| Title | Problem Solving Workshops for Mathematics 180 |
|---|---|
| Faculty/College/Unit | Science |
| Status | Completed |
| Duration | 2 Year |
| Initiation | 04/01/2003 |
| Completion | 03/31/2005 |
| Funding Details | |
| Year 1: Project Year | Year 1 |
| Year 1: Funding Year | 2003/2004 |
| Year 1: Project Type | Small TLEF |
| Year 1: Principal Investigator | Charles W. Lamb |
| Year 1: Funded Amount | 21,500 |
| Year 1: Team Members | Charles W. Lamb, Mathematics, Faculty of Science |
| Year 1: Summary | Objective: The student Math 180 (calculus for students without high school calculus) failure rate at 30 %, is much higher than the 9% for students in Math 100 (calculus for students with high school calculus). This Math 180 project is designed to help students become independent problems-solvers, thereby increasing their probabilities of successfully completing Math 180, and subsequent math and related courses. Rationale: Students who have difficulty with calculus often lack crucial problem solving skills. These students tend to do problem comparison rather than problem solving. If the problem is almost exactly the same as the one in the textbook, or completed by the instructor then the student can replicate the answer. However, such students do not know how to effectively engage in independent problem solving and are often unable to solve novel problems. |
| Year 2: Project Year | Year 2 |
| Year 2: Funding Year | 2004/2005 |
| Year 2: Project Type | Small TLEF |
| Year 2: Principal Investigator | Rajiv Gupta |
| Year 2: Funded Amount | 14,000 |
| Year 2: Team Members | Rajiv Gupta, Mathematics, Faculty of Science |
| Year 2: Summary | Objective: The failure rate in Math 180 (calculus for students without high school calculus) is much higher than for students in Math 100 (calculus for students with high school calculus). This Math 180 workshop project is designed to help students become independent problem solvers, thereby increasing their probabilities of successfully completing Math 180 and subsequent math and related courses. There is already evidence of success: in the first year in which the workshops were implemented, the failure rate for Math 180 dropped to 23% from the 30% failure rate in the previous year; the Math 100 failure rate remained approximately constant at 10%. Building on the success of and the valuable experiences gained from the initial stages of the project (TLEF funded in 2003-04), we will refine the workshop program with the goal of making it a mandatory component of Math 180 through a formal curriculum change. Further statistical analyses will be used to assess the program's effectiveness, and the program will be strongly promoted to increase the participation rate beyond the current level of 50%. Rationale: Students who have difficulty with calculus often lack crucial problem solving skills. These students tend to do problem comparison and replication rather than problem solving. Such students do not know how to effectively engage in independent problem solving and are often unable to solve new and related problems. |