At West Point, we see these ILAPs bringing about cultural change and accomplishing our goals. In each of the interdisciplinary projects used in our curriculum, we see each of our five educational threads coming together. Communication is needed both orally and in writing. Reasoning and modeling are needed in the formulation and analysis of the solution process. The use of technology is empowering by enabling the tackling of difficult problems.
Students learn to value mathematics as a human endeavor used for solving real world problems.
Further, through the projects we can connect to mathematics learned in the past, extend to mathematics understood more completely in the future, and connect to other disciplines. A next step is to effect change in the curriculum. At West Point this appears to have happened at the same time, except that we too will undergo another major change of the next two years by adopting new texts and a new computer algebra system to better weave our four core courses into an integrated program. Frank Giordano's article will address the aspects of curriculum change later. The cultural change at West Point has evolved to where we are now ready to continue our process of change and disseminate to others.