Mickey McDonald
Professor of Mathematics
Associate Dean for Curriculum & Academic Affairs
Occidental College
Educational Background
 | Ph.D. - Duke University, 1993 |
| B.S. (cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) - Davidson College, 1987 |
Research Interests
| While my Ph.D. at Duke University was in the area of integrable systems, I have worked in Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) for the past 11 years. My current interest is in using APOS (Action-Process-Object-Schema) Theory to try to understand how undergraduate students might construct an understanding of various infinity-related concepts. |
Current Teaching - Fall 2007
| Cultural Studies Program (CSP) 13 - The Taming of Infinity - a first year writing-intensive seminar |
Other Courses Taught
| Calculus I, II, and Multivariable | ||||
| Linear Systems | ||||
| ODEs, PDEs, and Dynamical Systems | ||||
| Real Analysis | ||||
| Mathematical Modeling | ||||
| History of Mathematics | ||||
| Math for the Liberal Arts | ||||
| Junior/Senior Colloquia | ||||
| Elementary Mathematics Education (and Middle School and Secondary as independent studies) | ||||
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CSP First Year Writing Intensive Seminars:
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Administrative Experience
| Associate Dean for Curriculum & Academic Affairs - July 2007 to present |
| Associate Dean for Curriculum - June 2005 to June 2007 |
| Director of Junior/Senior Years - July 2004 to May 2005 |
| Interim Director, International Programs - August 2004 to December 2004 |
| Deputy to the President - July 2002 to June 2004 |
| Department Chair of Mathematics - Fall 2003 |
| American Council on Education Fellow, Baldwin-Wallace College (OH) - August 2001 to June 2002 |
| Dean of Students - July 2000 to June 2001 |
| Faculty Associate Dean of Students - July 1999 to June 2000 |
| Director, Multicultural Summer Institute - January 1996 to August 2001 |
Research Publications
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McDonald, M.A., A. Brown, E. Dubinsky, C. Stenger, and K. Weller. Countable processes for mental construction of countable and uncountable sets. In preparation. |
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Brown, A., M.A. McDonald, and K. Weller. Step by step: Infinite iterative processes and actual infinity. Accepted for publication in Research in Collegiate Mathematics Education. |
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Dubinsky, E., K. Weller, M.A. McDonald, and A. Brown. Some historical issues and paradoxes regarding the concept of infinity: An APOS analysis: Part 2. Educational Studies in Mathematics, Vol. 60, No. 2, pp. 253-266, October 2005. |
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Dubinsky, E., K. Weller, M.A. McDonald, and A. Brown. Some historical issues and paradoxes regarding the concept of infinity: An APOS analysis: Part 1. Educational Studies in Mathematics, Vol. 58, No. 3, pp. 335-359, March 2005. |
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Edwards, B., E. Dubinsky, and M.A. McDonald. Advanced Mathematical Thinking. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, Vol. 7, Number 1, pp. 15-25, 2005. |
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Weller, K., et al. Intimations of Infinity. Notices of the AMS, Vol. 51, No. 7, pp. 741-750, August 2004. |
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Weller, K., et al. Student Performance and Attitudes in Courses Based on APOS Theory and the ACE Teaching Cycle. Research in Collegiate Mathematics Education, V. CBMS Issues in Mathematics Education, Vol. 12, pp. 97-131, 2003. |
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Dubinsky, E. and M.A. McDonald. APOS: A constructivist theory of learning in Undergraduate Mathematics Education Research. In D. Holton et al. (Eds.), The Teaching and Learning of Mathematics at University Level: An ICMI Study, Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 273-280, 2001. |
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McDonald, M.A., D.M. Mathews, and K. Strobel. Understanding Sequences: A Tale of Two Objects. Research in Collegiate Mathematics Education, IV. CBMS Issues in Mathematics Education, Vol. 8, pp. 77-102, 2000. |
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Zandieh, M.J. and M.A. McDonald. Student understanding of equilibrium solution in differential equations. In Hitt, Fernando, & Santos, Manuel (Eds.). Proceedings of the Twenty First Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education, pp. 253-258, 1999. |
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McDonald, M.A. and S. Venakides. Renormalization of the t-functions for integrable systems: A model problem. Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics, Vol. LI, pp. 937-966, 1998. |
Contact Information
Dr. Michael McDonald
Occidental College
1600 Campus Road
Los Angeles, CA 90041
323-259-2680
