A Faculty Learning Community Implements Research-based Curriculum and Pedagogy to Redesign Precalculus

ABSTRACT

This article reports on a reconceptualization of the Precalculus course experience at Florida International University. We discuss the details of the redesign process – unified within a faculty learning community (FLC) model – along with a broader change in the course sequence leading up to Calculus. We provide data, including the comparison between the treatment and control groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Faculty learning community
• precalculus
• course redesign
• constructivism

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank our colleagues Umut Caglar and Lakshmy Menon Narayanankutty, key members of the initial FLC, for their work in developing out the content and structure of the Pathways course. We also thank Marilyn Carlson and Alan O'Bryan for their guidance in implementing the curriculum and for their detailed suggestions to this manuscript, which greatly improved its form. We are grateful to Eddie Fuller for his careful reading and comments on several previous versions, along with direction for Tables 7 and 8. Additional thanks to Tekla Nicholas for her contributions to Figure 5, and Tables 9 and 10. Finally, we thank the anonymous referees for their valuable input.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeremiah Hower

Jerry Hower is an associate teaching professor and research coordinator in the Center for Transforming the Teaching of Mathematics and the Department of Mathematics & Statistics at FIU.

Roneet Merkin

Roneet Merkin is the Assistant Director for the Center for Transforming the Teaching of Mathematics as well as an associate teaching professor. She is also currently a PhD student in Teaching and Learning with a concentration in STEM education.

Leanne Wells

Leanne Wells is the Senior Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching at FIU and is the project lead for the Evaluation and Rewarding Teaching Initiative. She also partners with FIU's STEM Transformation Institute to support departments and faculty in course level (re)design particularly in high-enrollment, high-impact entry level classes.