Sustaining Active Learning in Undergraduate Precalculus: Results and Challenges of a Course Redesign

Abstract

Addressed toward course coordinators and departmental leaders interested in redesigning undergraduate mathematics courses with a focus on active learning, this report provides an update on progress in redesigning the Precalculus course offered by the Department of Mathematics at the University of Maryland, College Park, following initial indicators of success. We begin by discussing our team’s challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and our attempts to navigate these challenges. We then provide results related to student achievement, self-efficacy, and STEM intentions, in addition to addressing the remaining goals of the redesign.

KEYWORDS:

• Active learning
• precalculus
• undergraduate mathematics
• course redesign
• COVID-19 pandemic
• instructional practices
• student achievement
• self-efficacy
• STEM intentions

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

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

Notes

1 IRB project 1810279-2.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Science Foundation: [grant number 1624610, 1624628, 1624639, 1624643].

Notes on contributors

Sean Gruber

Sean Gruber is a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). In addition to having taught Precalculus and other courses offered by the Department, Gruber is also involved in designing bridge programs for the Precalculus and College Algebra courses offered by the Department. Gruber currently serves as Co-Chair for the Math Success Initiatives Team at UMCP, a group charged by the Provost with the task of addressing a set of initiatives to support student success in undergraduate mathematics courses. Additionally, Gruber is engaged in research related to classroom practices and tools that may provide avenues for students to give instructors feedback during the semester within large-lecture classes. Before working at UMCP, Gruber served as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at Johns Hopkins University. While at Johns Hopkins, Gruber served as a lead instructor for Calculus I and Calculus II for biological and social science majors. In addition to bringing an STEM-education lens to the entry-level courses at Johns Hopkins, Gruber assisted in developing logistic regression models to analyze trends in students’ math placement exam results and their performance in their first college math class at Johns Hopkins. His research interests include exploring how the social norms and instructional practices that make up a college math classroom affect students’ self-efficacy, achievement, and STEM intentions/persistence. More specifically, Gruber is interested in researching and implementing student-centered instructional practices (i.e., active learning) to improve college students’ views of and experiences in undergraduate mathematics courses.

Raluca I. Rosca

Raluca Rosca is a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), and is in her seventh year as chairperson of the Precalculus lecture course offered by the Mathematics Department. She has over 15 years of teaching experience at the college level, and since coming to UMCP has taught Precalculus in both the large lecture format and the single-contact summer or Freshman Connection format for twenty semesters. As the daughter of two first-generation college students and the administrator of an outreach program to middle schools, she is also very interested in using Precalculus as a stepping stone to success in college mathematics, not just in terms of content, but also in terms of creating the social network and the personal skills, habits and dispositions that empowers today’s diverse students of Precalculus.