WHAT IS THE MOORE METHOD?
William S. Mahavier · PRIMUS · 1999
We describe a “Moore Method” course which we have taught at several universities over the past 30 years. Our course is a modification of one we took from R. L. Moore in 1948. The course is intended to be taken immediately after a one variable calculus course. The purpose of the course is to teach the students to create and present in class mathematically correct proofs of theorems. This, of course, requires training in logic and correct use of language. Our topics are the topology of the line and basic principles of the calculus, including limits, continuity, and differentiability. Our goal is to get the students to prove the fundamental theorem of calculus. We discuss our grading, class discussions, the ways in which we help students, and the extent to which we encourage cooperative learning.