This paper will highlight a small subsection of a larger scale project that focuses on increasing the use of active learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms. Our overall project goals seek to expand the adoption of active learning in STEM classrooms. Active learning has been shown to improve student grades, retention rates, and overall understanding of course material. We define active learning as any time an instructor goes beyond lecturing to their students (e.g., think-pair-shares, class discussions). Research has shown adoption of active learning in STEM courses has been slow with one common cited reason for not implementing active learning in their courses is the fear of student resistance. Student resistance can be defined as any negative student reaction to active learning (e.g., distracting others, giving lower course evaluations, or refusing to participate in the activity).
For this study, we recruited instructors from across the nation in the Summer of 2021 and collected data from instructors and students from Fall 2021-Winter 2022. During recruitment, we paid particular attention on ensuring we were recruiting instructors from a broad swath of institution types, including doctoral granting institutions, community colleges, and everything in between. While much of the research on active learning has focused on 4-year schools, this research aims to elucidate what active learning looks like in community colleges, as well as community college student perspectives on these activities. Additional data will share common strategies used for implementing active learning that differ between community college and four-year settings.
This paper focuses on how instructors teaching at community colleges are using active learning in their classrooms and their attitudes towards active learning. Additionally, we will explore the instructor’s self-efficacy towards using active learning in the hopes of having a better overall understanding of what is occurring in STEM community college classrooms and where potential improvements can be made in terms of faculty development.
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SCALE-UP Instructional Redesign of a Calculus Course at an HBCU
It is now generally accepted that many students enter college severely underprepared for their mathematics college courses in terms of basic skills and study habits, and that intervention is expected to overcome these deficiencies. As a result, many mathematics departments nationwide have over the last two decades redesigned their algebra and calculus courses to incorporate technology and active learning in various combinations, some of which have utilized extensive learning space designs. This article is a preliminary report of one Historically Black College or University’s (HBCU) experience with its redesign of the first semester of Calculus for STEM Majors that resulted in a course-wide partial implementation of the Student-Centered Active Learning Environments with Upside-down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP) method. Preliminary results show that the redesign, enabled by institutional and external resource coordination, has led to moderate improvements in course pass rates, from a normal of 40% and below to a new normal of above 50%. The pass/fail student profile suggests that weakness in pre-requisite skills is a major cause of failure.
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- PAR ID:
- 10165857
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- International Journal for Innovation Education and Research
- Volume:
- 7
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2411-3123
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 31 to 44
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Background Many engineering students fail to proceed through required prerequisite mathematics courses. Since these courses strongly influence engineering student attrition, we should examine to what degree these courses truly serve as prerequisites for following engineering coursework.
Purpose/Hypothesis We examined two research questions: Which concepts and skills learned in calculus are applied in engineering statics and circuits homework assignments? How are calculus skills applied in engineering statics and circuits homework assignments?
Design/Method This study analyzes the homework problems of two engineering courses—statics and circuits for nonmajors—using the mathematics‐in‐use method. These courses were chosen since they often require calculus as a direct prerequisite and are taken by most engineering majors. The mathematical content of each homework problem is carefully analyzed, with attention to alternative solution paths that may not match the instructor solution.
Results Only 8% of statics problems and 20% of circuits for nonmajors problems applied calculus. Furthermore, these problems applied only the simplest calculus skills (e.g., integration of polynomials).
Conclusions Circuits and statics apply relatively little calculus; most problems consist primarily of algebra. We may be able to modify prerequisite structures to ease or speed student progress.
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.31686/ijier.Vol7.Iss1.1279
