The Moore method is a deductive manner of instruction used in advanced mathematics courses. It is named after Robert Lee Moore, a famous topologist who first used a stronger version of the method at the University of Pennsylvania when he began teaching there in 1911. The way the course is conducted varies from instructor to instructor, but the content of the course is usually presented in whole or in part by the students themselves. Instead of using a textbook, the students are given a list of definitions and theorems which they are to prove and present in class, leading them through the subject material. The Moore method typically limits the amount of material that a class is able to cover, but its advocates claim that it induces a depth of understanding that listening to lectures cannot give.
The original method
, a student of Moore and a practitioner of his method, described it as follows: The students were forbidden to read any book or article about the subject. They were even forbidden to talk about it outside of class. Hersh and John-Steiner claim that, "this method is reminiscent of a well-known, old method of teaching swimming called 'sink or swim' ".
Current usage
After Moore became an associate-professor at University of Texas at Austin in 1920, the Moore method began to gain popularity. Today, the University of Texas at Austin remains a strong advocate of the method and uses it in various courses within their mathematics department, including:
The University of Chicago offers the following Moore method classes: honors calculus, analysis, algebra, geometry, and number theory along with one or two Moore method electives each year.
Professor Arnold Lebow uses the Moore method in his Advanced Calculus, Probability, and Discrete Structures courses at Yeshiva University in New York.
Professor Bryan Snyder at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan's Lake Superior State University, has introduced the Moore Method to the university in a course named "Fundamental Concepts of Mathematics."
Professor Ronald D. Taylor at Berry College in Rome, Georgia successfully uses the Moore method in his Real Analysis course.
The Physics Department of Berry College successfully uses the Moore method in numerous upper level courses.
Professor Don Chalice at Western Washington University regularly uses a modified Moore method in all the upper level courses he teaches. He has done so for many years; as such, his influence has spread the Moore method to many other courses at WWU. See references below.
Professor Lawrence Fearnley of Brigham Young University has, over the course of several decades, thoroughly implemented the Moore method in several of the analysis, topology and Calculus courses.
Professor Glenn Hurlbert of Arizona State University, uses the Moore Method to teach Introduction to Proofs, Combinatorics, and Linear optimization courses, and has written a Springer textbook to facilitate its use in Linear Optimization.
Professor Gordon Johnson of University of Houston utilizes the Moore method to instruct Calculus and Analysis courses.
Professor Genevieve Walsh of Tufts University uses a modified Moore method in her Point-set topology course.
Different instructors have used the Moore method at Canada/USA Mathcamp to teach various topics on algebra, topology, number theory, logic, and set theory.
Mike Cullerton used a modified Moore Method to teach the quadrangles unit of a high school Geometry class at Ute Creek Secondary Academy in Longmont, CO. Students were enthusiastic and discovered all the material normally covered in the text on their own.
Professor Dylan Retsek uses this method at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to teach Calculus, Introduction to Proofs, and Real Analysis.
