Norwich University, the oldest Senior Military College in the nation and the first private U.S.
institution to teach engineering, has a residential program for approximately 2,100 primarily
undergraduate students in both the Corps of Cadets and civilian lifestyles. Norwich secured a
National Science Foundation S-STEM award in the beginning of 2020 to develop a program to
attract and retain highly talented, low-income students in STEM. One of the aims of the project
was to support students who enter college with less experience in mathematics as these students
were significantly less likely to graduate with a STEM degree.
In the fall of 2020, as a result of the S-STEM award, the mathematics department offered a pilot
corequisite calculus course to STEM majors requiring calculus their first semester but placed
into precalculus by the mathematics departmental placement test. The corequisite calculus course
includes content from precalculus into a one semester calculus course that meets daily for 6
contact hours rather than a standard 4 credit hour calculus course. The Norwich University Civil,
Electrical and Computer, and Mechanical Engineering programs are accredited by the
Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, placing restrictions on the 8-semester
engineering degree pathway. The added credits to the first semester corequisite calculus course
fit the constraints of the first semester engineering course load and this course has enabled
engineering students that place into precalculus to complete an on-time degree plan without
taking summer courses. The corequisite course has been approved by the university curriculum
committee and is a regular offering at the institution.
The initial offering of the corequisite course occurred during the COVID pandemic necessitating
the use of additional instructional technology. There was also an increase in low stakes
assessments to encourage students to engage in the material. The added credits also increased the
regularity of student interacting with calculus. Since the implementation of this pilot course,
there have been several similar changes in other courses required by engineering majors. The
pilot corequisite course has become institutionalized and even is now scaling, with the
engineering department requesting the course to be offered each semester to benefit students who
are out of sync with the intended curriculum pathway.
This project examines how the corequisite calculus course may have influenced changes in the
general education courses and engineering first year sequence. Outcome harvesting as well as
process tracing are used to determine the strength of evidence linking the corequisite course to
institutional change. Qualitative and quantitative data will be examined as well to understand
how the S-STEM award contributed to breakdown of the resistance to curriculum change and the
readiness to implement and scale corequisite courses in other areas. It is important to understand
the mechanisms used for building capacity at the institution to transform STEM education in
higher education
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Work In Progress: Assisting Academically Underprepared Engineering Students in Mathematics
Foundational understanding of mathematics topics is a common prerequisite for several engineering courses. However, engineering students are often
underprepared in several pre-calculus topics. This study identifies common areas of error for students enrolled in a remedial mathematics
course. The emerging error categories pertinent to the topic of linear equations unpacks areas of conceptual difficulty that underprepared students may encounter. Instruction and curriculum that targets these topics will better assist students in developing the required mathematics proficiency. In our ongoing and future work, we intend to examine other topics of the course to develop a holistic understanding of student learning needs in pre-calculus remedial courses. These findings will inform future revisions of the offered course and subsequent assessment of the revised instruction.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1909824
- PAR ID:
- 10212817
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Zone 1 Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education
- ISSN:
- 2332-368X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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