 years.   London South Bank University is a quintessential University of widening access/broadening participation.  This means that its STEM freshers often have limited mathematical background, limited memory, limited interest in mathematics and limited time to study it.   Larissa has developed a systematic and efficient  teaching method – Socratic dialogue based on Eulerian sequencing – that is suitable for our times.   The method marries modern evidence-based pedagogical findings with educational ideas that can be traced back to such educational and mathematical giants as Socrates and Euler.   The courses, which  incorporated Larissa’s modules, had been accredited by several UK professional bodies, sometimes only after the inspectors satisfied themselves that her teaching system led to deep learning.  They were particularly impressed, because the type of students that took these courses have often been failed by traditional teaching.  Interestingly, inspectors found no correlation between the quality of student qualification on entry and the quality of their degrees.   Larissa’s experience has confirmed that practically every STEM student can succeed – if taught in a systematic manner!

Larissa is Professor Emerita, London South Bank University, UK and Associated Professor, Brunel University, UK. She is a practicing industrial mathematician/physicist/engineer, Fellow of UK Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications,  Fellow of UK Institute of Physics and Fellow of UK Institute of Engineering and Technology.  She has presented her findings at various international conferences on engineering education and now Bookboon  has published the textbook she has written freely available onlie (see references below).
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Richard Lunt joined the company as a Consultant Advocate in 2011.

Richard is a Lecturer at UK South Cheshire College, previously a Development Engineer at Orange.
Richard is Larissa’s former student, who, in his own words, was “turned by London South Bank University from an educational pariah into a professional engineer”.   He is a passionate advocate and practitioner of Sound Mathematics’s system of teaching.

Publications and Awards

1. http://www.hull.ac.uk/engprogress/Prog3Papers/Edward.pdf

2. Fradkin L. et al. “Development of GUI for Intelligent Feedback Algebra and Calculus Tutor”, FESBE Learning & Teaching Fellowship, LSBU, 2006.

3. Fradkin L. et al. “Interactive Decision Tree in Graphical User Interface for the intelligent Electronic Personal Algebra and Calculus Tutor (e-pact)”, FESBE Learning & Teaching Fellowship, LSBU, 2007.

4. Fradkin, L., Lerman, S., Warwick J., et al. (cross-faculty) “Developing e-PACT: electronic personal algebra and calculus tutor”, LSBU Learning & Teaching Project Innovation Scheme, 2008-2009.

5. Fradkin, L., Zernov, V., Crisan, C. and Lerman, S. “First Year Engineering Mathematics: The London South Bank University experience”. MSOR Connections, 2010 Spring. Available online: http://journals.heacademy.ac.uk/action/doSearch?searchText=fradkin

6. Fradkin L. “Socratic dialogue: Learning to teach a modern learner”, Learning Dialogues, The University of Northampton Learning and Teaching Conference, 13 May 2010.

7. Fradkin L. “Teaching algebra and calculus to engineering freshers via Socratic Dialogue and Eulerian sequencing”, International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE-2010, Gliwice, Poland, 18 – 22 July 2010.

8. Fradkin L. “Teaching Algebra and Calculus to Engineering Entrants”, Wismar Frege Series, Hochschule Wismar, ISSN 1862-1767, pp. 20, 2011.

9. Fradkin L. and Zernov, V., “Electronic Algebra and Calculus Tutor”, The 9th International Conference on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications: EISTA 2011, Florida, USA, 19 – 22 July 2011 (to appear).

10. Fradkin L. “How to teach elementary algebra to engineering freshers in three weeks”, International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE-2011, Belfast, Ireland, 22-26 August 2011.

11. Fradkin L. “Issues surrounding teaching pre-calculus”, International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE-2012, Turku, Finland, 30 July 30 – 3 August 2012.

12.  Fradkin L. “Issues surrounding teaching elementary calculus to non-mathematicians“, International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE-2012, Marrokesh, Morocco, 30 July 30 – 3 August 2013   

13.   Fradkin L. “Elementary  Algebra and Calculus:  The Whys and Hows”, Bookboon,  ISBN: 978-87-403-0151-9, pp. 361., 2013.  Available online: http://bookboon.com/en/elementary-algebra-and-calculus-ebook

14. Fradkin L., Issues surrounding teaching elementary calculus to non-mathematicians, International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE-2013,, Marrokesh, Morocco, July 30 – August 3 2013.

15. Fradkin L., “ On MOOCs for Engineering Maths”, International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE/ICIT-2014, Riga, Latvia, 2 – 6 June 2014.

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