tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72516868255609413612024-02-23T05:14:39.783-05:00Launchings by David BressoudDavid Bressoud is DeWitt Wallace Professor of Mathematics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and former president of the Mathematical Association of America.
Launchings is a monthly column sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America.Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-19396024844496209462019-01-03T09:09:00.000-05:002019-01-03T09:23:48.558-05:00<span id="docs-internal-guid-3c76f921-7fff-dd2e-03be-0ae96d21ca58"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">New Launchings posts can be found on the Mathematical Association of America’s <a href="https://mathvalues.squarespace.com/" target="_blank">Math Values</a> blog. This site will remain live as an archive for all previous posts.</span></span></span><br />
Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-87414917395125650472018-11-30T15:37:00.001-05:002018-11-30T15:37:52.495-05:00Data Analytics in the Undergraduate Curriculum<span id="docs-internal-guid-3c76f921-7fff-dd2e-03be-0ae96d21ca58"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">By David Bressoud</span></span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">You can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud?lang=en" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The National Academies will be holding a Roundtable on Data Science Postsecondary Education: Motivating Data Science Education through Social Good on December 10, 2018. <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/motivating-data-science-education-through-social-good-registration-51307330607" target="_blank">Event Website</a> </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">If I had to choose the most common job title for students who have graduated from Macalester with a degree in Mathematics, it would be <i>analyst</i>. Our graduates seldom wind up in jobs where they have to find derivatives or integrals, solve differential equations, or even find eigenvalues. Instead, they are almost always working with and trying to make sense of the data that can inform and shape business decisions. The habits of mind intrinsic to mathematics have generally prepared them for this role. But as the data available to business and industry has exploded in quantity and complexity, there is a growing need for graduates familiar with the increasingly sophisticated tools available for its analysis. The challenge to our colleges and universities is to provide the education that will equip graduates to become the data analysts that we need today and for the future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">In response to this need, the National Academies have produced a report, <i>Data Science for Undergraduates: Opportunities and Options</i>, that provides a framework for building an undergraduate program in data science. Reflecting the necessarily interdisciplinary nature of such a program, the program is the joint work of the National Research Council’s Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, Board on Mathematical Sciences and Analytics, Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics, and Board on Science Education. The official rollout of the report is December 10, 2018 at the roundtable described at the top of this column.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The need is immense. The report references an estimate that by 2020 the U.S. will have positions for 2.7 million data analysts (p. 1-2). Meeting this need is frustrated by many obstacles, not least of which is the fact that few students understand what data science means or entails. Data analysis is also necessarily highly interdisciplinary, requiring new undergraduate programs that draw on expertise in computer science, information science mathematics, and statistics. As the report forcefully states, no single one of these fields adequately covers the core concepts of data science. It can <i>only </i>be taught as an interdisciplinary program. The breadth that is needed is reflected in this passage from the report:</span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-65ceabb3-7fff-4b30-3b75-4505940fae7e"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Building on the work of De Veaux et al. (2017), the committee puts forth the following key concept areas for data science: mathematical foundations, computational foundations, statistical foundations, data management and curation, data description and visualization, data modeling and assessment, workflow and reproducibility, communication and teamwork, domain-specific considerations, and ethical problem solving. (p. 2-7)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It also briefly describes programs for majors in data science at the University of Michigan, Smith College, Virginia Tech, UC San Diego, University of Rochester, MIT, UC Irvine, and the NYU School of Professional Studies, programs that are variously housed within a business school, a department of mathematics or statistics, or a computer science department. The report describes a variety of data science minors and highlights the need to provide a basic understanding of data science for all undergraduates. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Macalester College has its own minor in data science. We are particularly well situated for such a program since we have a single department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science. This is a department that is strong in all three areas and has a long history of cooperation among these disciplines, including several cross-disciplinary faculty hires.</span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-8bafc46e-7fff-1644-41f7-1b149f5942cb"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our data science program begins with </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Introduction to Data Science</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a course on the handling, analysis, and interpretation of big data sets that is intended to be accessible to all students. Students minoring in data science need two computer science courses, which could include our junior-level course in </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Database Management Systems</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. They also take </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Introduction to Statistical Modeling </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">plus a course in</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Machine Learning</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Survival Analysis</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, or </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bayesian Statistics</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and two courses in a single domain such as bioinformatics that provide an opportunity for the application of data science methods. A complete description of Macalester’s data science minor can be found at </span><a href="https://www.macalester.edu/mscs/majorsminors/#program-2910" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-8bafc46e-7fff-1644-41f7-1b149f5942cb"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5a314121-7fff-a0f8-41a0-fdc76e525787"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Most math departments lost their faculty who worked in computer science decades ago. Statistics has long been a separate department at many universities. Far too often applied mathematics has been spun off, leaving a department that is increasingly insular, isolated from some of the most important developments in the mathematical sciences today. Separate departments are not necessarily a bad idea </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">provided</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> they are able to work collaboratively and share the work that transcends existing boundaries. If they are to serve their students, today’s departments of mathematics must be engaged in the process of shaping and delivering programs in data science.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">De Veaux, R., M. Agarwal, M. Averett, B.S. Baumer, A. Bray, T.C. Bressoud, L. Bryant, et al. 2017. Curriculum guidelines for undergraduate programs in data science. Annual Review of Statistics and Its Applications 4:2.1-2.6.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Data Science for Undergraduates: Opportunities and Options</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. </span><a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/25104" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">doi.org/10.17226/25104</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roundtable on Data Science Postsecondary Education: Motivating Data Science Education through Social Good</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/motivating-data-science-education-through-social-good-registration-51307330607" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">www.eventbrite.com/e/motivating-data-science-education-through-social-good-registration-51307330607</span></a></span></div>
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Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-11433569114608564642018-11-01T08:56:00.000-04:002018-11-01T08:56:32.073-04:00The Derivative is not the Slope of the Tangent Line<b id="docs-internal-guid-40e46c45-7fff-3d41-2048-52f8c79ffa6b" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-40e46c45-7fff-3d41-2048-52f8c79ffa6b" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">You can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a></span></b></div>
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The title of this article is not intended to imply that one cannot use the derivative to find the slope of a tangent line. My point is that we cannot and should not expect students to base their understanding of the derivative on the slope of the tangent.<br />
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When I teach either the first or second semester of calculus, I always begin with a short problem set to assess student understanding of a few key ideas. One of the first questions I pose is to give the students a simple cubic polynomial, say <b id="docs-internal-guid-20f945a2-7fff-d3b6-2b60-103ee46c06d3" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">x</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7.2pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">3</span></i></b>+ 6<i>x</i>, and ask for both the average rate of change over a given interval, say [0,2], and the instantaneous rate of change at a particular value, say <i>x</i> = 1. Invariably, almost everyone, even at the start of Calculus I, can calculate the instantaneous rate of change. Almost no one gives me the correct average rate of change.<br />
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The difficulty is that finding the instantaneous rate is formulaic. If students remember nothing else from calculus, they know that differentiation turns <b id="docs-internal-guid-092dee3c-7fff-314c-f269-1064a0888613" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">x</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7.2pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">3</span></i></b>+ 6<i>x</i> into <b id="docs-internal-guid-51ebee3a-7fff-5b27-acf4-5012c85bafaf" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">3</span><i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">x</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7.2pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">2 </span></i></b>+ 6. Asking for the average rate of change requires that they know what this means. I am certain that my students all saw average rates of change in their precalculus courses. They probably saw it again when they were introduced to the derivative in high school calculus. But in a calculus class, it is merely a step in the development of the derivative, a case of what the teacher talks about but not what they need to know for the exam.<br />
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The belief that average rates of change are not significant is reinforced when, as in Stewart’s calculus, the derivative is introduced as the slope of the tangent line. The problem is that <i>slope</i> is a problematic concept for many students. Identifying the derivative with the slope of a tangent line suggests a geometric understanding of derivatives. But too often it does no such thing, instead short-circuiting student development of an understanding of the derivative as describing the multiplicative relationship between changes in two linked variables.<br />
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The problematic nature of slope and rates of change was nicely documented in a paper by Cameron Byerley and Pat Thompson that appeared last year in the <i>Journal of Mathematical Behavior</i>. In the summers of 2013 and 2014, they administered a diagnostic instrument requiring written responses to 251 high school mathematics teachers. <br />
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The following is an example of the kinds of questions that were asked. Part B was asked on a separate page with the answer entered by pen so that teachers could not go back to change the answer to Part A after seeing Part B.<br />
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-02402fe9-7fff-bbef-b2d7-fa703b849ae1" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -48px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part A. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mrs. Samber taught an introductory lesson on slope. In the lesson she divided 8.2 by 2.7 to calculate the slope of a line, getting 3.04. Convey to Mrs. Samber’s students what 3.04 means.</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-02402fe9-7fff-bbef-b2d7-fa703b849ae1" style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part B. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A student explained the meaning of 3.04 by saying, “It means that every time </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">x</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> changes by 1, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">y</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> changes by 3.04.” Mrs. Samber asked, “What would 3.04 mean if </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">x</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "quot"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> changes by something other than 1?” What would be a good answer to Mrs. Samber’s question?</span></b></div>
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<b></b><b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br /></b>
The point that Byerley and Thompson were getting at was whether teachers recognized 3.04 as a multiplicative factor connecting the change in <i>x</i> to the change in <i>y</i>. Earlier interviews had revealed that many teachers have a “chunky” understanding of slope, that a slope of ¾ means that if you go 4 units to the right and 3 units up, you will return to the line. One sign of a chunky understanding is an inability to find the increase in <i>y</i> if <i>x</i> changes by something other than 4. Another is the belief that a slope of –5/6 is different from a slope of 5/–6, indicating that the teacher understands a slope of <i>a/b </i>as meaning a sequence of actions rather than a single number.<br />
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A chunky explanation of Part A, similar to the student’s response described in Part B, was given by 78% of the teachers. Part B was included to give them a chance to expand to a multiplicative explanation. Only 8% of the teachers who gave a chunky answer to Part A provided a multiplicative response to Part B.<br />
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Further teacher difficulties with the concept of slope and rate of change are illustrated in the following two problems (Figures 1 and 2).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTUiE2zTMjjje9FOSi_ydUcRehjT3SiXDd98qf7IEXWbXF4HokHVmdxg2oyXfkd7FWzuQlKP__26AVS6l07c_e4c-OnkuAEQssSJhv20oAF5kisBrDLTQ5FFjZrjos5VLnHVLkY7UW9js/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="1307" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTUiE2zTMjjje9FOSi_ydUcRehjT3SiXDd98qf7IEXWbXF4HokHVmdxg2oyXfkd7FWzuQlKP__26AVS6l07c_e4c-OnkuAEQssSJhv20oAF5kisBrDLTQ5FFjZrjos5VLnHVLkY7UW9js/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>Figure 1</b>. Item Called <i>Relative Rates</i>.<br />
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;">© </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">2014</span> Arizona Board of Regents. Used with permission.</div>
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Most teachers interpreted the information in Figure 1 as describing a difference, with 54% answering a. Only 28% answered e.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOHIxZxhyphenhyphen1302hbsUId3YIFTfNNRVHyQ-o_7JSou1M41mDuwqodgQVBSDD8k527zrzdctQdMNYWAVM9_e-KZA-dwdMB0CmkdEf_C4-Fd7UsyNcwMySZfZ1PZ5NfJAurhKCbkPZ5enepgHt/s1600/Capture2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="1314" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOHIxZxhyphenhyphen1302hbsUId3YIFTfNNRVHyQ-o_7JSou1M41mDuwqodgQVBSDD8k527zrzdctQdMNYWAVM9_e-KZA-dwdMB0CmkdEf_C4-Fd7UsyNcwMySZfZ1PZ5NfJAurhKCbkPZ5enepgHt/s640/Capture2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
<b>Figure 2</b>. Item Called <i>Slope from Blank Graph</i>.<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;">© </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">2014</span> Arizona Board of Regents. Used with permission.</div>
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Only 21% of teachers were able to provide a reasonable approximation to the slope for the problem in Figure 2. Most were unable to give any numerical value.<br />
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Given teacher difficulties with the concept of slope, we should expect most of our students to enter calculus with an inadequate understanding of what it tells us about the relationship between the variables. While mathematicians hear “slope” and associate it with the multiplicative relationship between changes in the two variables, most of our students interpret it as nothing more than an arbitrary numerical description of the degree of “slantiness.”<br />
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Consequently, when we define the derivative as the slope of the tangent, we fail to convey the meaning that makes the derivative so useful. If we want students to understand this meaning, the derivative must be introduced in terms of a multiplicative relationship between changes in the variables. It must be grounded in a thorough understanding of what average rates of change tell us and what a constant rate of change actually implies.<br />
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<b>Reference</b><br />
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<div>
Byerley, C. and Thompson, P. (2017). Secondary mathematics teachers’ meaning for measure, slope, and rate of change. <i>Journal of Mathematical Behavior</i>. <b>48</b>:168–193.</div>
<b></b><br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-62328738793840269502018-10-01T08:53:00.000-04:002018-10-01T08:53:46.467-04:00CBMS Forum Announcement: High School to College Mathematics Pathways<b>You can now follow me on Twitter @dbressoud</b><br />
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I am using this month’s column to announce the next Forum from the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS), <b>High School to College Mathematics Pathways: Preparing Students for the Future.</b> It will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, VA, May 5–7, 2019, run in cooperation with the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas, Austin and Achieve. Details can be found <a href="http://cbmsweb.org/CBMS_Forum_6" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
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The Forum is designed to develop and support state-based task forces working to bridge the gaps between high school and college mathematics. The ultimate goal is to help states create policies and practices for mathematics instruction that contribute to successful completion without reducing quality. To be truly effective, such a task force will need to be representative of all interests across the state including business and industry as well as those who shape educational policy and those who implement it at both high school and post-secondary levels, including both two- and four-year institutions. The full task force will probably have twenty or more members. The Forum is intended to work with a smaller team of six to eight individuals who will provide the leadership for the task force.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="../../../CBMS/CBMS%20Ron/old%20files%20(non-active)/Forums/Forum%203%20(10)%20-%20Content%20Based%20PD%20for%20Teachers/Ron%20Pics/Bill,%20Brit,%20&%20Jo" height="289" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/W_SjIjUoHr17sVb6cOkqWY2qRVYkVwvRiXTLRQQE87rwUEKFnfyfmiQU-alLyFydRfbBarVdp1KOKQFKMQx_aWyRoddOrmx4IKhctKax_mirTmxJ-pvknAFo6FJF4ixRbTEyC_Jryq5XEufJFw" style="border-image: none; border: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="576" /></td></tr>
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<b>Figure 1.</b> Bill McCallum, Brit Kirwan, and Joan Leitzel at the Third CBMS Forum,<i> Content-Based Professional Development for Teachers of Mathematics,</i> October 10-12, 2010</div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-24b3fc04-7fff-37b1-7649-2001c6a809ce" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span></b><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><i></i><i></i>CBMS is the umbrella organization for the professional societies in mathematics, spanning pure and applied mathematics and statistics and including practitioners of the mathematical sciences in education (both PreK-12 and post-secondary), research, business, and industry. Over the past decade, these societies have come to agreement on a series of issues with direct relevance to mathematics education in grades 11–14, the critical transition over which so many students stumble. The Dana Center has many years of experience working with state leadership in formulating effective policies for mathematics instruction, as exemplified by their Mathematics Pathways programs. The Forum is designed to prepare state-based teams to build structures that draw on the expertise of the Dana Center and the professional societies in order to facilitate constructive dialogue among stakeholders.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="../../../CBMS/CBMS%20Ron/old%20files%20(non-active)/Forums/Forum%203%20(10)%20-%20Content%20Based%20PD%20for%20Teachers/Ron%20Pics/Breakouts_01.jpg" height="267" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/E52VBcd1JYj_OIERiy4YmF-zIbXf2k0LzHbBvm3qaZw47HxECZeG1YFUI0k-YCsnhPX3IaPvixPT9zIR4jwfUVjusidlLB9GUPaC1MBsGmOKwBEIvjsoqX95r9P3DiqOlVuMP37JG4NQ98bSqQ" style="border-image: none; border: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="629" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2</b>. One of the breakout sessions from the Third CBMS Forum.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b>Issues</b><br />
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The Forum will focus on three issues with which the professional societies have wrestled and toward which they can contribute insight:<br />
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<li><b>Responding to the changing role of mathematics in the economy</b>. The avalanche of data across all fields is spurring exciting and important work in mathematics. The transition years of grades 11–14 are critical for building the foundations for a workforce that can meet the evolving needs of the new economy.</li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>Ensuring college readiness today and tomorrow.</b> High school and college mathematics educators are working collaboratively on this issue, recognizing the need for college-ready students, but also student-ready colleges. CBMS societies acknowledge the need for a broader understanding of how mathematics is and will be used, encompassing modeling, statistics, and data science. They also understand the need for active learning approaches that promote problem-solving abilities and higher order thinking.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>Articulating the mathematical pathways that will serve all students.</b> Changes in demographics, economic demands, and the mathematical sciences themselves are forcing reconsideration of the pathways into and through college-level mathematics. It is necessary to evaluate whether the course structures now in place still serve their intended purpose and to understand the alternatives that are available. </span></li>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="../../../CBMS/CBMS%20Ron/old%20files%20(non-active)/Forums/Forum%203%20(10)%20-%20Content%20Based%20PD%20for%20Teachers/Ron%20Pics/IMG_5668.JPG" height="297" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/PAA4I_uMIoU9TXb9ZZ2dAthrynF1sBHId0AZ5VZL_zfKOteR7wMhYL3Nca2__49efbWdU-pxuyppN1y8B_7lYC8e5c5yzl7-mAmSKSIRB5n0P0dNfATa_6oqAfC9IwS6pRmh-sAV9f0O5ksoWw" style="border-image: none; border: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="576" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 3</b>. Following lunch discussion at Third CBMS Forum.<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>Structure of the ForumFi</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The spring 2019 Forum will be built around 20 to 25 state-based teams of six to eight leaders who are committed to the formation of a local task force that will pursue dialogue leading to the creation of structures and policies that address the three issues. Each team should include representatives of the state’s department of education, higher education system, and two-year college system, while also drawing on state leaders who have been engaged in efforts to improve mathematics education at either the high school or college level. In addition to its plenary sessions, the Forum will be offering breakout sessions designed to meet the needs of state leaders at four different stages of development of bridging activities:</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>Investigating</b>. At the introductory level are those state-based leaders who are simply curious about what has been happening in mathematics education focused on grades 11 to 14. The Forum will expose them to a wealth of information and offer suggestions of how they could begin to address the issues of the mathematical bridge.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>Initializing</b>. These are state-based teams that are aware of significant problems at the transition from high school to college mathematics, are ready to start looking at programs and efforts that could improve the situation, and want to learn more about the options that are available and the efforts being undertaken in other states. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>Emerging</b>. These are the states that have begun work on one side of the problem but have not started to coordinate efforts across the gap. The Forum will provide networking opportunities with states that are well down the road of coordinating these efforts.</span></span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The state-based teams will leave the Forum with an agenda for following up on the ideas that they have encountered and with the connections necessary to help them as they flesh out the construction of a task force to address issues at the transition from high school to college mathematics. There will be continuing support from the Dana Center and the opportunity to engage more directly with their expertise in policy formation.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />The Forum will be held at the Hyatt Regency, Reston, VA, convenient to both Washington, DC and Dulles airport. It will begin at 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 5 and conclude at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7. It will offer a mix of plenary speakers and panelists as well as breakout sessions where participants can receive advice and support from policy experts at the Dana Center and engage with representatives of the CBMS societies around their recent reports and recommendations. Thanks to sponsorship from the Teagle Foundation and expected support from the National Science Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, CBMS anticipates covering the hotel expenses for up to six team members from up to 25 states.<br />The day before the Forum, Saturday, May 4, 2019, is the biennial <a href="http://www.nationalmathfestival.org/2019-festival/" target="_blank"><b>National Math Festival</b></a>, held at the Washington, DC, Convention Center. Those coming to the Forum are strongly encouraged to take in this day of mathematics for all</span></div>
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Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-61625458917954028892018-08-31T12:57:00.000-04:002018-08-31T12:57:33.039-04:00Should Students Wait until College to Take Calculus?<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21.99px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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You can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">@dbressoud</span></a></b>
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I have often cited data from the Sadler and Sonnert <a href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/sed/factors-influencing-college-success-mathematics-ficsmath-0" target="_blank">FICSMath study</a> (Factors Influencing College Success in Mathematics, sponsored by NSF grant #0813702), a large-scale study of 10,437 students in mainstream Calculus I in the fall of 2009 at a stratified random sample of 134 U.S. colleges and universities. Sadler and Sonnert have just published their insights from this study into the following question: Are the students who will enroll in Calculus I in college well-served by studying it first in high school?<br />
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<b>Figure 1</b>. Phil Sadler (left) and Gerhard Sonnert. </div>
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To allay the suspense, their answer is a qualified “yes.” Sadler and Sonnert demonstrate that, for most students, having taken any kind of calculus in high school raises college calculus performance by about half a grade. However, they also found that the level of mastery of the high school mathematics considered preparatory for calculus varies widely. It is a far more powerful predictor of how well students will do than whether or not they have seen calculus before. </div>
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The FICSMath study had a very simple design. Questionnaires were answered in class, exploring a wide range of variables that might influence student performance in Calculus I. These included race and gender, year in which Algebra I was taken, year in college, college precalculus (if taken), career interest, parental education, high school calculus (if taken), preparation for calculus including courses taken, grades received, and SAT or ACT scores. The single dependent variable was the grade received for the course. The authors employed a hierarchical linear model. They found that about 18% of the variation in grades could be explained at the institution or instructor level. Their model enabled them to focus just on the student effect.</div>
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By far the biggest effect at the student level came from preparation for calculus. Figure 2 shows the relationship between grades earned in college calculus and grades earned in high school mathematics courses or on SAT or ACT quantitative exams. The average grade across the entire study was 80.7%, a low B–. We see that less than an A on any high school math course and less than 600 on the SAT or 26 on the ACT suggests a grade of C or less, on average, in college Calculus I. While C is a passing grade, it is a strong signal that there is considerable risk in continuing the pursuit of calculus.</div>
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<b>Figure 2.</b> Relationship between grade earned in college calculus and course grade or SAT/ACT score. The symbol area is proportional to the number of students in each group. The dotted line represents the mean grade (80.7) Source: Sadler and Sonnert, 2018, page 312.</div>
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The six variables indicating various aspects of mathematics preparation were combined into a “Calculus Preparation Composite Score” that was very highly correlated with the probability of taking calculus in high school (Figure 3).</div>
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<b>Figure 3</b>. Relationship between calculus preparation composite and probability of taking high school calculus. Source: Sadler and Sonnert 2018, page 313.</div>
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This demonstrates the difficulty of untangling preparation for calculus from whether a student took calculus in high school. With the calculus preparation composite normalized to a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1, the authors found that at every level of preparation, taking calculus in high school led to an improvement in the college calculus grade (Figure 4). For students in their first year of college with an average level of preparation, the boost is 5 points, or half a grade. Intriguingly, the benefit is greatest for the students with the weakest preparation. The benefit is less for students who enroll in Calculus I after their first year in college.</div>
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<b>Figure 4</b>. Relationship between college calculus performance, high school preparation, taking high school calculus, and year taking calculus in college.</div>
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In the introduction to their paper, the authors discuss how the debate over the place of calculus in high school echoes a much older and more fundamental disagreement over the extent to which mathematics is hierarchical. Does every mathematical topic have a set of prerequisites that must be mastered before any progress can be made, or can students benefit from a spiraling effect, introducing new concepts while revisiting the mathematics on which they rest? </div>
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From my experience, most mathematicians and mathematics educators recognize that spiraling is an essential part of learning. It is commonplace to assert that one never learns a subject until one has moved on to the course that builds upon it. At the same time, they acknowledge that students whose foundational knowledge is too weak will struggle as they move forward. The familiar adage is that a student does not fail calculus because they do not understand the calculus but because they have not mastered precalculus.</div>
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To the college instructor who sees students missing exam questions because of mistakes at the level of precalculus or earlier, the rapid expansion of calculus into our high schools seems a misplaced allocation of resources. And yet, requirements of prerequisite knowledge before admission to calculus that are too strict can limit access to mathematically intensive careers, especially for first generation students and those from under-resourced schools. This is compounded by the fact that, generally speaking, we do a miserable job of remediation. I documented this in <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2012/01/first-do-no-harm.html" target="_blank">“First, Do No Harm.”</a> In this paper, Sadler and Sonnert reveal that—with other variables controlled—taking precalculus in college lowered the Calculus I grade by a small but statistically significant amount, an observation described in greater detail in Sonnert & Sadler, 2014.</div>
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We must expect that students will enter Calculus I with deficiencies that will need to be recognized and addressed within the context of the new material in this course. The rapid expansion of courses that offer expanded labs, stretched out curricula, or co-curricular offerings designed to address these deficiencies speak to the growing recognition that this is the case. What we can and should expect by way of preparation for college calculus will need to be institutionally specific, dependent on the goals of the course, the implemented curriculum, the nature of the student body, and a continuing data-based appraisal of how well current support structures and curricula are serving our students.</div>
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<b>References</b></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px;">Sadler,
P. & Sonnert, G. (2018). The path to college calculus: the impact of high
school mathematics coursework. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal
for Research in Mathematics Education</i>. 49(3), 292–329.</span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px;">Sonnert,
G. & Sadler, P.M. (2014). The impact of taking a college pre-calculus
course on students’ college calculus performance. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and
Technology</i>, 45(8), 1188–1207.</span></span></div>
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<br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-66718495569888414482018-08-01T10:24:00.001-04:002018-08-01T10:24:54.124-04:00Calculus as a Modeling Course at Macalester College<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
By David Bressoud
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When I talk with individuals who are wrestling with improving their calculus program, I often describe calculus at Macalester. For over 15 years, we have approached the first calculus course as a modeling course, drawing inspiration from many of the early calculus reform efforts. This month’s column will look at how we came to revise Calculus I in this way, a sample of the curriculum, and thoughts on implementation.<br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup>The revision of Calculus I began when Professor Kaplan, then a faculty member whose research was in mathematical models of biological phenomena, looked at transcripts of students who had passed through Calculus I and II. He discovered that, although this is framed as a full-year course, few students took it as such. As was true then and still holds true, the bulk of Calculus I enrollments come from Biology and Economics majors for whom only Calculus I is required and usually only Calculus I is taken. But the traditional Calculus I does not make sense as a stand-alone course. Most of these students were learning how to find derivatives with little sense of why they were doing it. Calculus II enrollments were predominantly prospective mathematics, physics, and chemistry majors as well as the strongest economics majors. Even fifteen years ago, almost all of these students arrived at Macalester having already earned credit for Calculus I. Rather than a course that picked up two-thirds of the way through a course they had already completed, what they needed was a more intensive understanding of both differential and integral calculus.<strike></strike></div>
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With financial support from the administration, Kaplan began to shape the introductory courses that our biology majors most needed, a Calculus I with a focus on modeling that could stand on its own, to be followed by a statistics course that emphasized statistical modeling. The sequence that resulted has been described in <a href="https://www.maa.org/press/ebooks/undergraduate-mathematics-for-the-life-sciences" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">"The First Year of Calculus and Statistics at Macalester College" (Flath et al, 2013)</span></a> in the MAA Notes volume that I reviewed in <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2014/02/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mathematics for the Biological Sciences (February, 2014).</span></a></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-60d12c92-d76b-df03-765b-23f5c85d4251" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2;">We are a small college and cannot afford to offer more than one flavor of calculus. Kaplan arranged for the funding to include team-teaching these courses during the first two developmental years. This involved a large fraction of our departmental faculty in shaping these courses, ensuring both a great deal of useful feedback and a strong buy-in to Kaplan’s vision. Major efforts of outreach and explanation with the partner disciplines that required calculus eventually brought them all on board, either enthusiastically as in the case of biology and economics, or reluctantly as with physics. When the time came to decide whether we would embrace this as our only Calculus I course, the department unanimously supported it.</b><br />
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<b>Curriculum </b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>I last taught Calculus I as a modeling course in fall, 2015. Over the years, this course has been subject to continual monitoring and adjustment. What I describe here is simply a snapshot of one moment in an evolving process, but the goals and essential elements of the course have not changed. We want students to finish the course with an appreciation for calculus as a tool for modeling dynamical systems, which means an emphasis throughout on differential equations. In addition, the most interesting and instructive dynamical systems are multi-dimensional, including SIR and predator-prey models. The course employs functions of several variables from the start. Finally, the emphasis is on numerical and qualitative analysis of these models. The procedures of differentiation and integration get less attention that in a traditional course.</div>
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No existing textbook fits the course we have built, but we used Hughes-Hallett et al. <i>Applied Calculus </i>(HH). In 2015, there were seven major sections to the course, described below, with indications of the relevant sections of the 5th edition. To anyone who has access to Moodle and wishes the full syllabus and supplementary materials, I can send the Moodle backup for this course.</div>
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<li><i>Functions as Models.</i> (6 days, HH 1.1–1.3, 1.5–1.7, 1.9–1.10, 8.1–8.2, and supplemental materials). In one sense this was a review of the functions that students should be familiar with from high school: linear, power, exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions, as well as functions of two variables. But the emphasis was on the phenomena that are modeled by each of these types of functions. For exponential and logarithmic functions, attention was paid to the relationship with doubling times. For trigonometric functions, we focused on how to translate knowledge of the range and period of a periodic phenomenon into the formulation of the corresponding sine or cosine. This is also when we introduced students to the software they would be using, in our case R-Studio (chosen so that they could use the same software for the statistical modeling course).</li>
<li><i>Units, Dimensions, and Estimation.</i> (3 days, supplemental materials) This is a unit that focuses on key quantitative skills that all college graduates, especially those in quantitative fields, should possess, but are never explicitly taught: understanding scale, the effect of powers of ten, how dimension affects scale, dimensional analysis as a short-cut to finding and remembering formulas, and the kind of estimation found in Fermi problems.</li>
<li><i>Concepts of Derivatives. </i> (4 days, HH 2.1–2.3, 8.3, and supplemental materials) We avoid a formal definition of the derivative in terms of limits and instead focus on what is happening to the average rate of change as the time intervals get shorter. As soon as we have explained the concept of the derivative, we extend it to partial and directional derivatives of functions of two variables. </li>
<li><i>Symbolic Differentiation.</i> (5 days, HH 3.1–3.5, 8.3–8.4, and supplemental materials) This is a fairly traditional treatment of derivatives. Topics include derivatives of polynomials as well as exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions, and the product, quotient, and chain rules. We spend one of these days fitting data to various kinds of models.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: "cambria";"></span><i>Optimization.</i> (5 days, HH 4.1–4.3, 8.5–8.6, and supplemental materials) This section starts with traditional optimization techniques and problems, but then moves on to optimizing functions of two variables and constrained optimization problems for functions of two variables, including a very geometric explanation of Lagrange multipliers.</li>
<li><i>Integration and Accumulation.</i> (7 days, HH 5.1–5.5, 6.1, 6.3, and supplemental materials) This starts with integration as accumulation, leading up to the Fundamental Theorem of Integral Calculus, 2 days of antidifferentiation as a tool for evaluating definite integrals, followed by a one-day introduction to integrals of functions of two variables.</li>
<li><i>Models of Change. </i>(7 days, HH 10.1–10.7 and supplemental materials) This proceeds from a basic introduction to differential equations, through slope fields as means of visualizing solutions, exponential growth and decay, the SIR model, and predator-prey models, ending with a discussion of stability and equilibria.</li>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-182a7ef9-d76f-fa57-7144-8ddb1abefeb7" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Thoughts on Implementation</span></b></div>
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This variation on Calculus I will not work everywhere. It is difficult because there is no textbook that is a good fit, and we have found that faculty teaching it for the first time need a good deal of support. It also does not articulate well with the standard calculus curriculum. At Macalester, with very few students transferring in or out, this is not a problem, but it would be at public universities.</div>
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The change in Calculus I also forced major changes to Calculus II. Eventually, Macalester redesigned the entire Calculus I through III sequence to fit this image of calculus as a modeling course with single variable and multivariable functions handled simultaneously. We now call this sequence Applied Multivariable Calculus I, II, and III. This is scary for the student who thinks of multivariable calculus as the course that follows two semesters of single variable calculus, but the title provides an accurate description.</div>
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The sequence works very well for us. Learning why calculus is useful has attracted many students into further courses. It has also led to beefing up our upper division applied mathematics and statistics options. This past spring, we graduated 54 majors in mathematics or applied mathematics and statistics out of a graduating class of about 500. Next year, we expect at least 60 majors in mathematics or applied mathematics and statistics. It definitely is working for us.</div>
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Nothing communicates what is valued in a course better than how student success is assessed. For that reason, I am concluding this article with links to the exams I administered in 2015. Midterms 1 and 2 were given in class. The final exam was a take-home. In addition, students were graded on WeBWorK problems, more challenging weekly problems that required careful write-up, and Reading Reflections submitted the night before each class to ensure that students had read the relevant material before class.</div>
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<li><b id="docs-internal-guid-6c20819b-d771-703f-c8be-498cdc8ac299" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.macalester.edu/~bressoud/launchings/CalcExams/Midterm1.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Midterm I</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">, based on sections 1, 2, and 3</span></b></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><b id="docs-internal-guid-4b9b9c36-d771-8a5f-c792-ef3201c4fb2b" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.macalester.edu/~bressoud/launchings/CalcExams/Midterm2.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Midterm II</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">, based on sections 4, 5, and 6</span></b></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-fe74ebe8-d771-a279-f922-9922c5c56880" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.macalester.edu/~bressoud/launchings/CalcExams/Final.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Final Exam</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">, comprehensive, but emphasis on section 7</span></b></span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Reference</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria";">Flath, D., Halverson, T., Kaplan, D. and Saxe, K. 2013. The first year of calculus and statistics at Macalester College. pp. 39–44 in <i>Undergraduate Mathematics for the Life Sciences: Models, Processes, and Direction.</i> Ledder, Carpenter, and Comar, eds. MAA Notes #81. Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America. <b id="docs-internal-guid-eca5cdda-d77c-339a-ff29-b2905333ae2d" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.maa.org/publications/ebooks/undergraduate-mathematics-for-the-life-sciences" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">www.maa.org/publications/ebooks/undergraduate-mathematics-for-the-life-sciences</span></a></b></span></div>
Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-28129665222484754032018-06-30T08:57:00.000-04:002018-06-30T08:57:36.097-04:00Departmental Turnaround: The Case of San Diego State University<style>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">By David Bressoud</span>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-weight: bold;">You can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/mathematics-98"><i><span style="color: blue;">@dbressoud</span></i></a></span>
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Paul Zorn and I have just published a special issue of <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511970.2017.1391359&sa=D&ust=1530193884773000&usg=AFQjCNF6OolOS-M7w9HR5F0vqTqv1C_N3A"><span style="color: blue;">PRIMUS on Improving the Teaching and Learning of Calculus (Bressoud & Zorn, 2018)</span></a>
. It contains eight articles that should be of interest to anyone who is discontented with the current state of calculus instruction at their institution. Four of these articles present case studies of universities that have made significant changes within the past few years: San Diego State University (SDSU), the University of Illinois-Chicago, Colorado State University, and the University of Hartford. The most extensive revamping occurred at San Diego State University, which is where I am focusing below.<br />
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MAA’s national study of calculus instruction, <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511970.2017.1391359&sa=D&ust=1530193884773000&usg=AFQjCNF6OolOS-M7w9HR5F0vqTqv1C_N3A"><span style="color: blue;">Characteristics of Successful Programs in College Calculus (CSPCC)</span></a>
, identified seven practices (Bressoud & Rasmussen, 2015; see the Appendix for descriptions) that we observed in the most effective programs. A few years ago, San Diego State University, facing unacceptably high failure rates and low persistence rates in its Precalculus through Calculus II sequence, decided to work on all seven areas. The result has been a dramatic improvement in these courses. Naneh Apkarian, who was a doctoral student in mathematics education within the mathematics department during this process, is the lead author on this account <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10511970.2017.1388319&sa=D&ust=1530193884771000&usg=AFQjCNENBL1l6tBC2xFfvKO6nILBwhkeWw"><span style="color: blue;">(Apkarian et al., 2018)</span></a> .<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131413; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img alt="../../../../../Desktop/1280px-Sdsumain.jpg" height="295" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/J7veUyp2AsPHLXLZdBzTmCiEFJYLUFsGK-sG3oMBNbCzBKLXqBtvZ0EbB-Iu_5ywg6KYDy2oicxgG3OzmBX6sBdJ6xjZLCUzgBnnWVSV2cu57q3gmtmXqm6Sr4BcQcaDJkJk4JGjFmklnvdlng" style="border-image: none; border: medium; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="400" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 130px; text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1:</b> The landmark Hepner Hall at San Diego State University. </span>
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With roughly 30,000 undergraduates, San Diego State University is a large public university, part of the California State University System, and chronically underfunded. It is a <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hacu.net/assnfe/CompanyDirectory.asp?STYLE%3D2%26COMPANY_TYPE%3D1%252C5&sa=D&ust=1530193884770000&usg=AFQjCNHqBFeD5o26VqICYujox3PKPSxKaA"><span style="color: blue;">Hispanic-Serving Institution</span></a> where 84% of students are on some form of financial aid. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors account for 10% of bachelor’s degrees. The mainstream precalculus and single variable calculus courses enroll about 1,500 students each fall. The Department of Mathematics and Statistics consists of 17 faculty in pure and applied mathematics, seven in statistics, and six in mathematics education.<br />
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Michael O’Sullivan was appointed chair of the department in 2014. He made it his mission to revamp lower-division mathematics instruction. The effort began that fall with the creation of a Calculus Task Force charged with proposing a system for coordinating the courses in the Precalculus to Calculus II sequence (P2C2). As <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/cspcc/InsightsandRecommendations.pdf&sa=D&ust=1530193884775000&usg=AFQjCNF0KTG-JMVoJIwfrw9BTUH-cdyzEw"><span style="color: blue;">Rasmussen and Ellis (2015)</span></a> have documented, one of the most important characteristics of successful P2C2 programs is coordination of the essential elements of each course including policies, learning objectives, and exams and their scoring rubrics. Coordination also involves regular communication among those teaching different sections. At San Diego State University, total autonomy—to the point where different instructors were using different textbooks, homework systems, and even course content—had been the rule.
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As the department expanded its data collection beyond simple pass rates, they discovered that only 17% of those who began with Precalculus successfully completed Calculus II, only 10% within the standard three semesters. This made mathematics faculty aware that something was seriously wrong and needed to change.
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Because the discontinuation of large lectures was not financially feasible, the implementation of active learning to address this completion rate was concentrated in breakout sections led by Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs). The chair successfully lobbied to increase breakout sections from one to two hours per week and managed to reduce the size of most of these sections.
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The chair also tied into a university initiative, Building on Excellence, to fund a new Mathematics Learning Center within the library building, directed by the office of the Dean of Science—ensuring its continued funding—but led by the department. The static 40-question placement exam was replaced by ALEKS Placement, Preparation, and Learning, with the license paid by the California State University System and student payments of $20 per proctored exam.
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While these contributions were serendipitous, I have found that—particularly in situations of tightly constrained budgets—deans and provosts are keen to direct resources toward strategic initiatives with the potential for high impact. I have frequently encountered deans who asserted that if only the department would come forward with a well-thought-out and cost-effective plan for improving student outcomes, the money could be found to fund it.
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As the authors reported, the effort at revision was successful because of the attention paid to opening and maintaining communication channels with stakeholders in this process (see Figure 2).<br />
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2:</b> Significant communication channels between the mathematics department and various administrative programs as they relate to the seven targeted program features. Source: Apkarian et al. 2018, p. 540.</span>
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The result is a calculus program of which the department is justly proud, as reflected in <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.math.sdsu.edu/calculus/&sa=D&ust=1530193884771000&usg=AFQjCNF-kOMmmGygx8pKVvqyShrPy7V7-w"><span style="color: blue;">this video</span></a>. Students find the new Math Learning Center particularly helpful because its work is tightly connected to what is happening in all sections of each course.
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The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at San Diego State University is a good example of how a program can be transformed. Its story illustrates the role of leadership from the department chair, buy-in and effort from a core of committed faculty, and strong two-way communication with all of the stakeholders.
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<b><u>References</u></b>
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<li> Apkarian, N., Bowers, J., O’Sullivan, M., and Rasmussen, C. (2018). A Case study of change in the teaching and learning of Precalculus to Calculus 2: what we are doing with what we have. PRIMUS. 28:6, 528-549, DOI: 10.1080/10511970.2017.1388319
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<li> Bressoud, D., and Rasmussen, C. (2015). Seven characteristics of successful calculus programs. AMS Notices. 62:2, 144–146.</li>
<li> Bressoud, D. and Zorn, P. (2018). Improving the Teaching and Learning of Calculus. PRIMUS vol. 28.
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<li> Rasmussen, C., and Ellis, J. (2015). Calculus coordination at PhD-granting universities: more than just using the same syllabus, textbook, and final exam. In Bressoud, Mesa, and Rasmussen (Eds.), Insight and Recommendations from the MAA National Study of College Calculus. MAA Notes #84. Washington, DC: MAA Press. </li>
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<b><u>Appendix: Seven Characteristics of Successful Programs in College Calculus</u></b>
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<li> <b>Local Data.</b> Regular collection and use of local data to guide program modifications as part of continual improvement efforts. </li>
<li><b>Placement.</b> Effective procedures for placing students appropriately into their first Precalculus to Calculus II (P2C2) course (both initial placement and re-placing students after the term begins). </li>
<li><b> Coordination System. </b>A coordination system for instruction that (i) makes use of a uniform textbook and assessments and (ii) goes beyond uniform curricular elements to include regular P2C2 instructor meetings in development of de facto communities of practice.</li>
<li><b> Course Content. </b>Course content that challenges and engages students with mathematics.</li>
<li><b> Active Pedagogy. </b>The use and support of student-centered pedagogies, including active learning strategies.</li>
<li><b>GTA Preparation & Development. </b>Robust teaching development programs for teaching assistants. </li>
<li><b>Student Support Service. </b>Proactive student support services (e.g., tutoring centers, services for first-generation students) that foster students’ academic and social integration </li>
</ol>
Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-789644821185986172018-06-01T09:39:00.000-04:002018-06-01T09:39:03.371-04:00Explosive Growth of Advanced Undergraduate StatisticsBy David Bressoud
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You can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud">@dbressoud</a></b>
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The <a href="http://www.ams.org/profession/data/cbms-survey/cbms2015">2015 CBMS Survey</a> is now available. Last month I reported on <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2018/05/trends-in-mathematics-majors.html">Trends in Mathematics Majors</a>. This month I am looking at what has happened to enrollments in particular mathematics courses. The column has three section: <b>Enrollments by Category</b>, where we see that the fastest growing category is Advanced Undergraduate Statistics; <b>Calculus Enrollments</b>, noting that the growth here is almost exclusively within the research universities where it is tied to the strong growth in engineering enrollments; and <b>Dual Enrollment</b>, where the story is about the dramatic increase in four-year institutions now offering dual enrollment courses.
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Enrollments by Category
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The first graph (Figure 1) shows strong growth in course enrollments in 4-year undergraduate programs, exceeding 2.5 million for the first time. This is certainly tied to the rampant growth in the number of prospective STEM majors (Figure 2). The number of prospective engineering majors grew from 108,000 in 2005 to 156,000 in 2010, peaking at 194,000 in 2015. Over the same period, prospective physical science majors grew from 30,000 to 40,000. Students entering with the intention of majoring in the mathematical sciences grew from 10,000 to 16,000.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKvCc3vhyphenhyphenAH4bj5WEs0qWu6kYAbdTedAEWbjZ2-48jYiuy4mT6iige15bFIleaXfKJuIjdFDIPmYuVhSJOfzyVXObU5sSZDYhriqyVaRaueHwmGp4SQAI433ZAQF_GkQ6YgbFl9Z1Wq5MB/s1600/Figure1.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="550" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKvCc3vhyphenhyphenAH4bj5WEs0qWu6kYAbdTedAEWbjZ2-48jYiuy4mT6iige15bFIleaXfKJuIjdFDIPmYuVhSJOfzyVXObU5sSZDYhriqyVaRaueHwmGp4SQAI433ZAQF_GkQ6YgbFl9Z1Wq5MB/s1600/Figure1.tiff" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1:</b> Undergraduate enrollments by course category in mathematics and statistics departments at 4-year institutions.<br />
Intro Level includes College Algebra and Precalculus; Calculus Level includes sophomore courses in linear algebra and differential equations.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ujB96YcpDTIUH7nTl8Df7comFKDinTLI17sfJDnBI7qTkmynMo0oTsHbbz_DoorDT26yip5odsWAXBQLSq-FQytHNpBKN5ORa_-Ix7AT3pWPL38anWw55FCq95WgTPWA_xQO2C7MePD9/s1600/Figure2.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="609" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ujB96YcpDTIUH7nTl8Df7comFKDinTLI17sfJDnBI7qTkmynMo0oTsHbbz_DoorDT26yip5odsWAXBQLSq-FQytHNpBKN5ORa_-Ix7AT3pWPL38anWw55FCq95WgTPWA_xQO2C7MePD9/s1600/Figure2.tiff" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2:</b> Number of entering full-time first-year students at 4-year institutions intending to major in five core STEM disciplines.<br />
Data from <i>The American Freshman</i>, published by the Higher Education Research Institute.</td></tr>
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The most remarkable growth among categories of courses was for Advanced Statistics, any course beyond a first college-level statistics course, almost doubling from 60,000 in 2010 to 110,000 in 2015. This is in line with the growth in the number of Bachelor’s degrees awarded in Statistics, from 858 in 2010 to 1509 in 2015. Figure 3 shows that this growth has occurred primarily within departments of statistics, although there has also been strong growth at Bachelor’s level colleges and a remarkable turnaround in Master’s granting universities.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzeoE2frQqhUDFV3bqHfcNK8QxQ8sw4AEokcSEmUhksOMo0uo3jo2wz-V8f4Opfn9AXXs6rqA5ykNapyZy-modlIZNR0rkEvpxRZDgOvPCVRGF9Hq_NpRAWBjKDWf_Q7NYCYM-IOmu8yd6/s1600/Figure3.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzeoE2frQqhUDFV3bqHfcNK8QxQ8sw4AEokcSEmUhksOMo0uo3jo2wz-V8f4Opfn9AXXs6rqA5ykNapyZy-modlIZNR0rkEvpxRZDgOvPCVRGF9Hq_NpRAWBjKDWf_Q7NYCYM-IOmu8yd6/s1600/Figure3.tiff" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 3:</b> Enrollments in Advanced Undergraduate Statistics by type of department.<br />
Departments of mathematics are characterized by the highest degree offered by the department.</td></tr>
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<b><br />Calculus Enrollments </b></div>
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Calculus enrollments have also seen strong growth, driven by increases in prospective STEM majors (Figure 4). The MAA <i>Progress through Calculus</i> study found that for mainstream Calculus I, fall enrollments account for about 60% of all mainstream Calculus I enrollments throughout the year, while fall Calculus II enrollments account for about 40% of all Calculus II enrollments. Thus, about 550,000 students study Calculus I each year at a post-secondary institution. This compares with roughly 800,000 students who study calculus in high school each year (NCES data).
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrvWrKcrT4uJ4-ByxnC6jFx7Wu5PAZlVNmMqAq7Kjw6ElM8FyKDKOety-YpGnlYchlldKtUIRwLPR-sCAIwE5u978oAmy5Fxqqt7HpZCS8StEFa4x0O7hRZYBvHz6H5JXxI5UxNyQlk2T4/s1600/Figure4.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="539" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrvWrKcrT4uJ4-ByxnC6jFx7Wu5PAZlVNmMqAq7Kjw6ElM8FyKDKOety-YpGnlYchlldKtUIRwLPR-sCAIwE5u978oAmy5Fxqqt7HpZCS8StEFa4x0O7hRZYBvHz6H5JXxI5UxNyQlk2T4/s1600/Figure4.tiff" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 4: </b>Fall term mainstream calculus enrollments (meaning that they lead to the usual upper division mathematical sciences courses), combined from all 2- and 4-year institutions.</td></tr>
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Supporting the claim that most of the growth in calculus enrollments can be attributed to the growth in prospective engineering majors, Figures 5–7 show that the increase in calculus enrollments has occurred at the universities that also offer a PhD in mathematics, predominantly the large research universities.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixob8_ZTkqzJT-aRU-_j5_XdZpSu1CWZkjG5K9UxBjLx3aBrx495a_QplgybXSskCqRNr7Wxr0GYS4KdWCmZSP2thbDdOb9Pyko-1SoNRIYMTkC1j0IT8YRCawUmwj_c7IWAoAN8ltTsft/s1600/Figure5.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="437" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixob8_ZTkqzJT-aRU-_j5_XdZpSu1CWZkjG5K9UxBjLx3aBrx495a_QplgybXSskCqRNr7Wxr0GYS4KdWCmZSP2thbDdOb9Pyko-1SoNRIYMTkC1j0IT8YRCawUmwj_c7IWAoAN8ltTsft/s1600/Figure5.tiff" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 5:</b> Fall enrollments in mainstream Calculus I, by type of institution.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="295" data-original-width="439" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZdJRNmzd5hJRWD43am83aJCO1jCvlG5mJwawPANE5wYgA3Lrao7qc3qYDPkN01Scg5jpxRyPNCob_MAdMyS6zuKn5ANOxgozaZGnEJmkYBp2iHd1qhCHKLMDgQEsa53NGMSyk39DdegV/s1600/Figure6.tiff" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 6:</b> Fall enrollments in mainstream Calculus II, by type of institution.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJeoxZ4jAlQlWudcpqwj3Ct9hA6FZb-0Gw19CJirS7pD176-eByDWXA921GjwW3WDD03O6RM5g8EFG2_7uhvHYzT-IkbkKoNYZ5h9MmKo48pD2BAuQxtvbMffN0mA3yLxURGpmTDiJ0pa/s1600/Figure7.tiff" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 7:</b> Fall enrollments in mainstream Calculus III&IV, by type of institution.</td></tr>
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The connection to engineering is reinforced by an interesting though not surprising observation. In 2005, I plotted the number of prospective engineering majors against the total number of students enrolled in all mainstream calculus classes (single and multi-variable) in PhD-granting departments (Figure 8). The correlation, at slightly over two students enrolled in the fall for each engineering major is remarkably tight, with a Pearson <i>r</i>=0.99.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_f3Naw7WlSnS2OWqk_BuPEPuuhdrRq4phRzNiRgnef1m3o4TSWrcxgvhSFQMcxdtAaWMH-yUVTIvYRLPkwZs7DOLO8yp01k__XuWidbEQED0f8t_OzvI870HZUgvnlMjt8DPoBcu7dDSc/s1600/Figure8.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_f3Naw7WlSnS2OWqk_BuPEPuuhdrRq4phRzNiRgnef1m3o4TSWrcxgvhSFQMcxdtAaWMH-yUVTIvYRLPkwZs7DOLO8yp01k__XuWidbEQED0f8t_OzvI870HZUgvnlMjt8DPoBcu7dDSc/s1600/Figure8.tiff" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 8:</b> Number of entering freshman intending to major in Engineering against total fall enrollment in all mainstream calculus (single and multi-variable).<br />
Pearson’s <i>r</i> = 0.99.</td></tr>
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The 2010 and 2015 data do not come close to fitting this line. It overestimates calculus enrollments by about 35%. Fitting a line to the data from 1995 to 2015 yields the graph in Figure 9. The multiplier effect of each prospective engineer has dropped to a little over 1, evidence that whereas an engineering major would, in the past, study single or multi-variable calculus in two fall terms, they now usually take calculus in only one fall term.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQpflV8LrM-620P5BaBjTsbHLxR2rJ04eWXDn_sdgKwFOrd8ucj3wRx2cpqy8jM724D5iMcPcHaHE_rmUw3UuAuupFJWeq5xfGh1tweP6RO1LqkfQ6mMtcT-hRK0V7ziv8JOQCN7So5ws_/s1600/Figure9.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQpflV8LrM-620P5BaBjTsbHLxR2rJ04eWXDn_sdgKwFOrd8ucj3wRx2cpqy8jM724D5iMcPcHaHE_rmUw3UuAuupFJWeq5xfGh1tweP6RO1LqkfQ6mMtcT-hRK0V7ziv8JOQCN7So5ws_/s1600/Figure9.tiff" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 9:</b> Number of entering freshman intending to major in Engineering against total fall enrollment in all mainstream calculus (single and multi-variable).<br />
Pearson’s <i>r</i> = 0.97.</td></tr>
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<b><br />Dual Enrollment</b></div>
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CBMS began tracking dual enrollment in 2005, courses offered by a 2- or 4-year college, taught in a high school by a high school teacher, but carrying both high school and college credit. In 2005, 50% of 2-year departments, but only 14% of 4-year departments offered dual enrollment courses in mathematics. By 2015, these percentages had climbed to 63% at 2-year institutions and 26% at 4-year institutions. We conclude this column with Figures 10 and 11, showing the number of fall enrollments in the four most common dual enrollment courses: College Algebra, Precalculus, Calculus I, and Statistics.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjin4H1mzxHqSD0LIsp_Ad9CpX98ycl6kQ83uO107LC2QC087sCHQ7ocUDaE7VJHWnBBfaPFFpjldO9axWVwyndKOiycYHOOB1laPOJ2CXwQ5AiQ7nm5aQpP-XDKRLvHC943xQicWHcGGTw/s1600/Figure10.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjin4H1mzxHqSD0LIsp_Ad9CpX98ycl6kQ83uO107LC2QC087sCHQ7ocUDaE7VJHWnBBfaPFFpjldO9axWVwyndKOiycYHOOB1laPOJ2CXwQ5AiQ7nm5aQpP-XDKRLvHC943xQicWHcGGTw/s1600/Figure10.tiff" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 10: </b>Fall term dual enrollment at 2-year colleges.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="511" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5s5GlAG8IJf-X0hDYugQtDqy5NXpNIv0ksFkzW6_fzVAJQrSdisNNQdiXuWyZBtbCk7ULWYuRmR9Wx-V2TV__68xhVys0OvzAcB3TT6t9EamYkujDsJ8ULlHlBGMJ0gUnNDVihD1_kzKB/s1600/Figure11.tiff" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 11:</b> Fall term dual enrollment at 4-year institutions.</td></tr>
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Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-9316475793104760592018-05-01T08:00:00.000-04:002018-05-01T13:32:06.705-04:00Trends in Mathematics Majors<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px;">By David
Bressoud </span><br />
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can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud">@dbressoud</a></span></b></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>By the time this column appears, the full CBMS 2015 survey of math departments should be available at <a href="http://www.ams.org/profession/data/cbms-survey/cbms2015">www.ams.org/profession/data/cbms-survey/cbms2015</a>. I reported some of the data on faculty demographics in my <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2017/10/">October</a> and <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2017/11/women-in-profession.html">November</a> Launchings columns. This month I want to report on what is happening to undergraduate mathematics majors.<br />
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From 2010 to 2015, the number of bachelor’s degrees in the mathematical sciences grew by just over 3,000, from 19,242 to 22,265, almost a 16% increase (Figure 1). However, most of the growth was in Actuarial Science (from 849 to 2354), Statistics (from 858 to 1509), joint majors (e.g. biomath, the total rising from 1222 to 1821), and “other” (including Operations Research, from 231 to 907). Degrees in Mathematics Education fell from 3,614 to 2,880. Traditional mathematics and applied mathematics degrees only rose by 326, from 12,468 to 12,794.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5Up85MT78yeJoeFGW5MHuObYY-EN8ShXpe_p4ljBxIGYyXqRndxWp4_Z1eIliRDKaRjTPedrHnW0E8msfPnGB1Cd-ubbu9RrY2zprY9_eU7AjfdNkOJV2iJUBpK8Bztl0juSDVC6FYNY/s1600/Figure1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="603" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5Up85MT78yeJoeFGW5MHuObYY-EN8ShXpe_p4ljBxIGYyXqRndxWp4_Z1eIliRDKaRjTPedrHnW0E8msfPnGB1Cd-ubbu9RrY2zprY9_eU7AjfdNkOJV2iJUBpK8Bztl0juSDVC6FYNY/s1600/Figure1.jpg" /></a></div>
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Figure 1. Bachelor’s degrees awarded by departments of Mathematics or Statistics. </div>
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Source: CBMS Surveys.</div>
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For comparison, the total number of Bachelor’s degrees over the years 2010 to 2015 increased by 15%, and the number of degrees in STEM fields (specifically bioscience, computer science, engineering, mathematical sciences, or physical sciences) rose by 34%, from 238,000 to 319,000.<br />
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The period 2010 to 2015 saw a decrease in the percentage of Bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics or Statistics earned by women, dropping from 42.4% to 40.8% (Figure 2). This does not include degrees in Mathematics Education awarded by Math departments. If we include them, then women earned 43.3% of the Bachelor’s degrees in 2015.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsIkNVkeQhQQS-4FihB5qcBO7CCqj2AYEIjcXaSDJgOHdlO6AFENK81crJNkhB0guzOyLQNwNiLpyEFa_ERR0vhuYJ1vn-dqC_VQUVkujUy1af6-OyVPl4Qelc-yBbNlFTpDcvZ9SQvdXi/s1600/Figure2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="535" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsIkNVkeQhQQS-4FihB5qcBO7CCqj2AYEIjcXaSDJgOHdlO6AFENK81crJNkhB0guzOyLQNwNiLpyEFa_ERR0vhuYJ1vn-dqC_VQUVkujUy1af6-OyVPl4Qelc-yBbNlFTpDcvZ9SQvdXi/s1600/Figure2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> Figure 2. Women as % of Mathematics or Statistics Bachelor’s degrees, organized by highest degree offered by the mathematics department. Source: CBMS Surveys.</span></div>
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Figure 3 shows the representation of African-Americans, Hispanic-American, Asian-Americans (including Pacific Islanders), and nonresident aliens. Here we are drawing on data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which is collected annually. Two trends are particularly interesting: the number of African-Americans has remained pretty much unchanged since the mid-1990s, and the number of nonresident aliens has exploded since 2007. It should be noted that NCES began allowing the designation “two or more races” in 2011. In 2011, 216 Mathematics or Statistics majors chose this designation, growing to 684 in 2016. These numbers are not reflected in Figure 3.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAVBATTyaoM4G2chT0lTZUuUJTS3zjf_3PwpxKPsJ6jy7KSxCr20t2sOMuXgX-ry3bazfj-_VH9910B5Yx6nXZcwKRvFKowe-_KVzkbD0hHcRF2_gRQG0An3tEv4Ik9Ln-JFJ_9QCIMXA/s1600/Figure3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="601" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAVBATTyaoM4G2chT0lTZUuUJTS3zjf_3PwpxKPsJ6jy7KSxCr20t2sOMuXgX-ry3bazfj-_VH9910B5Yx6nXZcwKRvFKowe-_KVzkbD0hHcRF2_gRQG0An3tEv4Ik9Ln-JFJ_9QCIMXA/s1600/Figure3.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Figure 3. Number of Mathematics or Statistics majors by race, ethnicity, or resident status.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Source: NCES.</span></div>
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The following graphs, Figures 4–7, look closer at each of these four groups, comparing their percentage of all Bachelor’s degrees, of Bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics or Statistics, and of Bachelor’s degrees in Engineering. Again, these do not include students who designated as two or more races after 2010. We see that until 2000, African Americans were well represented among Mathematics majors in the sense that their representation was comparable to their representation among all undergraduates, but since then their percentage has noticeably dropped off. Hispanic Americans are underrepresented, but the trend is promising. Not surprisingly, Asian Americans are well represented among Mathematics and Engineering majors. Non-resident aliens are growing as a percentage of all Bachelor’s degrees and all Engineering degrees, but their growth among Mathematics majors is remarkable. This attests to the importance of student visas in maintaining our mathematical workforce, but it also suggests that more could be done to attract U.S. citizens to the pursuit of Mathematics, especially African Americans.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKfGmrkMPa_gTj53iLLOs1XPmVpD7DG7FCnJxzwLHKsEn-DENXiZIDAy12pu-OIwzbWZyy9kyGkZNlWF70Q54GGievv-NSBuh6G6-Hij11qK9loNw_5FCB3Jfv5D7bk5I2NqP2xX-ZlCq/s1600/Figure4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKfGmrkMPa_gTj53iLLOs1XPmVpD7DG7FCnJxzwLHKsEn-DENXiZIDAy12pu-OIwzbWZyy9kyGkZNlWF70Q54GGievv-NSBuh6G6-Hij11qK9loNw_5FCB3Jfv5D7bk5I2NqP2xX-ZlCq/s1600/Figure4.jpg" /></a></div>
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Figure 4. African Americans as percentage of all bachelor’s degrees and of bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics or Statistics and in Engineering. Source: NCES.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvNbpfD9gy3N6uSy3mqH9GXBM9BWFxHEg8dtVNGVVW6wEANDzWfZkBFC9lP1sHf_QGm7Y9n6c9IxkDFxILvH0P0zFMh5QuIyyJLf5hV4FPn1u95Foz5Pra7N50ywhQHtB-KcnlFjzlcyBe/s1600/Figure5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="469" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvNbpfD9gy3N6uSy3mqH9GXBM9BWFxHEg8dtVNGVVW6wEANDzWfZkBFC9lP1sHf_QGm7Y9n6c9IxkDFxILvH0P0zFMh5QuIyyJLf5hV4FPn1u95Foz5Pra7N50ywhQHtB-KcnlFjzlcyBe/s1600/Figure5.jpg" /></a></div>
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Figure 5. Hispanic Americans as percentage of all bachelor’s degrees and of bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics or Statistics and in Engineering. Source: NCES.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxe6DbAO4hvadvn-BnqsPFBvLfmDf0AfHNBW0K-2lWDZzi2lj3TK7wfudUlPfSNkipZXH_uQ7PPK2qe8tcA-gTM3MYFGZ4O8JG2A7AdY5bEcZU1v_qSgcAmaUMIFxiPh3logXTdmVkbqU/s1600/Figure6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxe6DbAO4hvadvn-BnqsPFBvLfmDf0AfHNBW0K-2lWDZzi2lj3TK7wfudUlPfSNkipZXH_uQ7PPK2qe8tcA-gTM3MYFGZ4O8JG2A7AdY5bEcZU1v_qSgcAmaUMIFxiPh3logXTdmVkbqU/s1600/Figure6.jpg" /></a></div>
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Figure 6. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as percentage of all bachelor’s degrees and of bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics or Statistics and in Engineering. Source: NCES.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeTjYi1c4a_i4Fg6MGRXDkGUQ8ubUoY-4Dvm15ucxx_LHUXYQVD9kfY005py89OElSdFW5M4_VfiJq9-bo2OWORlH4rVGBE2KImc8G3y9xkih3WDDe17S_t0VtZJUoEY3ZYYYEUbVRYVb_/s1600/Figure7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeTjYi1c4a_i4Fg6MGRXDkGUQ8ubUoY-4Dvm15ucxx_LHUXYQVD9kfY005py89OElSdFW5M4_VfiJq9-bo2OWORlH4rVGBE2KImc8G3y9xkih3WDDe17S_t0VtZJUoEY3ZYYYEUbVRYVb_/s1600/Figure7.jpg" /></a></div>
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Figure 7. Non-resident aliens as percentage of all bachelor’s degrees and of bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics or Statistics and in Engineering. Source: NCES.</div>
Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-77494117930733926332018-04-01T08:00:00.000-04:002018-04-02T08:48:10.395-04:00Gaps in Student Understanding of the Fundamental Theorem of Integral CalculusBy David Bressoud<br />
<br />
You can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">@dbressoud</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><br />
I have long held the belief (<a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/amer.math.monthly.118.02.099?seq=1%20-%20page_scan_tab_contents" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Bressoud, 2011</span></a>) that we should revert to the original name, the Fundamental Theorem of Integral Calculus (FTIC), for what in the 1960s came to be known as the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (FTC). The reason is that the real importance of this theorem is not that integration and differentiation are inverse processes—for most students that is the working definition of integration—but that we have two very distinct ways of viewing integration, as limits of Riemann sums and in terms of anti-differentiation, and that for all practical purposes they are equivalent.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI23W389elkN99rWjqyomlFmMS6ekTQjIQV8e2vWOOV1rak1bdL4H8N_8JjPRxeBJkpwF2h2zBK2kWy3vwISjQzPd-iRFnDZ2O1A_Wx8xFpG1hhJe7-6FYEqMmIb_v-sBW1Ll9rRUTlatY/s1600/123.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="702" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI23W389elkN99rWjqyomlFmMS6ekTQjIQV8e2vWOOV1rak1bdL4H8N_8JjPRxeBJkpwF2h2zBK2kWy3vwISjQzPd-iRFnDZ2O1A_Wx8xFpG1hhJe7-6FYEqMmIb_v-sBW1Ll9rRUTlatY/s400/123.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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Figure 1. Students working on integral as accumulator, reproduced from the homepage of Coherent Labs to Enhance Accessible and Rigorous Calculus Instruction (<a href="http://clearcalculus.okstate.edu/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">CLEAR Calculus</span></a>) </div>
<br />
A recent paper by Joseph Wagner (<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40753-017-0060-7" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">2017</span></a>) is an insightful study of the confusion experienced by most students about the nature of integration. As he points out, this is not about student deficits, but about common misconceptions that can be traced to the way we teach integration.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo0mMJENG4M6JqSaP8pnPt96Z8NZUtmF-rFApWFMgMhCN1CR6ZSlnAnFsZim8QYzrXIrMn4QOKxEPFxZxTwk4T4eqbJAGv_QVe7y5JBX1YJ7hCxaGvtN6IHxGtrpySXADE1IUmjCToIIQ-/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo0mMJENG4M6JqSaP8pnPt96Z8NZUtmF-rFApWFMgMhCN1CR6ZSlnAnFsZim8QYzrXIrMn4QOKxEPFxZxTwk4T4eqbJAGv_QVe7y5JBX1YJ7hCxaGvtN6IHxGtrpySXADE1IUmjCToIIQ-/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a>Previous work by Sealey (<a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.500.3209&rep=rep1&type=pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">2006</span></a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312313001065" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">2014</span></a>) and Jones (<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312312000612" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">2013</span></a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312315000024" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">2015a</span></a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0020739X.2014.1001454" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">2015b</span></a>) has shown that<br />
there are three ways in which students describe the meaning of the definite integral, <br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo0mMJENG4M6JqSaP8pnPt96Z8NZUtmF-rFApWFMgMhCN1CR6ZSlnAnFsZim8QYzrXIrMn4QOKxEPFxZxTwk4T4eqbJAGv_QVe7y5JBX1YJ7hCxaGvtN6IHxGtrpySXADE1IUmjCToIIQ-/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="29" data-original-width="77" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo0mMJENG4M6JqSaP8pnPt96Z8NZUtmF-rFApWFMgMhCN1CR6ZSlnAnFsZim8QYzrXIrMn4QOKxEPFxZxTwk4T4eqbJAGv_QVe7y5JBX1YJ7hCxaGvtN6IHxGtrpySXADE1IUmjCToIIQ-/s1600/2.png" /></a></div>
<ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo0mMJENG4M6JqSaP8pnPt96Z8NZUtmF-rFApWFMgMhCN1CR6ZSlnAnFsZim8QYzrXIrMn4QOKxEPFxZxTwk4T4eqbJAGv_QVe7y5JBX1YJ7hCxaGvtN6IHxGtrpySXADE1IUmjCToIIQ-/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a>
<li> as an area,</li>
<li> in terms of an antiderivative, or</li>
<li> in terms of a summation.</li>
</ul>
Overwhelmingly, students employ the first, the second is common, the third is rare.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_AJOV4tmt_W5juqn1uk2htejuOS2CaXXQsgN9Aoo7WA8Sm9agm5ezjWZ_1vF3PW5w3V3ah6u5BIQfdYTiV6g9lvQPDflHRq_fkt2wOykAdIYG2bgDAFkHHUa8hXZd7PdavIGSolWGmsO/s1600/3.png" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a></div>
Nevertheless, when confronted with a problem in physics that requires integration, the interpretation in terms of a summation is more common. Jones (<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0020739X.2014.1001454" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">2015b</span></a>), after reminding second term calculus students that force is pressure times area, asked why<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_AJOV4tmt_W5juqn1uk2htejuOS2CaXXQsgN9Aoo7WA8Sm9agm5ezjWZ_1vF3PW5w3V3ah6u5BIQfdYTiV6g9lvQPDflHRq_fkt2wOykAdIYG2bgDAFkHHUa8hXZd7PdavIGSolWGmsO/s1600/3.png" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 16px; margin-right: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="21" data-original-width="75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_AJOV4tmt_W5juqn1uk2htejuOS2CaXXQsgN9Aoo7WA8Sm9agm5ezjWZ_1vF3PW5w3V3ah6u5BIQfdYTiV6g9lvQPDflHRq_fkt2wOykAdIYG2bgDAFkHHUa8hXZd7PdavIGSolWGmsO/s1600/3.png" /></a>calculates the total force. Of 150 students, 61 (41%) produced an argument that involved summation, although only 25 of them (17%) indicated that any product was involved.<br />
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Following up on this insight, Wagner explored the understanding of definite integrals by physics students. He interviewed eight students in an introductory calculus-based physics course focused on classical mechanics and seven third-year physics majors. Of the students in the introductory course, five had completed both single and multi-variable calculus, two were currently enrolled in multi-variable calculus, and one was still in single variable calculus. All were in majors that required this physics course.<br />
<br />
When students in the introductory course were asked what Riemann sums have to do with definite integrals, they split evenly between two types of answers: either as something that accomplishes the same task as an integral (usually finding areas) or as a means of approximating definite integrals. As we shall see, the connection between integration as a limit of Riemann sums and in terms of antiderivatives was hazy at best and not recognized as significant. As Wagner reports, several were mystified why they had to learn about Riemann sums, “Because like when they were teaching this, they were kind of like oh, like you’ll do this for the first test, and then you get rid of it and never have to do it again.”<br />
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On the other hand, the third-year physics students were much more inclined to explain the meaning of the definite integral in terms of a summation. They were conversant with how to convert an accumulation problem into a definite integral. As Wagner suggested privately, this appears to be the result of repeated exposure to problems from physics in which definite integrals arise from “slice and add” procedures.<br />
<br />
But Wagner uncovered an intriguing gap in their understanding. All fifteen students were asked to make up a simple area problem and then solve it. All of them did so correctly, using a polynomial function and antidifferentiation. As an example the area under the graph of y=x^3 from 0 to 2 was calculated as follows,<br />
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He then pushed each of these students to explain why this sequence of calculations produced the area. Only one of the fifteen, a third-year physics student, indicated that this was a consequence of FTC. Several of the others struggled to make sense of how the symbols in the definite integral led to the functional transformation implied by the first equality. Wagner argues that many students are looking for algebraic sense-making in that first equality. With two of the third-year students, he documented their growing sense of frustration as they realized that they could not explain why it works. Quoting the first student:<br />
<br />
"Yeah, I do it. I don’t–. I’m not proud of it, but I hope there is some way to justify it. […] When I think about integration as a sum of differentials, quantities–. When I think about that, I go, OK, that makes intuitive sense, and it works. Great. But then I wonder, you know, what is, in terms of more modernized math that I’m doing. Because I usually feel like what I’m doing is kind of a trick. And it works. I don’t feel great about doing this, like, intuitively I feel fine."<br />
<br />
From the second student:<br />
<br />
"So math gives us these sort of weird tools, and they behave differently than any, like, the physical tools we know of, and it doesn’t really make sense to ask why they work or how they work, because they work mathematically, not physically. So this mathematical tool called the integral allows us to change functions, to apply this operation that changes functions into other functions."<br />
<br />
Wagner concludes this article with a thoughtful discussion of the distinction between the algebraic equivalence of two expressions, a notion of equivalence with which students are familiar, and the transformational equivalence that is enabled by FTC. As he laments, “Nothing, however, in the standard calculus curriculum prepares students for the sudden transition from making sense of the symbolic processes of algebra to making sense of the symbolic processes of calculus.” He points out that a great deal of attention has been devoted to a Riemann-sum based understanding of the definite integral, but virtually none to helping students understand the transformational aspects of calculus that are so central.<br />
<br />
I believe that a shift from FTC to FTIC can help. As Thompson with others (<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/making-the-connection/1136E373DB89B6BFC7C7E4B23F074303" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">2008</span></a>, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306108323_A_Coherent_Approach_to_the_Fundamental_Theorem_of_Calculus_Using_Differentials" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">2013</span></a>,<span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306108323_A_Coherent_Approach_to_the_Fundamental_Theorem_of_Calculus_Using_Differentials" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">2016</span></a>) has shown, and I have discussed in earlier columns (<a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2017/05/re-imagining-calculus-curriculum-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Re-imagining the Calculus Curriculum, I</span></a>, and<span style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2017/06/re-imagining-calculus-curriculum-ii.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Re-</span><span style="color: #0b5394;">imagining the Calculus Curriculum, II</span></a></span>), it makes sense to first develop the definite integral as an accumulator, making it very clear that Riemann sums are neither an introduction to a subject that eventually will be about antide<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span>rivatives nor just a tool for finding approximations, but the very essence of what a definite integral is<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span> and how it is used. Then, we bring in FTIC to show that there is another—entirely distinct because it is transformational—expression for this same integral and that this equivalent expression facilitates calculation. Wagner’s third-year physics students were struggling because they failed to realize that integration has these two very different manifestations. It is a very big deal that it does.<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>References</b><br />
<br />
Bressoud, D. (2011). Historical reflections on teaching the Fundamental Theorem of Integral Calculus. American Mathematical Monthly. 118:99–115. <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/amer.math.monthly.118.02.099?seq=1%20-%20page_scan_tab_contents" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/amer.math.monthly.118.02.099?seq=1 - page_scan_tab_contents</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><br />
Jones, S. R. (2013). Understanding the integral: Students’ symbolic forms. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 32(2), 122–141. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312312000612"><span style="color: #0b5394;">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312312000612</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><br />
Jones, S. R. (2015a). Areas, anti-derivatives, and adding up pieces: Integrals in pure mathematics and applied contexts. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 38(1), 9–28. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312315000024"><span style="color: #0b5394;">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312315000024</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><br />
Jones, S. R. (2015b). The prevalence of area-under-a-curve and anti-derivative conceptions over Riemann sum-based conceptions in students’ explanations of definite integrals. International Journal of Mathematics Education in Science and Technology, 46(5), 721–736. <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0020739X.2014.1001454"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0020739X.2014.1001454</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><br />
Sealey, V. (2006). Definite integrals, Riemann sums, and area under a curve: What is necessary and sufficient. In S. Alatorre, J. L. Cortina, M. Sáiz & A. Méndez (Eds.) Proceedings of the 28th Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2, pp. 46-53). Mérida: Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.500.3209&rep=rep1&type=pdf"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.500.3209&rep=rep1&type=pdf</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><br />
Sealey, V. (2014). A framework for characterizing student understanding of Riemann sums and definite integrals. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 33, 230–245. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312313001065"><span style="color: #0b5394;">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312313001065</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><br />
Thompson, P.W., and Silverman, J. (2008). The concept of accumulation in calculus. In M.P. Carlson & C. Rasmussen (Eds.), Making the connection: Research and teaching in undergraduate mathematics (MAA Notes Vol. 73, pp. 43–52). Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5948/UPO9780883859759.005"><span style="color: #0b5394;">https://doi.org/10.5948/UPO9780883859759.005</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><br />
Thompson, P.W., Byerley, C. and Hatfield, N. (2013). A conceptual approach to calculus made possible by technology. Computers in the Schools. 30:124–147. <a href="http://pat-thompson.net/PDFversions/2013CalcTech.pdf"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://pat-thompson.net/PDFversions/2013CalcTech.pdf</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><br />
Thompson, P.W., and Dreyfus, T. (2016). A coherent approach to the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus using differentials. In R. Göller. R. Biehler & R. Hochsmuth (Eds.), Proceedings of the Conference on Didactics of Mathematics in Higher Education as a Scientific Discipline (pp. 355–359 ) Hannover, Germany: KHDM. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306108323_A_Coherent_Approach_to_the_Fundamental_Theorem_of_Calculus_Using_Differentials"><span style="color: #0b5394;">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306108323_A_Coherent_Approach_to_the_Fundamental_Theorem_of_Calculus_Using_Differentials</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"></span><br />
Wagner, J.F. (2017). Students’ obstacles to using Riemann sum interpretations of the definite integral. International Journal of Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40753-017-0060-7"><span style="color: #0b5394;">https://doi.org/10.1007/s40753-017-0060-7</span></a><br />
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Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-39834933171877910112018-03-01T07:00:00.000-05:002018-03-05T08:56:49.906-05:00A False Dichotomy: Lecture vs. Active Learning<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">By David Bressoud</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You can now follow me on Twitter @dbressoud</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On January 31, I published a piece in </span><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/mathematics-98"><i><span style="color: blue;">The Conversation</span></i></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, “</span><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-colleges-must-change-how-they-teach-calculus-90679"><span style="color: blue;">Why Colleges Must Change How They Teach
Calculus</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.” The following is one
of the statements that I made in this article:</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Active learning does not mean ban all lectures. A lecture is still
the most effective means for conveying a great deal of information in a short
amount of time. But the most useful lectures come in short bursts when students
are primed with a need and desire to know the information. </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX4ES9yxHAwxPb-8pABOWfS31yOhOJmhumLRIb6VqCxKXQ_cVoeoV6r3-B3W6ItVBngDV-pRaSTGhOZzMiEb0dU8SERpgcOTtveK-uKV6gnw2tI69EGDTXtPVdEgVIrynfOiygYGBbHhn4/s1600/David%2527s+Pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="1180" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX4ES9yxHAwxPb-8pABOWfS31yOhOJmhumLRIb6VqCxKXQ_cVoeoV6r3-B3W6ItVBngDV-pRaSTGhOZzMiEb0dU8SERpgcOTtveK-uKV6gnw2tI69EGDTXtPVdEgVIrynfOiygYGBbHhn4/s640/David%2527s+Pic.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Figure: Image from the </span><a href="https://www.aau.edu/education-service/undergraduate-education/undergraduate-stem-education-initiative"><span style="color: blue;">AAU Undergraduate STEM Initiative homepage</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is no simple binary choice between an
active learning classroom and straight lecture. Furthermore, making a class an
effective locus for student learning requires more than just active learning. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An article by </span><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11162-016-9440-0"><span style="color: blue;">Campbell et al. (2017)</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, “From Comprehensive to Singular: A latent class analysis of
college teaching practices,” reports on an interesting study of what happens in
college classes (not just STEM classes), adding a few layers of complexity that
are useful for anyone thinking about how to be a more effective teacher. The
authors observed 587 courses in nine colleges and universities, ranging from
Research 1 (public and private) to comprehensive state schools to liberal arts
colleges at a range of levels of selectivity. They looked for seven types of
activities in the classroom.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of these is <b>lecture</b>, defined as “A
presentation or recitation of course content by the faculty member to all
students in the class.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They split active learning into three
sub-categories:</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Class discussion.</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Back
and forth conversation between instructor and students or among students
about the course content.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Class activities. </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
structured activity where students engaged with the course content (e.g.,
case studies, clickers, group work).</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Student questions.</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Students
asking individual questions of the instructor about the course content.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
</ul>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
</ul>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They also picked up the three practices laid out
in </span><a href="http://www.ashe.ws/files/Past%20Presidents/37.2.neumann.pdf" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Neumann’s (2014) description</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> of cognitively response teaching. Active teaching should be
cognitively responsive. Unfortunately, as their observations showed, it often
is not. These three practices are:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Core subject matter ideas. </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The instructor introduced in depth one or more concepts that are central to the subject matter of the course, the instructor created multiple representations of “core ideas,” or the instructor introduced students to how ideas play out in the field.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Connections to prior knowledge. </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The instructor surfaced students’ prior knowledge about the subject “core ideas,” or the instructor worked to understand students’ prior knowledge about the subject matter “core ideas.”</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7251686825560941361" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7251686825560941361" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Support of changing views. </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The instructor provided a space for students to encounter dissonance between prior knowledge and new course material, or the instructor helped students to realize the difference similarities and sometimes conflict between prior knowledge and new subject matter ideas.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Developing over the past few decades and now
accelerating thanks to the work of the community engaged in research in
undergraduate mathematics education, there have been remarkable strides in
understanding the misconceptions that are barriers to student learning. To cite
just two examples that I have discussed elsewhere, students often have
difficulty making the transition from trigonometric functions in terms of
triangles to the circle definition, and they tend to interpret functions as
static objects, impeding an understanding of them as descriptions of the
linkage between variables that vary. I discussed this issue of the
disconnection between what we say and what students hear in two columns in
2016: </span><a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2016/02/" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">What we say/what they hear</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
and </span><a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2016/03/" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="color: blue;">What we say/what they hear II</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. The instructor who does not try to understand the prior
conceptions and knowledge that students bring into the classroom is setting a
large proportion of the students up for failure.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For the last practice, support of changing
views, the physics education community knows how important this is. With their
Force Concept Inventory (FCI), Halloun, Hestenes, and Wells (see </span><a href="about:blank"><span style="color: blue;">Hestenes et al., 1992</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">)
demonstrated that prior concepts are powerful. Students are reluctant to
release them, even in the face of what instructors consider to be clear
exposition of the actual state of affairs. Getting students to recognize
cognitive dissonance requires skill.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Campbell et al. observed that traditional
lecture—what the Progress through Calculus study (</span><a href="https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/PtC%20Technical%20Report_Final.pdf"><span style="color: blue;">Apkarian and Kirin, 2017</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">) has revealed to be standard practice in 72% of all Calculus I
classes in university mathematics departments with PhD programs—did a pretty
good job on <b>core subject matter ideas</b>, but almost nothing with <b>connections
to prior knowledge</b> or <b>support of changing views</b>. And, of course,
traditional lecture involved none of the first two active learning
sub-categories. Less obvious but not surprising, <b>student questions</b> were
seldom observed in traditional lecture.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Active lecture is the second most common form of
calculus instruction, found in about 14% of the PhD-granting mathematics
departments we surveyed in progress through Calculus (3% of departments relied
mainly on active learning practices in the classroom and the remaining
departments reported too much variation by instructor to classify their course
as one type). These introduced <b>class activities</b> and did not decrease <b>core
subject matter ideas</b>. Campbell et al. found that they noticeably increase <b>student
questions</b>, but do nothing in and of themselves to improve <b>connections to
prior knowledge</b> or <b>support of changing views</b>. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These last two practices were almost never
observed in either traditional or active lecture classes. The only classes that
were observed to improve these aspects of cognitively responsive teaching were
those that made a point of employing all seven behaviors, including lecture. In
other words, <b>connections to prior knowledge</b> and <b>support of changing
views</b> do not come for free once one is using active learning. They have to
be intentionally incorporated, and they rely heavily on carefully guided <b>class
discussion</b>.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The lesson is that lecture has its place, and
active learning is only one piece of what is needed for a truly effective
class. </span><a href="http://aapt.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1119/1.18898"><span style="color: blue;">David Hestenes (1998)</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> summed it up nicely in “Who needs physics education research!?”:</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Managing <i>the quality
of classroom discourse </i>is the single most important factor in teaching with
interactive engagement methods. This factor accounts for wide differences in
class FCI score among teachers using the same curriculum materials and
purportedly the same teaching methods. Effective discourse management requires
careful planning and preparation as well as skill and experience … <i>Effective
teaching requires complex skills </i>which take years to develop.<sup> </sup>Technical
knowledge about teaching and learning is as essential as subject content
knowledge. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black;">References</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3; text-indent: -.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Apkarian, N. and Kirin,
D. 2017. <i>Progress through Calculus: Census Survey Report</i>. </span><b><a href="https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/PtC%20Technical%20Report_Final.pdf"><span style="color: blue; font-weight: normal;">https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/PtC
Technical Report_Final.pdf</span></a><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3; text-indent: -.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bressoud, D. 2016. What
we say/What they hear. <i>Launchings</i>. </span><b><a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2016/02/"><span style="color: blue; font-weight: normal;">http://launchings.blogspot.com/2016/02/</span></a><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3; text-indent: -.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bressoud, D. 2016. What
we say/What they hear. II. <i>Launchings</i>. </span><b><a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2016/03/"><span style="color: blue; font-weight: normal;">http://launchings.blogspot.com/2016/03/</span></a><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bressoud, D. 2018. Why
colleges must change how they teach calculus. <i>TheConversation</i>. January
31, 2018. </span><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-colleges-must-change-how-they-teach-calculus-90679"><span style="color: blue;">https://theconversation.com/why-colleges-must-change-how-they-teach-calculus-90679</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Campbell, C.M., Cabrera,
A.F., Michel, J.O., and Patel, S. 2017. From Comprehensive to Singular: A
Latent Class Analysis of College Teaching Practices. <i>Research in Higher
Education</i>. <b>58</b>: 581–604.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "ms mincho" , serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11162-016-9440-0"><span style="color: blue;">https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11162-016-9440-0</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hestenes D., Wells M.,
Swackhamer G. 1992. Force concept inventory. <i>The Physics Teacher</i> <b>30</b>:
141-166. </span><a href="http://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.2343497"><span style="color: blue;">http://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.2343497</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hestenes D. 1998. Who
needs physics education research!?. <i>Am. J. Phys</i>. <b>66</b>:46.5. </span><a href="http://aapt.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1119/1.18898"><span style="color: blue;">http://aapt.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1119/1.18898</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mathematical Association
of America. 2017. <i>Instructional Practices Guide</i>. </span><a href="https://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/curriculum%20resources/instructional-practices-guide"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/curriculum
resources/instructional-practices-guide</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -.2in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Neumann, A. 2014.
Staking a claim on learning: What we should know about learning in higher
education and why. <i>The Review of higher Education</i>. <b>37</b>:249–267. </span><a href="http://www.ashe.ws/files/Past%20Presidents/37.2.neumann.pdf"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">http://www.ashe.ws/files/Past Presidents/37.2.neumann.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">pdf</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-70795759343297317012018-02-01T07:00:00.000-05:002018-02-01T07:00:05.098-05:00Getting to Know the IP Guide<b><i>You can follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b><br />
<br />
In 2015, the MAA’s Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics (CUPM) produced its latest <i><a href="http://maa.org/cupm" target="_blank">Curriculum Guide</a></i>. Extensive as this was, including specific recommendations for most courses and programs offered in departments of mathematics, the steering committee that it left out a big part of what is needed for effective teaching. Spurred by the <i><a href="https://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/curriculum%20resources/common-vision" target="_blank">Common Vision</a></i> report that outlined what we know about effective teaching and called for their implementation, CUPM set out to describe in detail examples of instructional practices that can greatly improve teaching and learning. The result is the <a href="http://www.maa.org/node/789682" target="_blank"><i>Instructional Practices Guide</i></a> (IP Guide), now available for <a href="http://www.maa.org/node/789682" target="_blank">free download</a> from the MAA.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4S5weExLmLb2NT2OYQ7GRJB7gfbE_C8QopN3CzyaQQtwDBmBOtzqDl32sNjpzAAE_PWDCSLJqFl8G8O38a6kMUCwR5xD42w6aNEtlCBTKNB3hquByoNEvs5qmZjKFvgK7usspsXvOY1Xr/s1600/Launchings_effectiveteaching_images.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="903" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4S5weExLmLb2NT2OYQ7GRJB7gfbE_C8QopN3CzyaQQtwDBmBOtzqDl32sNjpzAAE_PWDCSLJqFl8G8O38a6kMUCwR5xD42w6aNEtlCBTKNB3hquByoNEvs5qmZjKFvgK7usspsXvOY1Xr/s400/Launchings_effectiveteaching_images.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the description of paired board work, page 20 of the IP Guide.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The core of the IP Guide message is that<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Effective teaching and deep learning require student engagement with content both inside and outside the classroom.</b></blockquote>
This puts the emphasis within the phrase “active learning” where its advocates have always intended it to be, on <i>learning</i>, employing those practices that foster higher order thinking skills.
<br />
<br />
The report is usefully divided into three sections: <b>Classroom Practices</b>, activities that can be used in the classroom to promote engagement with the material; <b>Assessment Practices</b>, how assessment can be used formatively and to probe student understanding; and <b>Design Practices</b>, which get to the broader questions of how to design courses that incorporate the classroom and assessment practices in ways that are most effective. It concludes with two short sections, one on the use of technology and one on equity issues.
<br />
<br />
Classroom Practices constitutes the longest section, describing how to build a classroom community, use wait time, respond to students, and promote persistence. This section includes explanations and examples of some of the standard techniques of active learning: one-minute papers, think-pair-share, just-in-time teaching, and peer instruction.
<br />
<br />
Almost as long as the section on Classroom Practices, Assessment Practices goes into detail on what effective, meaningful, and helpful assessment looks like and how it can be accomplished without overwhelming the instructor, even in large classes.
<br />
<br />
We now have overwhelming evidence of the importance of active cognitive engagement with the mathematics we want our students to learn. Those of us who have succeeded in mathematics have known how to do this outside of the classroom. Most students do not. Most students still approach mathematics as a sequence of templates to be learned for solving specific sets of problems. If we want them to learn anything that will stay with them beyond the term, any knowledge that is transferable, then we must structure our classes so that students are forced to wrestle with the material. The IP Guide should prove to be a useful resource as we reconfigure our courses to meet these goals.
<br />
<br />
<b>References
</b><br />
Karen Saxe and Linda Braddy. 2015. <i>A Common Vision for Undergraduate Mathematical Sciences Programs in 2025</i>. Washington DC: MAA Press. <a href="https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/CommonVisionFinal.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/CommonVisionFinal.pdf</a><br />
<br />
Carol S. Schumacher and Martha J. Siegel, co-Chairs, Paul Zorn, editor. 2015. <i>2015 CUPM Curriculum Guide to Majors in the Mathematical Sciences</i>. <a href="https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/CUPM%20Guide.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/CUPM Guide.pdf</a><br />
<br />
MAA. 2017. <i>Instructional Practices Guide</i>.
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/xpvkni52tkf0wgt/MAA_IP_Guide_V1-1.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/s/xpvkni52tkf0wgt/MAA_IP_Guide_V1-1.pdf?dl=0</a><br />
<br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-88749109153315855842018-01-01T06:55:00.000-05:002018-01-02T10:18:55.474-05:00Indicators for STEM Education<b><i>You can follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b>
<br />
<br />
The National Academies have just released the Board on Science Education report on Indicators
for Monitoring Undergraduate STEM Education (available at <a href="http://sites.nationalacademies.org/DBASSE/BOSE">http://sites.nationalacademies.org/DBASSE/BOSE</a>).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMcr612MqXyqOmKUZU8eTUn4VGNOREVXKDENLA-lm7upG8LNAV9gVNwtDNZVvIVY_m1jLuT2XtKgw0YaHQsQsu_7SCptwhXeJ0R-m2oymLQBQt5dE29A-8DSydGdqZLuWdO4YGJTzusShG/s1600/Launchings_Stem_gears.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="263" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMcr612MqXyqOmKUZU8eTUn4VGNOREVXKDENLA-lm7upG8LNAV9gVNwtDNZVvIVY_m1jLuT2XtKgw0YaHQsQsu_7SCptwhXeJ0R-m2oymLQBQt5dE29A-8DSydGdqZLuWdO4YGJTzusShG/s1600/Launchings_Stem_gears.png" /></a></div>
<br />
This report is a response to the concern raised by the President’s Council of Advisors in Science
and Technology that despite the many initiatives that are seeking to improve the teaching and
learning of STEM subjects, we do not have effective national-scale measures of their success.
The core of the charge to the committee that produced this report was to identify objectives for
the improvement of STEM education, describe indicators that would inform whether or not we
are making progress, and catalog what currently exists or could be developed by way of research
and data collection to track progress. This extensive report provides this information.
<br />
<br />
The committee identified eleven objectives, organized into three general goals:
<br />
<br />
<b>Goal 1: Increase students’ mastery of STEM concepts and skills by engaging them in
evidence-based STEM practices and programs.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
1.1 Use of evidence-based stem educational practices both in and outside of classrooms<br />
1.2 Existence and use of supports that help instructors use evidence-based STEM educational practices<br />
1.3 An institutional culture that values undergraduate STEM education<br />
1.4 Continuous improvement in STEM teaching and learning </blockquote>
<b>Goal 2: Strive for equity, diversity, and inclusion of STEM students and instructors by
providing equitable opportunities for access and success.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
2.1 Equity of access to high-quality undergraduate STEM educational programs and
experiences<br />
2.2 Representational diversity among STEM credential earners<br />
2.3 Representational diversity among STEM instructors<br />
2.4 Inclusive environments in institutions and STEM departments</blockquote>
<b>Goal 3: Ensure adequate numbers of STEM professionals.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
3.1 Foundational preparation for STEM for all students<br />
3.2 Successful navigation into and through STEM programs of study<br />
3.3 STEM credential attainment</blockquote>
Each of these objectives is explained in detail, together with indicators of success and suggestions
for how these might be measured. To give an indication of the breadth of this report, I’ll
summarize some of what it says about the first and third objective, “Use of evidence-based stem
educational practices both in and outside of classroom” and “An institutional culture that values
undergraduate STEM education.”<br />
<br />
The report first explains what evidence-based stem educational practices entail. For in-class
practices, the report includes active learning and formative assessments. Acknowledging the lack
of a common definition of active learning, this report uses it “to refer to that class of pedagogical
practices that <i>cognitively</i> engage students in building understanding at the highest levels of
Bloom’s taxonomy,” and then elaborates with examples that include “collaborative classroom
activities, fast feedback using classroom response systems (e.g., clickers), problem-based
learning, and peer instruction.”<br />
<br />
This resonates with the CBMS definition, “classroom practices that engage students in activities,
such as reading, writing, discussion, or problem solving, that promote higher-order thinking”
(<a href="https://www.cbmsweb.org/2016/07/active-learning-in-post-secondary-mathematics-education/" target="_blank">https://www.cbmsweb.org/2016/07/active-learning-in-post-secondary-mathematics-education/</a>).
The point being to engage students in wrestling with the critical concepts while in class. Thus the
emphasis is not on activity as such, but on the promotion of cognitive engagement in higher order
thinking.<br />
<br />
I appreciate the emphasis on formative assessment: frequent, low-stakes, and varied assessments
that clarify for students what they actually do and do not know. I also have found these helpful in
informing me where student difficulties lie. The Indicators report references a 1998 review of
formative assessment literature by Black and Wiliam, “Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards
through Classroom Assessment,” that presents this as the single most effective means of raising
student performance and describes how it needs to be done if it is to have these positive benefits.
(Black and Wiliam article available at
<a href="https://www.rdc.udel.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/InsideBlackBox.pdf">https://www.rdc.udel.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/InsideBlackBox.pdf</a>.)<br />
<br />
Another important insight from this report, also identified in the MAA’s calculus studies, is the
importance of course coordination. If a department is to improve instruction, it is essential that its
members share a common understanding of the goals of the course. These shape pedagogical and
curricular decisions as well as how student accomplishment is to be measured. The degree of
coordination is one of the aspects of objective 1.3: <b>An institutional culture that values
undergraduate STEM education. </b>As the report states on page 3-12,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A growing body of research indicates that many dimensions of current departmental and
institutional cultures in higher education pose barriers to educators’ adoption of evidence-
based educational practices (e.g., Dolan et al., 2016; Elrod and Kezar, 2015, 2016a,
2016b). For example, allowing each individual instructor full control over his or her
course, including learning outcomes, a well-established norm in some STEM
departments, can cause instructors to resist working with colleagues to establish shared
learning goals for core courses, a process that is essential for improving teaching and
learning.</blockquote>
As I reported last February in "<a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2017/02/" target="_blank">MAA Calculus Study: PtC Survey Results</a>," there is very little
departmental coordination around homework, exams, grades, or instructional approaches.
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQW-FS8zrkhb1Y_PfqmfFqNYvQQzZxFjHxPtxbIWBat0mrFP2VWr_rYMr8O2G5h9K96fskre3qN4l07sKURvQhnudruJUsKmNzTvV6cfgIuVSKUcns0faims2oynfcgyWRX9WnojQB06r/s1600/STEM_education_table.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="575" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQW-FS8zrkhb1Y_PfqmfFqNYvQQzZxFjHxPtxbIWBat0mrFP2VWr_rYMr8O2G5h9K96fskre3qN4l07sKURvQhnudruJUsKmNzTvV6cfgIuVSKUcns0faims2oynfcgyWRX9WnojQB06r/s400/STEM_education_table.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table. Of the 207 mainstream Calculus I courses with multiple sections taught in 121 PhD-
granting departments and 103 such courses in 76 Masters-granting departments, the percentage of
courses that have each feature in common across all sections.
Source: PtC Census Survey Technical Report, available at<br />
<a href="https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/PtC%20Technical%20Report_Final.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/PtC Technical Report_Final.pdf</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Of course, the big issue for an institutional culture that values undergraduate STEM education is
how teaching is evaluated and role it plays in decisions of promotion and tenure. What is deeply
discouraging is how poorly most departments do with just questions of coordination.
<br />
<br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-84544052187263609902017-12-01T07:36:00.000-05:002017-12-01T07:36:08.591-05:00Essential Questions<b><i>You can follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0-37aSZh3LF1veYQh6ZNFQNjMkFzwpMjbS-3xpyRC4QCvtXqdYs2tkr18v6762nkkYUvwEXvyFwvHPoJhB3Cu1neEQvJBeFRJWSYr12sBIjEo_rREMbfxvr7K8wVj6iHg31WqbDpLntI/s1600/AAUSTEM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="1175" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0-37aSZh3LF1veYQh6ZNFQNjMkFzwpMjbS-3xpyRC4QCvtXqdYs2tkr18v6762nkkYUvwEXvyFwvHPoJhB3Cu1neEQvJBeFRJWSYr12sBIjEo_rREMbfxvr7K8wVj6iHg31WqbDpLntI/s640/AAUSTEM.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
For over five years, the Association of American Universities (AAU), representing the 62
leading research universities in the United States and Canada, has been engaged in
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
an initiative to improve the quality of undergraduate teaching and learning in
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields at its member
institutions. The overall objective is to influence the culture of STEM departments
at AAU universities so that faculty members are encouraged to use teaching
practices proven to be effective in engaging students in STEM education and in
helping students learn. (See <a href="https://www.aau.edu/education-service/undergraduate-education/undergraduate-%20stem-education-%20initiative" target="_blank">https://www.aau.edu/education-service/undergraduate-education/undergraduate- stem-education- initiative</a>.)</blockquote>
<br />
Products from this initiative that should be of help to every mathematics department
seeking to improve instructional practice are now available online. These include a
framework for improving undergraduate STEM education with examples of programs at
AAU universities that address each of the elements of <a href="https://www.aau.edu/education-service/undergraduate-education/undergraduate-stem-education-initiative/stem-framework" target="_blank">the framework</a>.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0bpirK_UVZz_cFbG4X75BcRNgizs3Dt4AYSxQRi0F0Yj7nLSNOp41T1KjUlyH5vlQHzPYsP_DI8ZQob9Hn2RaT9fCLTDDAZiyY-G6Kws4WZmgUNaiiLxLzso018aNejTiKMN9Q3O3oiF/s1600/AAUCover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0bpirK_UVZz_cFbG4X75BcRNgizs3Dt4AYSxQRi0F0Yj7nLSNOp41T1KjUlyH5vlQHzPYsP_DI8ZQob9Hn2RaT9fCLTDDAZiyY-G6Kws4WZmgUNaiiLxLzso018aNejTiKMN9Q3O3oiF/s320/AAUCover.png" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure: Cover of the AAU <i>Essential Questions & Data Sources </i>Report.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This past summer, they released their report on <a href="https://www.aau.edu/essential-questions-data-sources-continuous-improvement-undergraduate-stem-teaching-and-learning" target="_blank"><i>Essential Questions & Data Sources for Continuous Improvement of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning</i></a>.
Data sources include institutional data and
tools for its visualization, observation protocols, rubrics, frameworks, student learning
assessments, and surveys. The essential questions are separated into questions for
institutional leadership as well as at the college, departmental, and instructor levels.
<br />
<br />
Because I believe that departmental leadership is the critical juncture for effective
improvement, I will focus the remainder of this column on the questions addressed to
departmental leaders and comment on what we have learned from the MAA’s studies of
calculus instruction. By departmental leadership, I mean not just chairs and associate
chairs, but all of those who shape the department’s direction. Change does not happen
without a chair who is committed to improving the teaching and learning within the
department, but it cannot be maintained without the support of a core of senior faculty.
<br />
<br />
<i>Do all of the courses in the department have articulated learning goals, and are these
made clear to students? What process exists to ensure that individual course learning
goals connect to learning goals for the program, major, and department?</i>
<br />
<br />
One of the clearest findings from the MAA calculus studies is that coordination of
multiple section classes is essential. A prerequisite for effective coordination is a shared
sense of what each course is seeking to accomplish.
<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>What are the demographics of students in the department? What are the progression/retention/completion rates for students in the department or major broken
out by relevant demographic categories? How do these compare with other departments and what steps are being taken to improve these rates?
</i><br />
<br />
Most departments I have visited have a sense that they are not doing as much as they
could or should for students from traditionally underrepresented groups. This is not just a
question of race, ethnicity, or gender, but also for students who are first generation, of
lower socio-economic status, or from under-resourced schools whether they be inner city
or rural. A department cannot know what is working for which populations if it is not
tracking success rates by student demographics.
<br />
<br />
<i>What actions has the department chair taken to encourage instructors to take advantage
of both on-campus and off-campus (e.g., through relevant disciplinary societies)
resources and professional development related to pedagogy? How many instructors
have taken advantage of these resources and what notable improvements have occurred
as the result?</i>
<br />
<br />
The CBMS 2015 survey and other sources have documented that improvements in
instructional pedagogy, support services, and course options almost always result from
efforts initiated by individual faculty members. This question probes what the department
is doing to nurture these faculty.
<br />
<br />
<i>What resources are available to instructors in the department for encouraging all
students to succeed, and what steps have been taken to ensure all instructors take
advantage of these resources?</i>
<br />
<br />
We know that faculty expectations of student ability play a huge role in how well
students do, and faculty attitudes toward support services shape how students think about
using these resources. The department as a whole must work to ensure the effectiveness
of these services and then actively support their use, not as remediation but as a source of
support and enrichment.
<br />
<br />
<i>To what extent do departmental instructors have access to learning spaces that support
evidence-based pedagogy? What training in the use of those facilities is available to
instructors in the department?</i>
<br />
<br />
The physical layout of classrooms and access to appropriate technology is critical for
implementing effective pedagogies. This means tables where students can work together;
sufficient space for instructors to walk around, answer questions, and observe how
students are progressing; and sufficient board space for student groups to share their
work. It does not have to be high tech classroom, but computer projection that is easily
visible by all students is essential.
<br />
<br />
<i>What is the department chair’s and distinguished faculty members’ support of evidence-
based pedagogy? How well-known is this support to instructors and students?</i>
<br />
<br />
This returns to the issue of nurturing those faculty who are positioned to initiate effective
improvements. They need to know that if they are going to sink time and energy into
improving teaching and learning within the department, then they will have the support
not just of the chair whose term is limited but also of a core group of senior faculty who
can ensure that support continues.
<br />
<br />
<i>What are the biggest barriers to evidence-based pedagogy for instructors in the
department and how is the chair working to address them? How often does the chair
discuss these issues with the dean or other institutional leaders?</i>
<br />
<br />
This addresses the chair’s critical role as the bridge between enthusiastic faculty, eager
with ideas, and the college or university administrators with concerns to improve
instruction and with access to resources that can support change. It is a position that
requires insight and discernment on the part of the chair: to understand the priorities of
the dean or provost and to comprehend the nature and potential of the initiative that
faculty members are proposing. What will it take to implement a particular change? How
can it be sold to the dean? What worries of the dean can be matched to ideas from the
faculty?
<br />
<br />
<i>How are all faculty who participate in annual/merit, promotion, and tenure evaluations
educated about the meaningful inclusion of measures of teaching excellence in those
processes? How closely does the chair review the outcomes of those processes to ensure
teaching is indeed meaningfully included?</i>
<br />
<br />
Finally, there is this elephant standing in the background of every effort to improve
teaching and learning: How will it effect promotion and tenure? In my early years at Penn
State, I was told that the dean of science was concerned about any faculty member that
received high praise for teaching, because that might be a sign that they were neglecting
their research. Even in my later years there, I found it necessary to discourage untenured
faculty from sinking too much time into educational efforts. Unfortunately, the
bifurcation of the faculty that I wrote about in <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-loss-of-tenure-positions-threats-to.html">October</a>, separating tenure line faculty
from contract faculty, only exacerbates this problem. With the option to “drop down” to a
non-tenure line, the pressure to publish and receive research grants is all the greater.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-51375649911638477982017-11-02T11:15:00.000-04:002017-11-02T11:15:38.412-04:00Women in the Profession<b><i>You can follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b>
<br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
In last month’s column, I described the loss of tenure positions and their replacement with other full-time faculty appointments. This month, I will focus on how this has affected women earning PhDs in the mathematical sciences, also drawing on the Annual Survey of new PhDs, made available through AMS.
<br />
<br />
The first observation is that, while the number of tenured and tenure-eligible female faculty has increased by a third since 1995, most of the employment gains have been in other-full-time positions, which have more than tripled (Figure 1).
<br />
<br />
The first observation is that, while the number of tenured and tenure-eligible female faculty has increased by a third since 1995, most of the employment gains have been in other-full-time positions, which have more than tripled (Figure 1).
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB-tvti8TXfKz25Oi04T75jk8L_2S4b0_2ky_0YxqcFzMDwmdyUDuRgLIhkK6UxaUYbaL7gyteWL6gMcstB9x73hKACgkq4KZ_O0WECqqpfY6__PpZ1EI603fAD6NCWV0bBzLuIjkrsd5l/s1600/FemaleFaculty_fig1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB-tvti8TXfKz25Oi04T75jk8L_2S4b0_2ky_0YxqcFzMDwmdyUDuRgLIhkK6UxaUYbaL7gyteWL6gMcstB9x73hKACgkq4KZ_O0WECqqpfY6__PpZ1EI603fAD6NCWV0bBzLuIjkrsd5l/s1600/FemaleFaculty_fig1.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1.</b> The number of women employed in U.S. departments of mathematics,<br />
applied mathematics, or statistics. T & TE = tenure or tenure-eligible. Other full-time includes post-docs.<br />
Source: CBMS Surveys for 1995, 200, 2005, 2010, 2015.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This is particularly noticeable in PhD-granting mathematics departments, where a woman employed full-time is far less likely than a man to be in a tenure or tenure-eligible position (Figures 2 & 3). In 2015, 80% of the men employed full-time in a PhD-granting department were in tenure or tenure-eligible positions, this fraction having dropped from 91% in 1995. For women, the percentage fell from 65% in 2015 to 44% in 2015.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxTCwd3HaGdblZ5fIPuH8HPORQNP3kzjFHAFTgXNeAeBmwWAgJfGRJSPpO-iKhkgRTEnxkyKTq7zs4UBiNGnrrk0BbSLFWI89mpY0KmsfoIJ3SmpSNzm5gSIpF8nUChyphenhyphenLWm9azqocsMuK/s1600/WomenatPhDuniversities.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxTCwd3HaGdblZ5fIPuH8HPORQNP3kzjFHAFTgXNeAeBmwWAgJfGRJSPpO-iKhkgRTEnxkyKTq7zs4UBiNGnrrk0BbSLFWI89mpY0KmsfoIJ3SmpSNzm5gSIpF8nUChyphenhyphenLWm9azqocsMuK/s1600/WomenatPhDuniversities.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2. </b> The number of women employed in PhD-granting U.S. departments of mathematics, applied mathematics, or statistics.<br />
T & TE = tenure or tenure-eligible. Other full-time includes post-docs.<br />
Source: CBMS Surveys for 1995, 200, 2005, 2010, 2015.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaMH_7pmtMK-qj-sj14ZvZqwsFyKoYEOyEEC9zYuRvPeXJBmSUsXnEOzbMmQw6s8iBXjXVoIhRV2L87PTMP4oENjHANB0CFwIcFKjomyywTtF2eLZNkcF67Y7BsbHGubeHkZijRR8WMjhd/s1600/MenatPhDuniversities.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaMH_7pmtMK-qj-sj14ZvZqwsFyKoYEOyEEC9zYuRvPeXJBmSUsXnEOzbMmQw6s8iBXjXVoIhRV2L87PTMP4oENjHANB0CFwIcFKjomyywTtF2eLZNkcF67Y7BsbHGubeHkZijRR8WMjhd/s1600/MenatPhDuniversities.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 3.</b> The number of men employed in PhD-granting U.S. departments of mathematics, applied mathematics, or statistics. T & TE = tenure or tenure-eligible. Other full-time includes post-docs.<br />
Source: CBMS Surveys for 1995, 200, 2005, 2010, 2015.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Despite the appearance that women are making substantial gains in tenure and tenure-eligible positions in PhD-granting departments, the fact is that they have only grown from 9% of those faculty in 1995 to 16% in 2015. In comparison, in Masters-granting departments the percentage of women in tenure and tenure-eligible positions rose from 18% in 1995 to 29% in 2015. At undergraduate colleges, it rose from 26% in 1995 to 32% in 2015. Over the same two decades, women rose from 22% of the PhDs awarded by mathematics departments to 26%.<br />
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If we look at all PhDs awarded to women in the mathematical sciences, now including departments of statistics or applied mathematics, the situation looks better, rising to 31% in 2015 (Figure 4), with women earning 33% of the PhDs in applied mathematics and 46% of those degrees in statistics.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcs5RBzxaweqJDm2TJJ9zDImxd7I-RdG8Yqu0syFJm6Zczui6RRMMbdO_S5gHDpOaOxW3WmJHg_i4qRdO0JrW1otbZCfIEl9IIWCImM7mlWd_1IntUGIBEasbrL7RObAuh2rBowS3s2sFA/s1600/WomenaspercentofnewPhDs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="447" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcs5RBzxaweqJDm2TJJ9zDImxd7I-RdG8Yqu0syFJm6Zczui6RRMMbdO_S5gHDpOaOxW3WmJHg_i4qRdO0JrW1otbZCfIEl9IIWCImM7mlWd_1IntUGIBEasbrL7RObAuh2rBowS3s2sFA/s1600/WomenaspercentofnewPhDs.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 4. </b>Women as a percentage of new PhDs in the mathematical sciences in the U.S.
by type of department.<br />
Source: The Joint Data Committee’s Annual Survey available at AMS.org, 1995 through 2015.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
CBMS does not collect the data that would enable us to make comparable statements about the type of employment gained by mathematicians from other underrepresented groups and the numbers are so small it is not clear how meaningful they would be, but it does appear that efforts to broaden the diversity of mathematics departments is being stymied by the trend to replace tenure-line positions with contract positions. At least for women, their expanding representation in mathematics faculty is happening primarily in those contract positions.
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<br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-40225990428760628442017-10-02T10:47:00.000-04:002017-10-27T17:31:43.957-04:00The Loss of Tenure Positions: Threats to the Profession<b><i>You can follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b>
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The preliminary tables from the CBMS 2015 surveys of U.S. departments of mathematics or
statistics are now available from the CBMS homepage at <a href="http://cbmsweb.org/">CBMSweb.org</a> or by clicking <a href="http://www.ams.org/profession/data/cbms-survey/cbms2015-work" target="_blank">HERE</a>. I
am using this month’s column to highlight one of the most dramatic developments: the loss of
tenured and tenure-eligible faculty (Figure 1). At the end of this article, I reflect on the
implications for our profession.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYPNb_gP-Co2o8cFRGhYXWcDjGB0lJ08Ittija1l_7PY4QYV5bMaRM96QdZCXRy30r15KwUdMAmho1K0lYrV8dbdClmPUsjjEN43JdP027T-kdD7ELVPxoWzZvfgmQ6P9vE5lexLvMnnH3/s1600/fig1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYPNb_gP-Co2o8cFRGhYXWcDjGB0lJ08Ittija1l_7PY4QYV5bMaRM96QdZCXRy30r15KwUdMAmho1K0lYrV8dbdClmPUsjjEN43JdP027T-kdD7ELVPxoWzZvfgmQ6P9vE5lexLvMnnH3/s1600/fig1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1. Number of faculty in mathematics departments.<br />
T & TE = tenured or tenure-eligible, other full-time includes post-docs.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The year 2015 saw the fewest tenured or tenure-eligible faculty, 15,270, since 1995, a drop of two thousand positions since 2005. Where they have gone is no mystery. The number of other full-time faculty, including post-docs, has tripled over the past two decades, from 2140 in 1995 to 6427 in 2015.
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The break-down by type of institution—according to the highest degree offered by the mathematics department: PhD, Master’s, or Bachelor’s—is interesting. PhD-granting universities have seen remarkably constant numbers of tenure positions, Master’s universities have seen the greatest loss, and undergraduate colleges saw a spike around 2005 and have now returned to the number of positions in 1995. The growth in other full-time positions has been most dramatic at the PhD-granting universities, from 758 in 1995 to 2336 in 2015 (Figures 2–4).
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4EIOs0EIJ4u3U26kH5_3YIoE56iNMaOzxmLltMEZOHnz7nTaVZrbLy9cN6ITolEEqB5XeZPvkAND3vMS9nOwNH5-zZIS7xr0d_9w_QlggM0-USzDn2NhhVyFC0TT4gR0UaqdPcjfA_hP5/s1600/fig2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="447" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4EIOs0EIJ4u3U26kH5_3YIoE56iNMaOzxmLltMEZOHnz7nTaVZrbLy9cN6ITolEEqB5XeZPvkAND3vMS9nOwNH5-zZIS7xr0d_9w_QlggM0-USzDn2NhhVyFC0TT4gR0UaqdPcjfA_hP5/s1600/fig2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 2. Distribution of faculty in PhD-granting mathematics departments.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjp2hM6uWQKAdnh_yS7bg17jmj7REwXF7jU3JUgNEY4Dxoc_d1eKuCZ0BiOP8QycX72oTaD1WIjvyP6ew0JMwdkJhjQ0lSxNSxnhazX8FdvQuvCNd_vCZD_3uB-HrBALKEnFJKyKXPSYaN/s1600/fig3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjp2hM6uWQKAdnh_yS7bg17jmj7REwXF7jU3JUgNEY4Dxoc_d1eKuCZ0BiOP8QycX72oTaD1WIjvyP6ew0JMwdkJhjQ0lSxNSxnhazX8FdvQuvCNd_vCZD_3uB-HrBALKEnFJKyKXPSYaN/s1600/fig3.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 3. Distribution of faculty in Master’s-granting mathematics departments.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8v2lcN7hBKx6TULkb0oazcDwuAxATwzrlwQkp5gYmbkjMnlEChBZ0S0vbLIBHcyXKXXQUVX2MVda8dN-OvK6rNzfkAaQZenWtvEK5wSCTgPEVwAtN9T2VSj2620gZ6xLLz1r4Z-s44CV/s1600/fig4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="447" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8v2lcN7hBKx6TULkb0oazcDwuAxATwzrlwQkp5gYmbkjMnlEChBZ0S0vbLIBHcyXKXXQUVX2MVda8dN-OvK6rNzfkAaQZenWtvEK5wSCTgPEVwAtN9T2VSj2620gZ6xLLz1r4Z-s44CV/s1600/fig4.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 4. Distribution of faculty in Bachelor’s-granting mathematics departments.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It is not that we now have fewer students to teach. Since 2005, the number of students studying
mathematics in four-year under undergraduate programs has grown from 1.6 to over 2.2 million,
an increase of 38% (Figure 5). If we add in the statistics courses taught within mathematics
departments, the number of students enrolled each fall has jumped from 1.79 to 2.53 million,
almost three-quarters of a million additional students. This dramatic growth holds even when we
restrict to students at the level of calculus instruction and above, where the past decade has seen
an increase of 262,000 students (Figure 6). To meet this increased demand while dropping two
thousand tenure positions, we have added over three thousand other full-time faculty and one
thousand part-time faculty.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8e49k5kmyDhhILnFcMZL9b_zrIH_1jWr_d2wAdEJCrElDQ6hDY9wzo4TDYkjiUtrqh87y17sYkMPUd85hTg6QSrkWF-kOv3Y_QbPSqS-05bdqNROSlj7_Ib0tSda-MFkMgoyl0n6_AJqd/s1600/fig5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="513" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8e49k5kmyDhhILnFcMZL9b_zrIH_1jWr_d2wAdEJCrElDQ6hDY9wzo4TDYkjiUtrqh87y17sYkMPUd85hTg6QSrkWF-kOv3Y_QbPSqS-05bdqNROSlj7_Ib0tSda-MFkMgoyl0n6_AJqd/s1600/fig5.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 5. Undergraduate enrollment in mathematics in four-year programs. Calculus level includes sophomore-level differential equations, linear algebra, and discrete mathematics. Advanced is any math course beyond calculus level. These do not include statistics.</td><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyUGn7JfRWJCsoKT_ewv_70MYJn1TzBn4h7Gk80AEEod9MPTDz0Z_SCmr04ksqSpGqbQTlTjDVdnx-fu7a5sMHDQUlGmWDExPq1p-Vn9H0v-JfStCgiGlKcqOS9R9Ld7z4xB9WI8bFIaGm/s1600/fig6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyUGn7JfRWJCsoKT_ewv_70MYJn1TzBn4h7Gk80AEEod9MPTDz0Z_SCmr04ksqSpGqbQTlTjDVdnx-fu7a5sMHDQUlGmWDExPq1p-Vn9H0v-JfStCgiGlKcqOS9R9Ld7z4xB9WI8bFIaGm/s1600/fig6.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 6. Undergraduate enrollment at calculus level and above.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Not surprisingly, this means that undergraduate courses are now much less likely to be taught by
a tenured or tenure-eligible faculty member. Figures 7 and 8 show what has happened at the PhD-
granting universities. The 2015 survey was the first time that mainstream Calculus I and Calculus
II were less likely to be taught by tenure line faculty than by other full-time faculty.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdGRHqJ4ie7RspPrVqASTWLd3rWSNxgYqxu2kCnujtP4o3FSFIj1z1mblZbfonjH4WDsj6b3RefeCEwethcunVHGjtf9xP1p7nOJ53UJ7w1eFmqnyF5vY0djy2QAY5xJKycNLSHFGMVpH/s1600/fig7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdGRHqJ4ie7RspPrVqASTWLd3rWSNxgYqxu2kCnujtP4o3FSFIj1z1mblZbfonjH4WDsj6b3RefeCEwethcunVHGjtf9xP1p7nOJ53UJ7w1eFmqnyF5vY0djy2QAY5xJKycNLSHFGMVpH/s1600/fig7.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 7. T &TE = tenured or tenure-eligible, other full-time includes post-docs.<br />
For 1995 and 2000, % is percentage of total students taking Calculus I.<br />
After 2000, it is the percentage of sections.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrdowBqbEi_RBd7H0FHOSW1jwzJOPyIG3KjNw-A8FsU3Pru4jQ3i5sv6QtHphe4wnB7WqQVL5c4FCY_2H0hgscbYI-G6R0Wgzf_MaPIwP2i9qmLC6-Hfbv_hh-v-RS63GOSL6UfokiqH5/s1600/fig8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrdowBqbEi_RBd7H0FHOSW1jwzJOPyIG3KjNw-A8FsU3Pru4jQ3i5sv6QtHphe4wnB7WqQVL5c4FCY_2H0hgscbYI-G6R0Wgzf_MaPIwP2i9qmLC6-Hfbv_hh-v-RS63GOSL6UfokiqH5/s1600/fig8.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 8. T & TE = tenured or tenure-eligible, other full-time includes post-docs.<br />
For 1995 and 2000, % is percentage of total students taking Calculus II.<br />
After 2000, it is the percentage of sections.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The trends are similar at Master’s universities and Bachelor’s colleges, though not as dramatic
(Figures 9–12, following the <b>Reflection</b>).
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<b>Reflection.</b> The CBMS data confirm what I have seen in departments across the country,
especially in PhD- and Masters-granting departments. More and more of the undergraduate
instruction is now the responsibility of contract faculty. In our research universities, it is
becoming unusual for a tenured faculty member to teach any undergraduate courses. The
unfortunate consequence is that the teacher-scholar, the ideal when I entered the profession, is
fast disappearing. Those who are most active in mathematical research receive few teaching
responsibilities. The remainder are saddled with heavy teaching loads that leave little time for
research.
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The reality of this bifurcation of the profession hit home in a recent network analysis of faculty
interaction around issues of teaching, undertaken by the MAA’s <i>Progress through Calculus</i>
project at a large public university. We found that tenure line faculty only interact with other
tenure line faculty, contract faculty only with other contract faculty, with just a few individuals to
provide a bridge. In effect, it has become two departments, one for undergraduate teaching and
the other for research and the preparation of graduate students.
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The teaching faculty are now manifestly second-class members of the profession: earning less
money and receiving fewer benefits, carrying heavier prescribed duties, often lacking input in
departmental decision-making, and living with the reality that, even with a renewable contract,
long-term prospects are uncertain. It is no wonder so many of them have chosen to unionize.
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There also are disturbing implications for the research faculty. Unlike Engineering or many of the
other sciences, tenured mathematics faculty members seldom receive research grants that cover
the full cost of their employment. Our public research universities have justified the size of their
departments of mathematics by the large load of service teaching these departments must provide.
Administrators are already questioning the wisdom of supporting a large corps of mathematics
researchers who contribute ever less to the activities that pay the university’s bills.
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We cannot turn back the clock, but there are mechanisms that can mitigate the dangers: involving
contract faculty in departmental committees and decision making, involving tenure line faculty in
observing and supporting those who carry the brunt of the teaching responsibilities, and ensuring
that everyone is respected. There was one simple action that I observed at the Colorado School of
Mines, a PhD-granting department. On the bulletin board that posts pictures of the faculty,
contract faculty were not segregated from tenure line faculty. All members of the faculty were
together in alphabetical order. What a radical idea.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmX2cq6gRA7KhGnTsBbEZx3fQIN7HF5lCj2snUt3fqnVqaqnG1cvzD7I-rAEqewt31JystzlzwKJInUfM-ylb7Sb5RI9fC9fv3QA4IDudoBtYnkrLvDwI9_-plJlaytSBZ40bY5MVZPDbz/s1600/fig9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="449" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmX2cq6gRA7KhGnTsBbEZx3fQIN7HF5lCj2snUt3fqnVqaqnG1cvzD7I-rAEqewt31JystzlzwKJInUfM-ylb7Sb5RI9fC9fv3QA4IDudoBtYnkrLvDwI9_-plJlaytSBZ40bY5MVZPDbz/s1600/fig9.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 9. T & TE = tenured or tenure-eligible, other full-time includes post-docs.<br />
For 1995 and 2000, % is percentage of total students taking Calculus I.<br />
After 2000, it is the percentage of sections.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSa8rd6PYrJ2gaLZWtPCKo2zb1KDE22Ut-IkRzl99_0fHEV0LMGaDD5k-l8dVvFizYt15qFsH3sWaY0bB2hpY9tnMg_rfqQKOXP4PbQ4a3fRuRwsLmbGn_Rm58ed2nAD3BfU1GaYfIi_ta/s1600/fig10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSa8rd6PYrJ2gaLZWtPCKo2zb1KDE22Ut-IkRzl99_0fHEV0LMGaDD5k-l8dVvFizYt15qFsH3sWaY0bB2hpY9tnMg_rfqQKOXP4PbQ4a3fRuRwsLmbGn_Rm58ed2nAD3BfU1GaYfIi_ta/s1600/fig10.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 10. T & TE = tenured or tenure-eligible, other full-time includes post-docs.<br />
For 1995 and 2000, % is percentage of total students taking Calculus II.<br />
After 2000, it is the percentage of sections.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrxkJVKu7bjypvf4CE6SUiDY8CgwWfGgDl70_bCPiCS9j8F3kj6dzPY8v05AoRvG2AzKy-vrd2y2zetVAFu0aNUL6yGP4ntZGk5IxWpakizn9q8iAcZn4T87MsnkD-TZ-DDh0iILgyvQlZ/s1600/fig11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrxkJVKu7bjypvf4CE6SUiDY8CgwWfGgDl70_bCPiCS9j8F3kj6dzPY8v05AoRvG2AzKy-vrd2y2zetVAFu0aNUL6yGP4ntZGk5IxWpakizn9q8iAcZn4T87MsnkD-TZ-DDh0iILgyvQlZ/s1600/fig11.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 11. T & TE = tenured or tenure-eligible, other full-time includes post-docs.<br />
For 1995 and 2000, % is percentage of total students taking Calculus I.<br />
After 2000, it is the percentage of sections.<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVu1OuQ-bQiS4vggFwJEsE62HupbDCXy63Cp8o8vzZ47gspdv2KXd8VtoTV3DhrEe4Y-2XmrP-7CWU10izV0ImDN9aT35Njlk5e-tlggVCt2W8ByKOlJD55wwTAlFLyhrBhgcyBoi0T_m/s1600/fig12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVu1OuQ-bQiS4vggFwJEsE62HupbDCXy63Cp8o8vzZ47gspdv2KXd8VtoTV3DhrEe4Y-2XmrP-7CWU10izV0ImDN9aT35Njlk5e-tlggVCt2W8ByKOlJD55wwTAlFLyhrBhgcyBoi0T_m/s1600/fig12.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 12. T & TE = tenured or tenure-eligible, other full-time includes post-docs.<br />
For 1995 and 2000, % is percentage of total students taking Calculus II.<br />
After 2000, it is the percentage of sections.</td></tr>
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<i>**Editorial note: Figures 1-4 were updated on October 27, 2017.</i>Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-90207288729441419402017-09-01T06:30:00.000-04:002017-09-01T06:30:10.529-04:00Mathematics as Peacock Feathers<b><i>You can follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b>
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Mathematics occupies a privileged position in our educational system, generally equated with English language facility—reading and writing—for emphasis within the K-12 curriculum, in curriculum reform efforts such as Common Core, in admissions testing with SAT and ACT, and in college graduation requirements. Why? An important recent article by Daniel Douglas and Paul Attewell, “School Mathematics as Gatekeeper,”[1] draws on data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002) [2] to explore this question.
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A common response is that in today’s technologically driven society, mathematical knowledge is more essential than ever. Yet, as the authors document, the fact is that few workers, even in those jobs that require a bachelor’s degree, use mathematics at or above the level of Algebra II on a regular basis.
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Of course, no one argues that actually factoring a quadratic or finding a derivative are essential skills for today’s workplace. Instead it is the habits of mind that learning mathematics instills that are considered so important. Douglas and Attewell look at the other side of this connection. It has been extremely difficult to demonstrate that mathematics instruction does lead to the development of logical thinking and effective problem solving, but society does recognize those who are successful in mathematics as talented individuals who are primed for success. The authors explore the role of mathematical achievement as a signal that a prospective student or employee is going to succeed, just as a peacock’s feathers signal a male capable of fathering strong offspring (Figure 1).
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8xBLU6jW2cZMRZ0JMfb1Og2aq2vCc3PmtkbR_EczQg4-i4crt71x-vtw01VcRCo2dnQfRdqo0lXhPKs6I9VL2_zDRNd1oLuk-nkKmxt7TMfn6h3oYHtfLkI4YtIN6ufMeXk4_uPDuGt1T/s1600/lauchings_peacock_calculus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="768" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8xBLU6jW2cZMRZ0JMfb1Og2aq2vCc3PmtkbR_EczQg4-i4crt71x-vtw01VcRCo2dnQfRdqo0lXhPKs6I9VL2_zDRNd1oLuk-nkKmxt7TMfn6h3oYHtfLkI4YtIN6ufMeXk4_uPDuGt1T/s320/lauchings_peacock_calculus.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-e6fd4f04-392e-dea8-8d5b-e809076a4e26"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Figure 1. From Bob Orlin’s “The Peacock Tail Theory of AP</span><span style="font-size: 6.6pt; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">®</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Calculus.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2016/07/20/the-peacock-tail-theory-of-ap-calculus/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">mathwithbaddrawings.com/2016/07/20/the-peacock-tail-theory-of-ap-calculus/</a></span></div>
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<br />Signals are important. Those who are believed capable of succeeding are more likely to get the support and encouragement they need to succeed. Douglas and Attewell were able to draw on ELS:2002, a ten-year longitudinal study of survey data and transcripts of 15,000 U.S. students, to test whether mathematical achievement in high school has such a signaling effect. Able to control for the common variables associated with success: general academic performance in high school, motivation, effort, academic involvement, gender, race/ethnicity, socio-economic status (SES), and parental education, they took as their null hypothesis that mathematical achievement—especially having studied precalculus or calculus in high school—would add nothing to the chances of being admitted to and graduating from a four-year college program.
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That null hypothesis was firmly rejected with a p-value less than 0.001. Controlling for all of those other factors, taking trigonometry or precalculus as the last high school math class was associated with increased odds of attending a four-year college, close to two times those of students whose last mathematics class was Algebra II. The odds of attending a selective college were doubled. Calculus in high school is an even stronger signal, associated with the increased odds of attending a four-year college by a factor of two and a half, and attending a selective college by a factor of three. Again controlling for all of these other variables, completing any of these courses nearly doubled the odds of earning a bachelor’s degree.
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In the other direction and still controlling for all other factors, terminating high school mathematics at Algebra I was associated with far lower odds of attending a four-year college—by a factor of one half. The odds of earning a bachelor’s degree among students completing only Algebra I were about a quarter of that for students for whom Algebra II was the highest mathematics course taken in high school.
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Reporting marginal effects, the authors note that students taking precalculus as the last high school mathematics course were 12 percentage points more likely to attend a four-year college than those for whom Algebra II was the last class. A precalculus class also raised the likelihood of attending a selective college by 12 percent, and of earning a bachelor’s degree by nine percent. Similarly, taking calculus in high school boosted the likelihood even further: 16 percent for four-year colleges, 18 percent for a selective college, and 10 percent for earning a bachelor's degree.
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Perhaps surprising is the fact that this signaling effect is strongest for students of high SES. Using a composite score of mathematical ability as measured by the ELS:2002 standardized test in mathematics and the highest mathematics course taken in high school, students scoring one standard deviation above the mean increased their likelihood of attending a selective college by 12 percent. For students with high SES, it increased by 25 percent. It is important to note that while these findings are statistically significant associations, they should not be interpreted as statements of causality.
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<b>Conclusions</b>
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The authors emphasize the irony of the very strong signal sent by advanced work in high school mathematics given how small a role it plays in actual workforce needs. It is my personal belief that the strong signaling effect of mathematical achievement points to something real, an analytic ability that goes beyond the other talents for which this study controlled: general academic performance in high school, motivation, effort, and academic involvement, but that the signal has been amplified beyond reason. This has important implications.
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The common perception that calculus on a high school transcript helps a student get into a selective college is supported by these data. It also appears to improve the chances of completing a bachelor’s degree. Given that this effect is strongest for students of high SES, those with parents who are best positioned to push to accelerate their sons and daughters, the trend to bring ever more students into calculus at an ever earlier point in their high school careers is rational. Rational does not mean desirable, or even necessarily appropriate, but it does mean that trying to counter the growth of high school calculus will require more than recommendations and policy statements. If misapplied acceleration can do harm, as many of us believe, we need convincing evidence of this.
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The work of Douglas and Attewell should also inform the debate over requiring Algebra II in high school. Those who oppose this as a requirement for all students point out that few will need the skills taught in this course; this perspective is highlighted by the study authors, though they do not believe mathematics requirements should be summarily dismissed. The problem is the self-reinforcing signal sent by not having Algebra II on one’s transcript. Their work also points to the importance of making precalculus and calculus available to all students who are prepared to study them. Lack of access in high school does more than postpone the opportunity for their study; the evidence suggests that it actually damages chances of post-secondary success.
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<b>References</b>
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[1] Douglas, D. and Attewell, P. (2017). School mathematics as gatekeeper. <i>The Sociological Quarterly</i>. <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00380253.2017.1354733" target="_blank">www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00380253.2017.1354733</a><br />
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[2] National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/els2002/">nces.ed.gov/surveys/els2002/</a>Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-84612262767462956482017-08-01T16:01:00.000-04:002017-08-01T16:01:08.232-04:00Changing Demographics<b><i>You can follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b>
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In the United States, the mathematically intensive disciplines—engineering, the mathematical sciences, and the physical sciences—have traditionally been dominated by White males. It is common knowledge that the U.S. population is changing. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the Department of Education show that while 73% of high school graduates in 1995 were White, by 2015 that had decreased to 55%, on track to drop below 50% by 2025, in just eight years (Figure 0.1). <i>These and all data in this article are taken from the NCES Digests of Education Statistics, 1990 through 2017, available at <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/">nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/</a>. </i><br />
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It has become a truism that if the United States is to maintain its pre-eminence in science and technology, we must ensure that traditionally underrepresented minorities share in this preparation for mathematically intensive careers. Groups like the <a href="http://maa.org/?utm_source=Launchings&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=MAA" target="_blank">Mathematical Association of America</a> have programs such as the <a href="https://www.maa.org/programs/maa-grants/women-and-mathematics-grants?utm_source=Launchings&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=Programs" target="_blank">Tensor grants</a> that encourage students from <a href="https://www.maa.org/programs/underrepresented-groups?utm_source=Launchings&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=Programs" target="_blank">underrepresented groups</a> to succeed in mathematics.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglj08YWBpSdW8UXnurcHnKXuavpys4XZZPQJFuS0cFqjT9s22pPfEpOevWb1fDdDdwlbKT-smW_PIzl_tZIeNNPJhXtdfqVKZkSQBOibc9-DMxZLCTYkrodEd9FIudnHZTjLTOPbXcLwcm/s1600/launchings+graph+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="727" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglj08YWBpSdW8UXnurcHnKXuavpys4XZZPQJFuS0cFqjT9s22pPfEpOevWb1fDdDdwlbKT-smW_PIzl_tZIeNNPJhXtdfqVKZkSQBOibc9-DMxZLCTYkrodEd9FIudnHZTjLTOPbXcLwcm/s640/launchings+graph+1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 0.1.<i> </i></b><i>White non-Hispanic students as percentage of all high school graduates. Percentages after 2012 are estimates based on the number of students already in the K-12 pipeline.</i><b> Note: scale starts at 40%.</b><span id="docs-internal-guid-6837ae5a-9f1a-7684-668c-c3377e1e2fab"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></td></tr>
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<br />While we have seen and should continue to see a modest increase in the percentage of Asian and Black students, most of the changing demographics are shaped by the dramatic growth in the number of Hispanic students, which grew from 9% of high school graduates in 1995 to 21% in 2015, projected to reach 27% by 2025 (Figure 0.2).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAOgTlTGIIv6Ugx6DzrRk70w8SPrzWihpRJ9H2khAG4Ju3hbgyrtlNU1dUHsD6KasZXKmdqMm6tAApX7nx_B73VSUyDAAg49RtErmJkXmhUhyphenhyphen0NDXxk9-wkw_qavdUcKzvXcFek1tFjtEL/s1600/launchings+graph+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="730" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAOgTlTGIIv6Ugx6DzrRk70w8SPrzWihpRJ9H2khAG4Ju3hbgyrtlNU1dUHsD6KasZXKmdqMm6tAApX7nx_B73VSUyDAAg49RtErmJkXmhUhyphenhyphen0NDXxk9-wkw_qavdUcKzvXcFek1tFjtEL/s640/launchings+graph+2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 0.02 </b> <span id="docs-internal-guid-6837ae5a-9f1b-ce02-febf-47204f12d8ab"><i>Black non-Hispanic, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander students as a percentage of all high school graduates. Percentages after 2012 are estimates based on the number of students already in the K-12.</i></span></td></tr>
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<br />The intent of this article is simply to exhibit the data showing how well we are including various racial, ethnic, and gender groups among the recipients of bachelor’s degrees in engineering, the mathematical sciences, and the physical sciences. In future articles, I will address some of the ways in which MAA and other organizations are addressing the issues raised by these trends. <br />
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The bulk of this paper is taken with three appendices that show the graphs of the percentage of bachelor’s degrees earned in these three areas by each of the following demographic groups:<br />
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<li>Figure x.1. Women</li>
<li>Figure x.2. White students, also reported by gender</li>
<li>Figure x.3. Black students, also reported by gender
Figure x.4.</li>
<li>Hispanic students, also reported by gender</li>
<li>Figure x.5. Asian students, also reported by gender</li>
<li>Figure x.6. Non-resident alien students, also reported by gender where x is 1 for engineering, 2 for the mathematical sciences, and 3 for the physical sciences.</li>
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Native Americans/Alaskan Natives account for 1.1% of high school graduates, 0.3% to 0.5% in engineering and mathematics, and 0.5% to 0.8% in the physical sciences. These numbers are so small that there is tremendous year-to-year variation, and the graphs do not exhibit meaningful trends. Only in 2011 did NCES begin separating Asian from Pacific Islander and begin to allow students to self-identify as two or more races. For the sake of consistency, all of the data reported for Asian students include Pacific Islander students. In the disciplines of engineering, mathematical sciences, and physical sciences, Pacific Islanders make up between 0.1% and 0.2% of the total majors. In the first year that the choice of two or more races was allowed, about 1% of the students in each of the three disciplines so identified. This had risen to 3% by 2015. From 2011 through 2015, about 2% of high school graduates identified as two or more races.<br />
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<b>Observations</b><br />
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Probably the most striking graph in this entire collection is Figure 2.6, showing the proportion of mathematics degrees going to non-resident aliens. Historically, this has been around 4%. It began to take off in 2008. By 2015, 13% of the bachelor’s degrees in the mathematical sciences were awarded to non-resident aliens. While we welcome these visitors and hope that many of them will stay, it is disturbing that so much of our mathematical talent must be imported. As shown in Figures 1.6 and 3.6, there have also been increases in the fraction of engineering and physical science degrees earned by non-resident aliens, but here the growth has not been nearly as dramatic.<br />
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A very disturbing set of graphs are given in Figures 1.3, 2.3, and 3.3, showing the proportion of degrees earned by Black students. In all three disciplines, we see a pattern of substantial growth during the 1990s, followed by a period of leveling off, followed by substantial decline. In engineering and the physical sciences, the percentage of degrees earned by Black students has dropped to levels not seen since 1993. In mathematics, the percentage of degrees awarded to Black students in 2015, 4.6%, is below that of 1990, when it was 5.0%.<br />
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The graphs showing the percentage of women in these fields, Figures 1.1, 2.1, and 3.1, are also discouraging. Engineering has always had a difficult time attracting and retaining women. By 2000, they had managed to get the proportion of degrees going to women over 20%, but it then slipped back to 18%. The good news is that the fraction of engineering degrees to women began growing again in 2010 and is now back to the 20% mark, far too low, but headed in the right direction.<br />
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In the physical sciences, there was dramatic growth in the participation of women, from 31% in 1990 to over 42% in 2002. It has been slipping since then, now back almost to 38%.<br />
Compared to engineering and the physical sciences, the mathematical sciences have done very well, but we were at 46% in 1990 and achieved 48% in 1998. We have since slipped back to 43%. The recent trend line looks decidedly flat.<br />
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The brightest spot in these data is the substantial increase in the proportion of Hispanic students among these mathematically intensive majors (Figures 1.4, 2.4, and 3.4). Given the dramatic increase in the percentage of students of traditional college age who are Hispanic, an increase of 125% from 1995 to 2015, engineering and mathematics—with only 110% increases in the proportion of majors who are Hispanic—are not doing as well as they should. The physical sciences have seen the most dramatic increase, but starting from an extremely low base. Nevertheless, today around 9% of the majors in all three disciplinary areas are Hispanic, and strong growth continues.<br />
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Asian students have always been well represented in engineering, the mathematical sciences, and the physical sciences, currently at or above 10% of those degrees (Figures 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5).<br />
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<b>Appendix I. Bachelor’s degrees in Engineering</b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEial1hej9xRXj2JvlzkV_-6D6XB5agZxpQJaLpev4LDnhYSp9MYrVmUzi3oUhTtR4kcFiRqGgLC-BM6d9Oq-I4O0dJ2aNcvKcQw51GKyDw_NMxK_K6LU5kVRctxOVEE7xzU5cwL7AyIyTsx/s1600/Launchings+appendix+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="732" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEial1hej9xRXj2JvlzkV_-6D6XB5agZxpQJaLpev4LDnhYSp9MYrVmUzi3oUhTtR4kcFiRqGgLC-BM6d9Oq-I4O0dJ2aNcvKcQw51GKyDw_NMxK_K6LU5kVRctxOVEE7xzU5cwL7AyIyTsx/s640/Launchings+appendix+1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1.1. </b><span id="docs-internal-guid-6837ae5a-9f21-4ff4-0aa6-2f052dfdbc6b">Women as a percentage of all bachelor’s degrees in engineering.<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><b>Note: scale starts at 10%.</b><div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyT82wNnITL48qfLimg4yokL3KxaMKfYnKU5anwjDZa7Jy1Y_Ec7c7dqWKdsi1YnxNOMrBcR3ZbJMr6hUKztyVbrxG7J8LW5iQZ7w1__ZK24fPPMJlvakWBVzxTUQiEcAos-TDT4KmMMT/s1600/Launchings+appendix+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="731" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyT82wNnITL48qfLimg4yokL3KxaMKfYnKU5anwjDZa7Jy1Y_Ec7c7dqWKdsi1YnxNOMrBcR3ZbJMr6hUKztyVbrxG7J8LW5iQZ7w1__ZK24fPPMJlvakWBVzxTUQiEcAos-TDT4KmMMT/s640/Launchings+appendix+2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1.2. </b><i>White non-Hispanic students as percentage of all bachelor's degrees in engineering. </i></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfFOApma8F0YnoPXBjTEnDcMDh5-LViwD1exfBhuIeocgdF36Apobx0qsOokaBQJF51wvXYNhXTFkO49EHNB4XMx3la7iJ5izL_vCA7KoGXWYpeLKM6BuCpUU8DYUvLCAbMSE0WR7pQzSq/s1600/Launchings+appendix+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="733" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfFOApma8F0YnoPXBjTEnDcMDh5-LViwD1exfBhuIeocgdF36Apobx0qsOokaBQJF51wvXYNhXTFkO49EHNB4XMx3la7iJ5izL_vCA7KoGXWYpeLKM6BuCpUU8DYUvLCAbMSE0WR7pQzSq/s640/Launchings+appendix+3.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1.3.<i> </i></b><i>Black non-Hispanic students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in engineering.</i></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="733" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicfZvBRKR08OZEJGTp4h6sIWdQPGlj276NRk1e3OmxCzk1XGqFV6_bgLpqr3HEDgGTEGPaBcQ9PfBunmAChvaahTZ74ZEPqT-qffSbr0lu9_2xD8yxgmuXQeW2OSHfhhaKR88T713nrSVF/s640/Lauchings+appendix+5.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1.4.</b> <i>Hispanic students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in engineering.</i></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicfZvBRKR08OZEJGTp4h6sIWdQPGlj276NRk1e3OmxCzk1XGqFV6_bgLpqr3HEDgGTEGPaBcQ9PfBunmAChvaahTZ74ZEPqT-qffSbr0lu9_2xD8yxgmuXQeW2OSHfhhaKR88T713nrSVF/s1600/Lauchings+appendix+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicfZvBRKR08OZEJGTp4h6sIWdQPGlj276NRk1e3OmxCzk1XGqFV6_bgLpqr3HEDgGTEGPaBcQ9PfBunmAChvaahTZ74ZEPqT-qffSbr0lu9_2xD8yxgmuXQeW2OSHfhhaKR88T713nrSVF/s1600/Lauchings+appendix+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipWTIoBETKPsZLXNwyzqapM-lSrQoRypkebVhBMfjKDCv35yjdC5Xz71Gm0z_jDy9207cSNCc98-mlTUuEEtGnMJetCwVaTuE6RpuJgB5xgIRAmLkCu6iFdfUbeosqycOfZgQ3gLTKqkxu/s1600/Launchings+appendix+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="734" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipWTIoBETKPsZLXNwyzqapM-lSrQoRypkebVhBMfjKDCv35yjdC5Xz71Gm0z_jDy9207cSNCc98-mlTUuEEtGnMJetCwVaTuE6RpuJgB5xgIRAmLkCu6iFdfUbeosqycOfZgQ3gLTKqkxu/s640/Launchings+appendix+4.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1.5.</b> <i>Asian students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in engineering. </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrbGOZp6tF_STftBr168-FDCxYCwKT4TyYsDZFrPeO30fV5UtDA03KfWmYycRT2ZdniK3NnOOG5s1rVp2-dggMTZm1Mez9lb3NKcuUMuYslPVxJF1514juOuv5djy31pVCdetjdOEHm_eH/s1600/Launchings+appendix+6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="736" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrbGOZp6tF_STftBr168-FDCxYCwKT4TyYsDZFrPeO30fV5UtDA03KfWmYycRT2ZdniK3NnOOG5s1rVp2-dggMTZm1Mez9lb3NKcuUMuYslPVxJF1514juOuv5djy31pVCdetjdOEHm_eH/s640/Launchings+appendix+6.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1.6.</b> <i>Non-Resident Alien students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in engineering.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>Appendix II. Bachelor’s degrees in the Mathematical Sciences</b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrKKcdEb6d1nNHn3mzDh_3l8jH7J4mfvsywhBiHdoDlp16OzLT0oH2QHqIe6epRYXXn0N3IJ9_oJ2nkV-2B2CTnZXTb0O7N-ZGtD_Qn5rXiV0lptOSuaz38DrXP_hyphenhyphenTPuhJv-kcq3dsKsc/s1600/Launchings+appendix+2_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="741" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrKKcdEb6d1nNHn3mzDh_3l8jH7J4mfvsywhBiHdoDlp16OzLT0oH2QHqIe6epRYXXn0N3IJ9_oJ2nkV-2B2CTnZXTb0O7N-ZGtD_Qn5rXiV0lptOSuaz38DrXP_hyphenhyphenTPuhJv-kcq3dsKsc/s640/Launchings+appendix+2_1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2.1.</b> <i>Women as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in the mathematical sciences.</i> <b>Note: Scale starts at 40%.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJruOqhsTaanR252QU1QWU0HMOZYeM_CtuN-YXwuTflTmHPBELqo20L3lwEThkjm0FDEn50ge6z_U9PbuePXcwxAXYvSnXUCw8PXUwz58bNfFP-2f3jquJwxhdhxpVopAGQtWC-xqIUQbb/s1600/Launchings+appendix+2_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="737" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJruOqhsTaanR252QU1QWU0HMOZYeM_CtuN-YXwuTflTmHPBELqo20L3lwEThkjm0FDEn50ge6z_U9PbuePXcwxAXYvSnXUCw8PXUwz58bNfFP-2f3jquJwxhdhxpVopAGQtWC-xqIUQbb/s640/Launchings+appendix+2_2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2.2.</b> <i>White non-Hispanic students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in the mathematical sciences.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxVyiQoSkk6P43_oggeVXzGHZNyh5D0qgKE_aKJtI4fPhtUzIQ6NqhUiyqwhGCOyLDRsIzHNgDGkvcQqneACIA8TozhXxPckzUOFfVMuul8bHHvMdUFVUUcw5I8B3skHHsuJqUZvGIt0v9/s1600/Launchings+appendix+2_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="739" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxVyiQoSkk6P43_oggeVXzGHZNyh5D0qgKE_aKJtI4fPhtUzIQ6NqhUiyqwhGCOyLDRsIzHNgDGkvcQqneACIA8TozhXxPckzUOFfVMuul8bHHvMdUFVUUcw5I8B3skHHsuJqUZvGIt0v9/s640/Launchings+appendix+2_3.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2.3. </b><i>Black non-Hispanic students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in the mathematical sciences.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvk4j-vFXEkWE0JyvsnKJcKkoV93oWYyDrcs__JJXAnWw20SX2gv27yqHpUPUetH1jobIn46eUIIgfdE2WCgMmw9CahJRnpFIGdlxPRDKoVrY10C5JdUAVv9mWgWFEv0feV7l93KKW_Ps/s1600/Launchings+appendix+2_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="732" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvk4j-vFXEkWE0JyvsnKJcKkoV93oWYyDrcs__JJXAnWw20SX2gv27yqHpUPUetH1jobIn46eUIIgfdE2WCgMmw9CahJRnpFIGdlxPRDKoVrY10C5JdUAVv9mWgWFEv0feV7l93KKW_Ps/s640/Launchings+appendix+2_4.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2.4.</b> <i>Hispanic students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in the mathematical sciences. </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguE_Si_oj0WKodN8SCT43tDGJgAZTSbc79KOu9a9zGh30GWChdpXSrS-1waNOqh4k9auA6uCUoDN-50-yc7_AQHZo6qdLFxB_j9mqSn45YavVPXFgasxX4zr_80w1E8NrUhwYylSVm1HnQ/s1600/Launchings+2_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="735" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguE_Si_oj0WKodN8SCT43tDGJgAZTSbc79KOu9a9zGh30GWChdpXSrS-1waNOqh4k9auA6uCUoDN-50-yc7_AQHZo6qdLFxB_j9mqSn45YavVPXFgasxX4zr_80w1E8NrUhwYylSVm1HnQ/s640/Launchings+2_5.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2.5. </b><i>Asian students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in the mathematical sciences.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOCMmHOX3VobZdzRQ1jDjlgGvYAT_cjYrkIxUqyPZtGlBbSarB84RqO3f2iqJLAjmM65kCmDcGQxV16l8h_gXJSv-4epY4x7vU0YxVJOhnOcTzDGgowo_-9FomesnbKETwIfix0ZtOdPSo/s1600/Launchings+appendix+2_6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="740" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOCMmHOX3VobZdzRQ1jDjlgGvYAT_cjYrkIxUqyPZtGlBbSarB84RqO3f2iqJLAjmM65kCmDcGQxV16l8h_gXJSv-4epY4x7vU0YxVJOhnOcTzDGgowo_-9FomesnbKETwIfix0ZtOdPSo/s640/Launchings+appendix+2_6.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2.6. </b><i>Non-Resident Alien students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in the mathematical sciences.</i> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>Appendix III. Bachelor’s degrees in the Physical Sciences</b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUIpRMOc8pN3uX0d6NZBkefkxmSk9LzZphpZyzj-XkGaOK0p3S0fJ16P2UOwM7oVP7QHbTJSL5aUbBLNXY691-6sDcjeSrhyWT3PO8wuWSS-9g8tmZkEtZE0XSD0CT7kiOjGTxhqTGrhZs/s1600/Launchings+appendix+3_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="742" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUIpRMOc8pN3uX0d6NZBkefkxmSk9LzZphpZyzj-XkGaOK0p3S0fJ16P2UOwM7oVP7QHbTJSL5aUbBLNXY691-6sDcjeSrhyWT3PO8wuWSS-9g8tmZkEtZE0XSD0CT7kiOjGTxhqTGrhZs/s640/Launchings+appendix+3_1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 3.1.</b> <i>Women as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in the physical sciences.</i> <b>Note: scale starts at 30%</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gILJ9eMEOSLUgoec7UpgRRQBxjrC9se7Nu8Dhk2DB-hePn7aoWSoJGiSZLXIG5mUuNVUn5A_EaV55izBk3uOonOJiivdW9RktkvbYYEfAsv8qnR11RJHqUzUzAm9YTggVfBxW7cc7MAC/s1600/Launchings+3_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="735" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gILJ9eMEOSLUgoec7UpgRRQBxjrC9se7Nu8Dhk2DB-hePn7aoWSoJGiSZLXIG5mUuNVUn5A_EaV55izBk3uOonOJiivdW9RktkvbYYEfAsv8qnR11RJHqUzUzAm9YTggVfBxW7cc7MAC/s640/Launchings+3_2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 3.2.</b> <i>White non-Hispanic students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in the physical sciences.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCutcps68FDoYE71rEK0lu16ddjP7qXm-4JINkcCMjQkWEwaNNEPR2TBfZbLfPclpcOunoTiLe_COdRPNJbn7HISczdBHuedM8eN4hrTpfotilwx66BeILI06luF5bQUEDWfvK8wTHtevV/s1600/Launchings+3_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="733" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCutcps68FDoYE71rEK0lu16ddjP7qXm-4JINkcCMjQkWEwaNNEPR2TBfZbLfPclpcOunoTiLe_COdRPNJbn7HISczdBHuedM8eN4hrTpfotilwx66BeILI06luF5bQUEDWfvK8wTHtevV/s640/Launchings+3_3.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 3.3. </b><i>Black non-Hispanic students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in the physical sciences.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1msckEOW0POrNTFEfTykRB8X0wdDXb4X6ix7kJwFkERD4M4OYfQcupZIismXLwyUSJ8VVob3AR118ajqcWSfqR7jjzYSWTRQglXHs7OwIYvbFN_PBfeh6_CvY4zTAwfmJ1Yqp3oq5Li2f/s1600/Launchings+appendix+3_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="734" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1msckEOW0POrNTFEfTykRB8X0wdDXb4X6ix7kJwFkERD4M4OYfQcupZIismXLwyUSJ8VVob3AR118ajqcWSfqR7jjzYSWTRQglXHs7OwIYvbFN_PBfeh6_CvY4zTAwfmJ1Yqp3oq5Li2f/s640/Launchings+appendix+3_4.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 3.4. </b><i>Hispanic students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in the physical sciences.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEize8iVtU4OOtZjDSntNE7lOZ7xOASRNyrGMvF-AzmrpTUp4tJp4ZTDxDilVu0Gd7dX6QzKbSJ2OdgRYCXuMKUWvJUNetHc09KCOWdlK631lSp-cedio34oRRhjcAYoHlfKsE-L_wgDZl12/s1600/Launchings+appendix+3_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="741" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEize8iVtU4OOtZjDSntNE7lOZ7xOASRNyrGMvF-AzmrpTUp4tJp4ZTDxDilVu0Gd7dX6QzKbSJ2OdgRYCXuMKUWvJUNetHc09KCOWdlK631lSp-cedio34oRRhjcAYoHlfKsE-L_wgDZl12/s640/Launchings+appendix+3_5.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 3.5.</b> <i>Asian students as a percentage of all Bachelor's degrees in the physical sciences. </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMpuFdq5bCYCcptkhrW8X1jtOQ5nIq9qU_JPEoL4abaerl8HPKDH4FTov-RnGHWoOLmDOSnFb-_bHoNg78x4VJ0MNU4qjjC7We7ZPfse9uE45cV2HT72jK0uGY3G-y7XW74jhcdsyblo5/s1600/Launchings+appendix+3_6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="738" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMpuFdq5bCYCcptkhrW8X1jtOQ5nIq9qU_JPEoL4abaerl8HPKDH4FTov-RnGHWoOLmDOSnFb-_bHoNg78x4VJ0MNU4qjjC7We7ZPfse9uE45cV2HT72jK0uGY3G-y7XW74jhcdsyblo5/s640/Launchings+appendix+3_6.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 3.6. </b><i>Non-Resident Alien students as a percentage of all bachelor's degrees in the physical sciences.</i></td></tr>
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<br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-53802103807547776132017-07-05T12:44:00.000-04:002017-07-05T12:44:42.850-04:00The 2015 NAEP<b><i>You can follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b>
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On May 5, 2017, the presidents and executive directors of the member societies of CBMS
received a report from Samantha Burg and Stephen Provasnik at the U.S. Department of
Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on the results in mathematics from
the 2015 studies by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and Trends in
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The full PowerPoint of their presentation,
covering both the 2015 NAEP and 2015 TIMSS, can be accessed at
www.cbmsweb.org/2017/05/presentations.
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Both assessments are conducted for students at grades 4, 8 and 12. NAEP is a federally mandated
assessment of student achievement in the U.S. and is conducted every other year. TIMSS
provides an international comparison and is run every four years for ages equivalent to grades 4
and 8. The 12th grade TIMSS is restricted to advanced mathematics students (in the U.S. those
who have taken a course like AP Calculus). It was administered in 2015 for the first time in the
U.S. since 1995.
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<br />
The scores since 1990 for the 4 th and 8 th grade NAEP and since 2005 for the 12th grade are shown
in Figures 1, 2, and 3. The distinguishing features for grades 4 and 8 are the strong growth from
1990 until 2007 and relative stagnation since then, with a small but statistically significant drop
(except for the 90th percentile in grade 4) between 2013 and 2015. The 12th grade scores also show
a drop since 2013 that is statistically significant at and below the 50th percentile.
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This drop is a cause for concern, but not yet alarm. NCES is eagerly anticipating the 2017 NAEP
results to see whether the downturn was simply a blip in what is essentially a stable state or the
start of something more troubling.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjjM7cGOK6aMkLQHNi5b3er2_tPxbH8ovleCNfAV-73MQbMDTDTFIkZ4PJ1dwCDYhjR-wR0tjUlrP6qmCQvaOBSt2geHiUNqSY2xxMhnvYjseU4E9cBqSvf-tX8Djra6AKn31Op6LV8XqU/s1600/Figure-1.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="646" data-original-width="1146" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjjM7cGOK6aMkLQHNi5b3er2_tPxbH8ovleCNfAV-73MQbMDTDTFIkZ4PJ1dwCDYhjR-wR0tjUlrP6qmCQvaOBSt2geHiUNqSY2xxMhnvYjseU4E9cBqSvf-tX8Djra6AKn31Op6LV8XqU/s640/Figure-1.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1: NAEP scores for grade 4. <br />Source: Burg & Provasnik, 2017.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB4Uxi39QU2Zk8uBbJ3okGoWs2MLpjm0V14clbVTVLOeurrdoj9MvnHu8a7orrSp2hd-s0MXuY_uf1nwDTRdX3uHYdBgBpyH2FeBb1WNSZti6MnIgTpO7uDV3_3VhGG2Pee2VLA4K7muf-/s1600/Figure-2.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="645" data-original-width="1148" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB4Uxi39QU2Zk8uBbJ3okGoWs2MLpjm0V14clbVTVLOeurrdoj9MvnHu8a7orrSp2hd-s0MXuY_uf1nwDTRdX3uHYdBgBpyH2FeBb1WNSZti6MnIgTpO7uDV3_3VhGG2Pee2VLA4K7muf-/s640/Figure-2.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 2: NAEP scores for grade 8. Source: Burg & Provasnik, 2017.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOp_20hw18BzZmXHXCz4wobC-uV3fh-dW0ppBdnihG6ShU7XSCDvs8Yck1Ab3I28y7BRviqIf-K2XNK8balW-ZTiK9EDby3WR5iup9fBtIMOL4It_4gRSpkpFV1EpjiXgKFGR3b_HahU6m/s1600/Figure-3.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="1147" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOp_20hw18BzZmXHXCz4wobC-uV3fh-dW0ppBdnihG6ShU7XSCDvs8Yck1Ab3I28y7BRviqIf-K2XNK8balW-ZTiK9EDby3WR5iup9fBtIMOL4It_4gRSpkpFV1EpjiXgKFGR3b_HahU6m/s640/Figure-3.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 3: NAEP scores for grade 12.<br />Source: Burg & Provasnik, 2017.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />An obvious question is whether the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSS-M)
have had any effect on student scores. One hypothesis is that changing the curriculum has
introduced enough confusion and uncertainty among teachers that it is having a visibly negative
effect. Another hypothesis, which has some supporting evidence, is that the choices of topics for
assessment may no longer be completely aligned with what is being taught.
<br />
<br />
The largest drops at Grade 4 were in the subject areas of Geometry and Data Analysis (Table 1).
The NAEP Validity Studies (NVS) panel (Daro, Hughes, & Stancavage, 2015) found some
misalignment between the NAEP questions and the CCSS-M curriculum. They found that 32% of
the Data Analysis questions were either not covered in CCSS-M or were covered after grade 4. In
Geometry, 18%, of the NAEP questions were covered after grade 4 in CCSS-M. In the other
direction, only 57% of CCSS-M standards for Operations and Algebraic Thinking by grade 4
were covered by NAEP questions.
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh14QRCG0-ZBJxFvjJ5IHdEAkfG_MI0rKs0zf0_U7qq9XtGvPnWGcbtXxSZRhSm6oJbvIkcRZNT2rPpPVAHK0BwCntQkwWye-EY1hDYInPmJDIH3BUuamsEYtxc7ghHus3_d56OEGXIq2ch/s1600/Table-1.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="840" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh14QRCG0-ZBJxFvjJ5IHdEAkfG_MI0rKs0zf0_U7qq9XtGvPnWGcbtXxSZRhSm6oJbvIkcRZNT2rPpPVAHK0BwCntQkwWye-EY1hDYInPmJDIH3BUuamsEYtxc7ghHus3_d56OEGXIq2ch/s640/Table-1.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 1: Changes in NAEP scores, 2013 to 2015, by subscale topics.<br />Source: Burg & Provasnik, 2017</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />For grade 8, the misalignment occurs in both directions within Data Analysis. In the 8 th grade
NAEP, 17% of the Data Analysis questions had not yet been covered in CCSS-M, and 59% of
what is specified for statistics and probability by grade 8 in CCSS-M was not assessed by NAEP.
For grade 12, there was a uniform 2-point drop across all subscales.
<br />
<br />
These observations raise interesting questions about the construction of future NAEP instruments.
Because of the need for comparability from one test administration to the next, the distribution of
topics has not changed. While CCSS-M is not the national curriculum that was once envisioned,
the fact is that almost all states have aligned their standards with its expectations. NAEP may
need to change to reflect the reality of what is taught by grades 4 and 8.
<br />
<br />
The breakdowns by race/ethnicity and gender for the overall mathematics scores in grades 4 and
8 (Table 2) show comparable increases from 1990 to 2015, and comparable declines since 2013.
Black students in grade 4 saw the greatest gains since 1990, but at a score of 224 they are still
well below the national average.
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtk3WQrSaEB89qebFPwrLoAp2n1PhuanLNgrHEakxNESXOxc1kz3ygoR8e_ZW7ETcDPqJCXH76a2iE0v0BWtEQbNmIYohxQftyBGbOzbjRsCCADipOYFeT8V4Q5rEsNWuRoVoKp2eEfgmu/s1600/Table-2.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="672" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtk3WQrSaEB89qebFPwrLoAp2n1PhuanLNgrHEakxNESXOxc1kz3ygoR8e_ZW7ETcDPqJCXH76a2iE0v0BWtEQbNmIYohxQftyBGbOzbjRsCCADipOYFeT8V4Q5rEsNWuRoVoKp2eEfgmu/s640/Table-2.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 2: Changes in NAEP Math scores for grades 4 and 8 by race/ethnicity and gender.<br />
Source: Burg & Provasnik, 2017.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
At grade 12, the strongest gains since 2005 have been for Asian and Hispanic students (Table 3,
Pacific Islanders are such a small proportion of Asian/Pacific Islander that it is not clear how their
scores have changed, and the doubling of the percentage identifying as Two or More Races
makes it difficult to compare the 2005 and 2015 scores). An interesting insight lies in the shift in
the demographics of 12 th grade students. In ten years, the percentage of White students dropped
from 66% to 55%, while the percentage of Hispanic 12 th graders rose from 13% to 22%.
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvLOKIPolJJjFdYi97p0z-9MZBEmWXQSQD-4QfGudjFOVeBRtT-8D5NVoBBJVAB8d68rQDxIYaOLDYEqx5aGd6ad3cWSlFhSKI-vC_3hVq43pncuqqpCErgBTPwa66yKtQWrG_iYsCfEGu/s1600/Table-3.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="640" height="377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvLOKIPolJJjFdYi97p0z-9MZBEmWXQSQD-4QfGudjFOVeBRtT-8D5NVoBBJVAB8d68rQDxIYaOLDYEqx5aGd6ad3cWSlFhSKI-vC_3hVq43pncuqqpCErgBTPwa66yKtQWrG_iYsCfEGu/s640/Table-3.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 3: Changes in NAEP Math scores for grade 12 by race/ethnicity and gender.<br />
Source: Burg & Provasnik, 2017.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Next month I will be looking at the changing demographics of bachelor’s degrees earned in
engineering, the mathematical sciences, and the physical sciences. In mathematics, the decline in
the percentage of degrees in mathematics going to White students has been in line with the
decline in their overall percentage at that age group, from 72.4% in 2005 to 59.6% in 2015
(NCES, 2005–2015). Some of this has been made up by a significant increase in mathematics
degrees going to Hispanic students, from 5.7% to 8.9%, but the percentage of bachelor’s degrees
in mathematics earned by Black students decreased from 6.1% to 4.7% over this decade, while
Asian students remained essentially stable, 10.2% to 10.6%. Most of the shift has gone to non-
resident aliens who accounted for 5.0% of the mathematics degrees in 2005, but 12.9% in 2015.
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>References</b><br />
Burg, S. & Provasnik, S. (2017). NAEP and TIMSS Mathematics 2015. Presentation to the
Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, May 5, 2017. Available at
<a href="http://www.cbmsweb.org/2017/05/presentations/" target="_blank">www.cbmsweb.org/2017/05/presentations/</a><br />
<br />
Daro, P., Hughes, G.B., & Stancavage, F. (2015). Study of the alignment of the 2015 NAEP
mathematics items at grades 4 and 8 to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for
Mathematics. NAEP Validity Studies Panel report. Washington, DC: American Institutes for
Research. Available at <a href="http://www.air.org/sites/default/files/downloads/report/Study-of-Alignment-NAEP-Mathematics-Items-common-core-Nov-2015.pdf" target="_blank">www.air.org/sites/default/files/downloads/report/Study-of- Alignment-NAEP-Mathematics- Items-common- core-Nov- 2015.pdf</a><br />
<br />
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2005–2015). <i>Digest of Education Statistics</i>.
Available at <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/" target="_blank">nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/</a><br />
<br />
<b>Note:</b><br />
In compliance with new standards from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for collecting
and reporting data on race/ethnicity, additional information was collected beginning in 2011 so
that results could be reported separately for Asian students, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific
Islander students, and students identifying with two or more races. In earlier assessment years,
results for Asian and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students were combined into a
single Asian/Pacific Islander category.
<br />
<br />
As of 2011, all of the students participating in NAEP are identified as one of the following seven
racial/ethnic categories:<br />
<ul>
<li>White </li>
<li>Black (includes African American) </li>
<li>Hispanic (includes Latino) </li>
<li>Asian </li>
<li>Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander </li>
<li>American Indian/Alaska Native </li>
<li>Two or more races</li>
</ul>
When comparing the results for racial/ethnic groups from 2013 to earlier assessment years, results
for Asian and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students were combined into a single
Asian/Pacific Islander category for all previous assessment years.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-30502704421560068612017-06-01T07:00:00.000-04:002017-06-01T07:00:28.066-04:00Re-imagining the Calculus Curriculum, II<b><i>You can follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b>
<br />
<br />
Last month, in "<a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2017/05/re-imagining-calculus-curriculum-i.html" target="_blank">Re-imagining the Calculus Curriculum</a>," I, I introduced <a href="http://patthompson.net/ThompsonCalc/index.html" target="_blank">Project DIRACC</a>
(<i>Developing and Investigating a Rigorous Approach to Conceptual Calculus</i>), developed by Pat
Thompson, Mark Ashbrook, and Fabio Milner at Arizona State University. References to the
theory underpinning this approach are given at the end of this column. This month’s column will
expand on some details of this curriculum.
<br />
<br />
One of the first common student misconceptions that Project DIRACC tackles is that variables
are simply stand-ins for unknown quantities. The authors begin the meat of his course in Chapter
3 with an explanation of the distinction between <i>variable</i>,<i> constant</i>, and <i>parameter</i>, pointing out
how context-specific the designations as either variable or parameter can be. One of the
distinctive features of this project is the thoughtful use of technology, in this case enabling
students to play with the effect of varying a variable with a variety of choices of parameter (see
<a href="http://patthompson.net/ThompsonCalc/section_3_1.html">patthompson.net/ThompsonCalc/section_3_1.html</a>).
<br />
<br />
This leads to relationships between variables (how volume varies with height), and then functions
as a special class of relationships between variables, one in which “<i><b>any value of one variable
determines exactly one value of the other</b></i>.” The point is that the <i>f</i> in <i>f</i> (<i>x</i>) has meaning. It is the
name of the relationship. This enables the authors to tackle the misconception that <i>f</i> (<i>x</i>) is simply
a lengthy way of expressing the variable <i>y</i>.
<br />
<br />
While acknowledging that <i>f</i>(<i>x</i>) can represent a second variable, they emphasize that it is
shorthand for “the value of the relationship f when applied to a value of <i>x</i>.” This point is driven
home by an example of the usefulness of functional notation. If <i>d</i>(<i>x</i>) relates a moment in time, <i>x</i>
measured in years, to the distance between the Earth and the Moon at that time, then <i>d</i>(<i>x</i>) – <i>d</i>(<i>x</i>–5)
enables us to express the change in distance over the five years before time x, while <i>d</i>(<i>x</i>+5) – <i>d</i>(<i>x</i>)
expresses the change in distance over the succeeding five years.
<br />
<br />
The authors also make the important distinction between functions defined conceptually—the
distance between Earth and Moon at a given time—and those defined computationally, such as
<i>V</i>(<i>u</i>) = <i>u</i>(13.76 – 2<i>u</i>)(16.42 – 2<i>u</i>).
They then proceed to devote considerable effort to describing the structure of functions as they
are built from sums, products, quotients, compositions, and inverses. This includes clarifying the
distinction between the independent variable and the argument of a function. Thus for f (<i>x</i>/3 + 5)
the independent variable is <i>x</i>, but the function argument is<i> x</i>/3 + 5, an important step toward
understanding composition of functions.
<br />
<br />
While function structure <i>should</i> be part of precalculus, the importance of including this material
has been revealed in exploring student difficulties with differentiation. Given a complicated
computational rule that defines a function, students often have difficulty parsing this rule and thus
determining the choice and order of the techniques of differentiation they need to use.
<br />
<br />
Rates of change are now introduced in Chapter 4. The authors distinguish between ∆x, the
parameter that describes the length of a small subinterval of the domain, and the changes in x and
y represented by the differentials dx and dy. These are variables that within the given subinterval
are always connected by a linear relationship.
<br />
<br />
A nice illustration of how this works is given with a photograph of a truck traveling through an
intersection (Figure 1).
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBlqCxfkO8r9oHkHiHFpRJE3y1f4An25HONjhB_1zX0qKb9IevXpkDncG6lsf4RrtNHDoY7-5DhoLGzhYW5W9EjUWeG_WlZJXvJnimhYGtZz4WiOOeDvNYZqvZLb08DUys18FiFQkihxZ/s1600/truck+moving+launchings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1050" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBlqCxfkO8r9oHkHiHFpRJE3y1f4An25HONjhB_1zX0qKb9IevXpkDncG6lsf4RrtNHDoY7-5DhoLGzhYW5W9EjUWeG_WlZJXvJnimhYGtZz4WiOOeDvNYZqvZLb08DUys18FiFQkihxZ/s320/truck+moving+launchings.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1.</b> A photo of truck taken with a shutter setting of 1/1000 sec.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Taken at a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second, it appears to freeze the truck. But if you zoom in on the tail light (Figure 2, see <a href="http://patthompson.net/ThompsonCalc/section_4_3.html" target="_blank">Section 4.3</a> for a video of the zoom), the streaks reveal that the truck was moving.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_8_rtth-efb6vmajFriITNkLnugS1CKuuVuB5QbQJL3OxG8cha_0qRakiDMZFlL9aYKyIOk6BNDePlm1-T6bVSpoBpIssejK-LPyRh3Cn_ASQyW5WGWDsLBYptg0AgXWVVUIkPmm37_6/s1600/blurred+truck+launchings.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="243" data-original-width="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_8_rtth-efb6vmajFriITNkLnugS1CKuuVuB5QbQJL3OxG8cha_0qRakiDMZFlL9aYKyIOk6BNDePlm1-T6bVSpoBpIssejK-LPyRh3Cn_ASQyW5WGWDsLBYptg0AgXWVVUIkPmm37_6/s1600/blurred+truck+launchings.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2.</b> A closer look at the truck's tail light shows small streaks. <br />The truck moved slightly while the camera's shutter was open.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
One can even estimate the length of the streaks to approximate the velocity of the truck. Over
1/1000th of a second, it is doubtful that the truck’s velocity changed very much. The picture of the
truck was taken at a “moment” in time, but that moment stretched over 0.001 seconds. The point
is that this period of time is short enough that the truck’s velocity measured as change in distance
over change in time is “essentially constant.” If <i>y</i> is position and <i>x</i> is time, then over this interval
of length <i>∆x</i> = 0.001 seconds, we can treat the variable <i>dy</i> as a constant times <i>dx</i>. It is this
constant that is used to define the rate of change at a moment,
<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
We say that <b>a function has a rate of change at the moment x<sub>0</sub> if, over a suitably small
interval of its independent variable containing x<sub>0</sub>, the function’s value changes at
essentially a constant rate with respect to its independent variable.</b></blockquote>
<br />
Significantly, even as the authors are defining the rate of change at a moment, they emphasize
that “all motion, and hence all variation, is blurry.”
<br />
<br />
Note that there is no mention of limits, a means of defining the derivative that is often more
confusing than enlightening (see the 2014 <i>Launchings</i> columns from <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2014/06/beyond-limit-i.html">July</a>, <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2014/08/beyond-limit-ii.html">August</a>, and
<a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2014/09/beyond-limit-iii.html">September</a>).
<br />
<br />
After further discussion and exploration of rate of change functions, the authors now move in
Chapter 5 to Accumulation Functions, building up total changes from rates of change that are
essentially constant on very small intervals. These give rise to what are anachronistically referred
to as left-hand Riemann sums. Students use technology to explore the increasing accuracy as ∆x
gets smaller. The effect of the choice of starting value is noted, and the definite integral with a
variable upper limit now appears. It is important that the first time students see a definite integral
it has a variable upper limit.
<br />
<br />
In Chapter 6, the inverse problem, going from knowledge of an exact expression of the
accumulation function to the discovery of the corresponding rate of change function, is now
explored, leading to the Fundamental Theorem of Integral Calculus in the form: The derivative
with respect to x of the definite integral from a to x of a rate of change function is equal to that
rate of change function evaluated at x. Techniques and applications of differentiation follow as
the semester concludes.
<br />
<br />
The great strength and promise of this approach is that the traditional content of the first semester
of calculus is only slightly tweaked, especially since it is increasingly common for university
Calculus I courses to avoid or significantly downplay limits. But the curriculum has been totally
reshaped to address common student difficulties and misconceptions. This route into calculus has
the added advantage—though perhaps a disadvantage in the eyes of some students—that those
who have been through a procedurally oriented course are unlikely to recognize this as an
accelerated repetition of what they have already studied. It will challenge them to rethink what
they believe calculus to be.
<br />
<br />
References
<br />
<br />
Thompson, P.W. and Silverman, J. (2008). The concept of accumulation in calculus. In M.P.
Carlson & C. Rasmussen (Eds.), <i>Making the connection: Research and teaching in
undergraduate mathematics</i> (<i>MAA Notes </i>Vol. 73, pp. 43–52). Washington, DC: Mathematical
Association of America.
<br />
<br />
Thompson, P.W., Byerley, C. and Hatfield, N. (2013). A conceptual approach to calculus made
possible by technology. <i>Computers in the Schools</i>. 30:124–147.
<br />
<br />
Thompson, P.W. and Dreyfus, T. (2016). A coherent approach to the Fundamental Theorem of
Calculus using differentials. In R. Göller. R. Biehler & R. Hochsmuth (Eds.), <i>Proceedings of the
Conference on Didactics of Mathematics in Higher Education as a Scientific Discipline</i> (pp.
355–359 ) Hannover, Germany: KHDM.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-64015698074392957852017-05-01T08:00:00.000-04:002017-05-01T08:00:05.679-04:00Re-imagining the Calculus Curriculum, I<b><i>You can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b>
<br />
<br />
I was recently asked about calculus instruction: Which is easier, reforming pedagogy or
curriculum? The answer is easy: pedagogy. This is not to say that it is easy to change how we
teach this course, but it is far easier than trying to change what we teach. The order and emphasis
of topics that emerged in the 1950s has proven extremely hard to shift.
<br />
<br />
Not that we have not tried. During the Calculus Reform movement of the late 1980s and early
1990s, NSF encouraged curricular innovation. Several of these efforts adopted an emphasis on
modeling dynamical systems, introducing calculus via differential equations and developing the
tools of calculus in service to this vision. This provides wonderful motivation, and this approach
survives in a few pockets. It is how we teach calculus at Macalester, and the U.S. Military
Academy at West Point has successfully used this route into calculus for over a quarter century.
But despite its appeal, this curriculum necessitates modifying the entire year of single variable
calculus, raising problems for institutions that must accommodate students who are transferring in
or out. It also is a difficult sell to those who worry about “coverage” since it requires devoting
considerable time to topics—modeling with differential equations, functions of several variables,
and partial differential equations—that receive little or no attention in the traditional course.
<br />
<br />
This month, I want to talk about a promising curricular innovation that Pat Thompson at Arizona
State University has been developing in collaboration with Fabio Milner and Mark Ashbrook,
Project DIRACC (<i>Developing and Investigating a Rigorous Approach to Conceptual Calculus</i>).
It has the advantage that it fits more easily into what is expected from each semester. It has been
under development since 2010 and is slated to be the curriculum used for all Calculus I sections
for mathematics or science majors at ASU beginning in fall, 2018.
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEWighduFyCA2tjlH271jjYgvd_G6T52SOAhMU2MDGSlp4FzHzNQEtlFGg3cvIcSLKvpgowN2nPtVE9gulBEKdCrlUxcru2U4b4kbZatE6X49yC23rAnjeZak12jjN_4mPR5lrn2FEsoqI/s1600/launchings+faces.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEWighduFyCA2tjlH271jjYgvd_G6T52SOAhMU2MDGSlp4FzHzNQEtlFGg3cvIcSLKvpgowN2nPtVE9gulBEKdCrlUxcru2U4b4kbZatE6X49yC23rAnjeZak12jjN_4mPR5lrn2FEsoqI/s400/launchings+faces.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Thompson began with research into the misconceptions that students carry into calculus and that
impede their ability to understand it. I quote these common misconceptions from his website
(<a href="http://patthompson.net/ThompsonCalc/About.html">patthompson.net/ThompsonCalc/About.html</a>).<br />
<ul>
<li>Calculus, like the school mathematics, is about rules and procedures. Students think that
calculus is difficult primarily because there are so many rules and procedures. </li>
<li>Variables do not vary. Therefore rate of change is not about change. </li>
<li>Integrals are areas under a curve. Students wonder, "How can an area represent a distance
or an amount of work?" </li>
<li>Average rate of change has little to do with rate of change. It is about the direction of a
line that passes through two points on a graph. </li>
<li>A tangent is a line that "just touches" a curve. </li>
<li>Derivative is a slope of a tangent. The net result is that, in students' understandings,
derivatives are not about rates of change.</li>
</ul>
The second bullet point is particularly common and problematic. In an expression such as
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="text-align: start;">f</i><span style="text-align: start;">(</span><i style="text-align: start;">x</i><span style="text-align: start;">)</span> = <i>x</i><sup>3</sup> – 3<i>x</i> + 2,
</div>
<br />
many students see the expression <i>f</i>(<i>x</i>) as nothing more than a lengthy way of writing the
dependent variable, and functions are seen as static objects that prescribe how to turn the input x
into the output <i>f</i>(<i>x</i>). With this mindset, differentiation and integration are nothing more than
arcane rules for turning one static object into another.
<br />
<br />
Choosing to define integrals as areas and derivatives as slopes, as is common in the standard
curriculum, is equally problematic. It reinforces the notion that calculus is about computing
values associated with geometric objects. To complicate matters, while area is a familiar concept,
slope is far less real or meaningful to our students. Too many students never come to the
realization that the real power of differentiation and integration arises from their interpretation as
rate of change and as accumulation.
<br />
<br />
While the earliest uses of accumulation were for determining areas, those Hellenistic
philosophers who mastered it also recognized its equal applicability to questions of volumes and
moments. By the 14th century, European philosophers were applying techniques of accumulation
to the problem of determining distance from knowledge of instantaneous velocity. None of these
come easily to students who are fixated on integrals as areas.
<br />
<br />
Seeing the derivative as a slope is even more problematic, a static value of an obscure parameter.
Differentiation arose from problems of interpolation for the purpose of approximating values of
trigonometric functions in first millenium India, in understanding the sensitivity of one variable to
changes in another in the work of Fermat and Descartes, and in relating rates of change as in
Napier’s analysis of the logarithm and Newton’s <i>Principia</i>. Derivative as slope came quite late in
the historical development of calculus precisely because its application to interesting questions is
not intuitive.
<br />
<br />
These insights provide the starting point for Thompson’s reformation of Calculus I. His textbook,
which is still a work in progress, can be accessed at <a href="http://patthompson.net/ThompsonCalc">patthompson.net/ThompsonCalc</a>. See
Thompson & Silverman (2008), Thompson et al. (2013), and Thompson & Dreyfus (2016) for
additional background. I find it deliciously ironic that one of the first topics he tackles is the
distinction among constants, parameters, and variables. If you look at the calculus textbooks of
the late 18 th century through the middle of the 19 th century, this is exactly where they started.
Somehow, we lost recognition of the importance of elevating this distinction for our students.
Thompson goes on to spend considerable effort to clarify the role of a function as a bridge
between two co-varying quantities. And then, he really breaks with tradition by first tackling
integration, which he enters via problems in accumulation.<br />
<br />
This accomplishes several desiderata. First, it ensures that students do not begin with an
understanding of the integral as area, but as an accumulator. Second, it makes it much easier to
recognize this accumulator as a function in its own right. Students struggle with recognizing the
definite integral from a to the variable x as a function of x (see the section of last month’s column,
<a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2017/04/" target="_blank">Conceptual Understanding</a>, that addresses Integration as Accumulation). Thompson begins by
viewing the integrand as a rate of change function. The variable upper limit arises naturally.
Third, and perhaps most important, it gives meaning to the Fundamental Theorem of Integral
Calculus, that the derivative of an accumulator function is the rate of change function.
<br />
<br />
Differentiation can then be introduced in precisely the way Newton first understood it: Given a
closed expression for the accumulator function, how can we find the corresponding rate of change
function?
<br />
<br />
Next month, I will expound on exactly how Thompson introduces these steps, but for now I
would like to conclude with a comparison of the two curricular innovations, that of Thompson
and the approach described at the start of this column that emphasizes calculus as a tool for
modeling dynamical systems. The latter does overcome the problem of student belief that the
derivative is to be understood as the slope of the tangent. It brings to the fore the derivative as
describing a rate of change. The problem is that it does nothing to clarify the role of the integral
as an accumulator. In some sense, it makes it more difficult. As we teach calculus at Macalester,
the integral is introduced purely as an anti-derivative, making it extremely difficult to give
meaning to the Fundamental Theorem of Integral Calculus. I have to work very hard in the
second semester to help students understand the integral as an accumulator and so justify that this
theorem has meaning. In a very real sense, Thompson approach <i>begins </i>with this fundamental
theorem.
<br />
<br />
Thompson, P.W. and Silverman, J. (2008). The concept of accumulation in calculus. In M.P.
Carlson & C. Rasmussen (Eds.), <i>Making the connection: Research and teaching in
undergraduate mathematics</i> (MAA Notes Vol. 73, pp. 43–52). Washington, DC: Mathematical
Association of America.
<br />
<br />
Thompson, P.W., Byerley, C. and Hatfield, N. (2013). A conceptual approach to calculus made
possible by technology. <i>Computers in the Schools</i>. 30:124–147.
<br />
<br />
Thompson, P.W. and Dreyfus, T. (2016). A coherent approach to the Fundamental Theorem of
Calculus using differentials. In R. Göller. R. Biehler & R. Hochsmuth (Eds.), <i>Proceedings of the
Conference on Didactics of Mathematics in Higher Education as a Scientitific Discipline</i> (pp.
355–359 ) Hannover, Germany: KHDM.
Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-3069777966555504532017-04-01T06:49:00.000-04:002017-04-01T06:49:08.064-04:00Conceptual Understanding<b><i>You can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b>
<br />
<br />
Continuing my series of summaries of articles that have appeared in the <i>International Journal of
Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education </i>(IJRUME), this month I want to briefly describe three studies that
address issues of conceptual understanding. The first is a study out of Israel that probed student
difficulties in understanding integration as accumulation (Swidan and Yerushalmy, 2016). The
second is from France, exploring student difficulties with understanding the real number line as a
continuum (Durand-Guerrier, 2016). The final paper, from England, explores a method of
measuring conceptual understanding (Bisson, Gilmore, Inglis, and Jones, 2016).
<br />
<br />
<b>Integration as Accumulation</b><br />
To use the definite integral, students need to understand it as accumulation. In particular, the
Fundamental Theorem of Integral Calculus rests on the recognition that the definite integral of a
function <i>f</i>, when given a variable upper limit, is an accumulation function of a quantity for which
<i>f </i>describes the rate of change. Pat Thompson (2013) has described the course he developed for
Arizona State University that places this realization at the heart of the calculus curriculum.
<br />
<br />
We know that students have a difficult time understanding and working with a definite integral
with a variable upper limit. The authors of the IJRUME paper suggest that much of the problem
lies in the fact that when students are introduced to the definite integral as a limit of Riemann
sums, they only consider the case when the upper and lower limits on the Riemann sum are fixed.
The limit is thus a number, usually thought of as the area under a curve. Making the transition to
the case where the upper limit is variable is thus non-intuitive.
<br />
<br />
The authors used software to explore student recognition of accumulation functions based on
right-hand Riemann sums. They investigated student recognition of how the properties of these
functions are shaped by the rate of change function. The experiment involved a graphing tool,
Calculus UnLimited (CUL), in which students input a function and the software provides values
of the corresponding accumulation function given by a right-hand sum with Δx = 0.5 (see Figure
1). Students could adjust the upper and lower limits, in jumps of 0.5. The software displays the
rectangles corresponding to a right-hand sum. Students were not told that these were points on an
accumulation function, merely that this was a function related to the initial function. They were
encouraged to start with a lower limit of –3 and to explore the functions <i>x<sup>2</sup></i>, <i>x<sup>2</sup></i> – 9, and then cubic
polynomials, and to discover what they could about this second function. Students received no
further prompts.
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs17zjbFGzPKv2C8k5q3gk4oRyiQr9q4rLHb2XKXpEvFUeuXz_IROsH1ttGgZWdcnv9tlYgz7DmqZw2p0ynPdGN9eDnqLWsDAIaM9E4TeKJw0KBU1-RnxWhQ9Scj7b3RsHdpWTUnDvooWq/s1600/accumulation.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs17zjbFGzPKv2C8k5q3gk4oRyiQr9q4rLHb2XKXpEvFUeuXz_IROsH1ttGgZWdcnv9tlYgz7DmqZw2p0ynPdGN9eDnqLWsDAIaM9E4TeKJw0KBU1-RnxWhQ9Scj7b3RsHdpWTUnDvooWq/s400/accumulation.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1: </b>The CUL interface. Taken from Swidan and Yerushalmy (2016), page 33.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Thirteen pairs of Israeli 17-year olds participated in the study. They all had been studying
derivatives and indefinite integrals, but none had yet encountered definite integrals. Each pair
spent about an hour exploring this software. Their actions and remarks were video-taped and then
analyzed.<br />
<br />
One of the interesting observations was that the key to recognizing that the second function
accumulates areas came from playing with the lower limit. Adjusting the upper limit simply adds
or removes points, but adjusting the lower limit moves the plotted points up or down. Once
students realized that the point corresponding to the lower limit is always zero, they were able to
deduce that the y-value of the next point is the area of the first rectangle, and that succeeding
points reflect values obtained by adding up the areas of the rectangles. Rectangles below the <i>x</i>-axis were shaded in a darker color, and students quickly picked up that they were subtracting
values. Seven of the thirteen pairs of students went as far as remarking on how the concavity of
the accumulation function is related to the behavior of the original function.
<br />
<br />
This work suggests that a Riemann sum with a variable upper limit is more intuitive than a
definite integral with a variable upper limit. In addition, it appears that students can discover
many of the essential properties of a discrete accumulation function if allowed the opportunity to
experiment with it.
<br />
<br />
<b>Understanding the Continuum</b><br />
The second paper explores student difficulties with the properties of the real number line and
describes an intervention that appears to have been useful in helping students understand the
structure of the continuum. Mathematicians of the nineteenth century struggled to understand the
essential differences between the continuum of all real numbers and dense subsets such as the set
of rational numbers. It comes as no surprise that our students also struggle with these distinctions.
<br />
<br />
The author analyzes the transcripts from an intervention described by Pontille et al. (1996). It
began with the following question: Given an increasing function, f, ( <i>x < y</i> implies <i>f</i>(<i>x</i>) ≤ <i>f</i>(<i>y</i>) )
from an ordered set S into itself, can we conclude that there will always exist an element s in S for
which <i>f</i>(<i>s</i>) = <i>s</i>? The answer, of course, depends on the set. The intervention asks students to
answer this question for four sets: a finite set of positive integers, the set of numbers with finite
decimal expansions in [0,1], the set of rational numbers in [0,1], and the entire set [0,1]. In the
original work, this question was posed to a class of lycée students in a scientific track. Over the
course of an academic year, they periodically returned to this question, gradually building a
refined understanding of the structure of the continuum. The author’s analysis of the transcripts
from these classroom discussions is fascinating.
<br />
<br />
Durand-Guerrier then posed this same question to a group of students in a graduate teacher-
training program. In both cases, students were able to answer the question in the affirmative for
the finite set, using an inductive proof or <i>reductio ad absurdum</i>. Almost all then tried to apply
this proof to the dense countable sets. Here they ran into the realization that there is no “next”
number. The graduate students, given only an hour to work on this, did not get much further. The
lycée students did come to doubt that it was always true for these sets. As they began to think
about the “holes” these sets left, they were able to construct counter-examples.
<br />
<br />
The continuum provides the most difficulty. The lycée students were eventually able to prove that
it is true in this instance, but only after being given the hint to consider the set of <i>x </i>in [0,1] for
which <i>f</i>(<i>x</i>) > <i>x</i> and to draw on the property of the continuum that every bounded set has a least
upper bound.
<br />
<br />
<b>Measuring Conceptual Understanding</b><br />
The last paper in this set addresses the problem of measuring conceptual understanding. We know
that students can be proficient in answering procedural questions without the least understanding
of what they are doing or why they are doing it. But measuring conceptual understanding is
difficult. A meaningful assessment with limited possible answers, such as a concept inventory,
requires a great deal of work to develop and validate. Open-ended questions can provide a better
window into student thinking and understanding, but consistent application of scoring rubrics
across multiple evaluators is hard to achieve.
<br />
<br />
The authors build a solution from the observation that it is far easier to compare the quality of the
responses from two students than it is to compare one student’s response against a rubric. They
therefore suggest asking a simple, very open-ended question, scored by ranking student
responses, which is achieved by pairwise comparisons. As an example, to evaluate student
understanding of the derivative, they provided the prompt,<br />
<blockquote>
Explain what a derivative is to someone who hasn’t encountered it before. Use diagrams,
examples and writing to include everything you know about derivatives.</blockquote>
The 42 students in this study first read several examples of situations involving velocity and
acceleration (presumably to prompt them to think of derivatives as rates of change rather than a
collection of procedures) and were then given 20 minutes to write their responses to the prompt.
<br />
<br />
Afterwards, 30 graduate students each judged 42 pairings. The authors found very high inter-rater
reliability (r = .826 to .907). In fact, they found that comparative judgments appeared to do a
better job of evaluating conceptual understanding than did Epstein’s Calculus Concept Inventory
(Epstein, 2013).
<br />
<br />
Similar studies were undertaken to evaluate student understanding of <i>p</i>-values and 11- to 12-year-
olds understanding of the use of letters in algebra. Again, there was very high inter-rater
reliability, and in these cases there were high levels of agreement with established instruments.
<br />
<br />
This approach constitutes a very broad method of assessment, but it does enable the instructor to
get some idea of what students are thinking and how they understand the concept at hand. It can
be used even with large classes because it is not necessary to look at all possible pairs to get a
meaningful ranking.
<br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
The three papers referenced here are very different in focus and goal, but I do see the common
thread of searching for ways to encourage and assess student understanding. After all, that is what
teaching and learning is really about.
<br />
<br />
<b>References</b><br />
Bisson, M.-J., Gilmore, C., Inglis, M., and Jones, I. (2016). Measuring conceptual understanding
using comparative judgement. <i>IJRUME</i>. 2:141–164.
<br />
<br />
Durand-Guerrier, V. (2016). Conceptualization of the continuum, an educational challenge for
undergraduate students. <i>IJRUME</i>. 2:338–361.
<br />
<br />
Epstein, J. (2013). The Calculus Concept Inventory - measurement of the effect of teaching
methodology in mathematics. <i>Notices of the American Mathematical Society</i>, 60, 1018–27.
<br />
<br />
Pontille, M. C., Feurly-Reynaud, J., & Tisseron, C. (1996). Et pourtant, ils trouvent. Repères
IREM, 24, 10–34.
<br />
<br />
Swidan, O. and Yerushalmy, M. (2016). Conceptual structure of the accumulation function in an
interactive and multiple-linked representational environment. <i>IJRUME</i>. 2:30–58.
<br />
<br />
Thompson, P.W., Byerley, C., and Hatfiled, N. (2013). A Conceptual approach to calculus made
possible by technology. <i>Computers in the Schools</i>. 30:124–147.
Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-74438220249816511302017-03-01T07:30:00.000-05:002017-03-01T07:30:07.391-05:00MAA Calculus Studies: Use of Local Data<b><i>You can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b><br />
<br />
From our 2012 study, <i>Characteristics of Successful Programs in College Calculus</i> (NSF
#0910240), the most successful departments had a practice of monitoring and reflecting on data
from their courses. When we surveyed all departments with graduate programs in 2015 as part of
<i>Progress through Calculus</i> (NSF #1430540), we asked about their access to and use of these data,
what we are referring to as “local data.”
<br />
<br />
The first thing we learned is that a few departments report no access to data about their courses or
what happens to their students. For almost half, access is not readily available (see Table 1).
When we asked, “Which types of data does your department review on a regular basis to inform
decisions about your undergraduate program?”, most departments review grade distributions and
pay attention to end of term student course evaluations (Table 2). Between 40% and 50% of the
surveyed departments correlate performance in subsequent courses with the grades they received
in previous courses and look at how well placement procedures are being followed. Given how
important it is to track persistence rates (see <a href="http://www.maa.org/external_archive/columns/launchings/launchings_01_10.html">The Problem of Persistence</a>, <i>Launchings</i>, January
2010), it is disappointing to see that only 41% of departments track these data. Regular
communication with client disciplines is almost non-existent.
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ_gTqoqrRhNQUcB5HwYjOsk3XxETjegl4VIguXTIrSubKLvE0w7jfbnjLwcqizTWYlXM7jEDeQuTSj8b2XWoz5hAx7PHPy8F6_gS6J1jv07QA7gowhxN1aBbM4V5Wwezc3p21TBYfYuDr/s1600/launchings+table+1responses.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ_gTqoqrRhNQUcB5HwYjOsk3XxETjegl4VIguXTIrSubKLvE0w7jfbnjLwcqizTWYlXM7jEDeQuTSj8b2XWoz5hAx7PHPy8F6_gS6J1jv07QA7gowhxN1aBbM4V5Wwezc3p21TBYfYuDr/s400/launchings+table+1responses.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">
Table 1. Responses to the question, “Does your department have access to data </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to help inform
decisions about your undergraduate program? PhD indicates </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
departments that offer a PhD in
Mathematics. MA indicates departments for </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
which the highest degree offered in Mathematics is a
Master’s.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhofeZemDCIObJLkyZRC_KlKWniuj3FyQLQM0qgD0QldD9w5LMNo7lc5PL3y3lVoV9nOBxLl2Q_ov5S9j-Y7ja6EY5hGGz77GmTKrboI14QIp0iT3EgH4r84JASKwV3qu5Xck7Kr2tsx8jm/s1600/launchings+table+2+responses.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhofeZemDCIObJLkyZRC_KlKWniuj3FyQLQM0qgD0QldD9w5LMNo7lc5PL3y3lVoV9nOBxLl2Q_ov5S9j-Y7ja6EY5hGGz77GmTKrboI14QIp0iT3EgH4r84JASKwV3qu5Xck7Kr2tsx8jm/s400/launchings+table+2+responses.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 2. Responses to the question, “Which types of data does your department<br />
review on a
regular basis to inform decisions about your undergraduate program?”</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We also asked departments to describe the kinds of data they collect and regularly review.
Several reported combining placement scores, persistence, and grades in subsequent courses to
better understand the success of their program. Some of the other interesting uses of data included
universities that<br />
<ul>
<li>Built a model of “at-risk” students in Calculus I using admissions data from the past
seven years. Using it, they report “developing a program to assist these students right at
the beginning of Fall quarter, rather than target them after they start to perform poorly.” </li>
<li>Surveyed calculus students to get a better understanding of their backgrounds and
attitudes toward studying in groups. </li>
<li>Collected regular information from business and industry employers of their majors. </li>
<li>Measured correlation of grade in Calculus I with transfer status, year in college, gender,
whether repeating Calculus I, and GPA. </li>
<li>Used data from the university’s Core Learning Objectives and a uniform final exam to
inform decisions about the course (including the ordering of topics, emphasis on material
and time devoted to mastery of certain concepts, particularly in Calculus II). </li>
<li>Reviewed the performance on exam problems to decide if a problem type is too hard, a
problem type needs to be rephrased, or an idea needs to be revisited on a future exam.</li>
</ul>
The intelligent use of data to shape and monitor interventions is a central feature of the large-
scale initiatives that are now underway. To mention just one, the AAU STEM Initiative
(Association of American Universities, a consortium of 62 of the most prominent research
universities in the U.S. and Canada) has established a Framework for sustainable institutional
change. It can be found at <a href="https://stemedhub.org/groups/aau/framework">https://stemedhub.org/groups/aau/framework</a> (Figure 1).
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiakEo7XmBRAYLCCmjCeDOIkXyjnZogc4RAqnYpwsDI-bq97rYQjJp3Y3WFGmVkJtIE9JeyomyzI8XduJRGRBDCJBSxCdInrlQRmi_NrXmtn8bNpkhYLEoMFs5o38y2faZBHCanJ_1oOLnP/s1600/Launchings+figure+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiakEo7XmBRAYLCCmjCeDOIkXyjnZogc4RAqnYpwsDI-bq97rYQjJp3Y3WFGmVkJtIE9JeyomyzI8XduJRGRBDCJBSxCdInrlQRmi_NrXmtn8bNpkhYLEoMFs5o38y2faZBHCanJ_1oOLnP/s1600/Launchings+figure+1.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1. AAU STEM Initiative Framework</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The three levels of change are subdivided into topics, each of which links to programs at member
universities that illustrate work on this aspect of the framework.
<br />
<br />
Cultural change encompasses<br />
<ol>
<li> Aligning incentives with expectations of teaching excellence. </li>
<li> Establishing strong measures of teaching excellence. </li>
<li> Leadership commitment.</li>
</ol>
Scaffolding includes<br />
<ol>
<li> Facilities. </li>
<li> Technology. </li>
<li> Data. </li>
<li>Faculty professional development.</li>
</ol>
Pedagogy is comprised of<br />
<ol>
<li> Access. </li>
<li>Articulated learning goals. </li>
<li>Assessments. </li>
<li>Educational practices.</li>
</ol>
In addition, AAU is now finalizing a list of “Essential Questions” to ask about the institution, the
college, the department, and the course, illustrating the types of data and information that should
be collected and pointing to helpful resources. This report, which should be published by the time
this column appears, will be accessible through the AAU STEM Initiative homepage at
<a href="https://stemedhub.org/groups/aau">
https://stemedhub.org/groups/aau</a>.
<br />
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<br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-17551048236997298062017-02-01T06:54:00.000-05:002017-02-28T13:01:52.433-05:00MAA Calculus Study: PtC Survey Results <b><i>You can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b><br />
<br />
<br />
In spring 2015 the MAA’s <i>Progress through Calculus</i> (PtC) grant (NSF#1430540) surveyed all U.S. Departments of Mathematics that offer a graduate degree in Mathematics to learn about departmental practices, priorities, and concerns with respect to their mainstream courses in precalculus through single variable calculus. I have reported on some of the results from this study in <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2015_11_01_archive.html" target="_blank">November, 2015</a>. This month’s column describes a variety of data relative to mainstream Calculus I that were collected in that survey. The full report can be found under <a href="mailto:http://www.maa.org/programs/faculty-and-departments/curriculum-development-resources/national-studies-college-calculus/ptc-publications" target="_blank">PtC Reports</a> (link from <a href="http://maa.org/cspcc">maa.org/cspcc</a>).
<br />
<br />
The survey was sent to the chairs of all departments of mathematics in the United States that offer a graduate degree in Mathematics (PhD or Master’s). We received responses from 134 of the 178 PhD-granting universities (75%) and 89 of the 152 Master’s-granting universities (59%).
<br />
<br />
Given how ineffective the standard precalculus course is known to be (see my <i>Launchings</i> column from <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2014_10_01_archive.html" target="_blank">October, 2014</a>), we were particularly interested in efforts to teach precalculus topics concurrently with calculus. Accomplishing this through a stretched-out Calculus I is now fairly common (20 of 222 respondents use this approach to incorporate precalculus topics into Calculus I). Eleven universities have courses or options with extra hours to allow time on precalculus, and three offer precalculus courses designed to be taken concurrently with Calculus I. We also found 14 universities with an accelerated calculus specifically designed to meet the needs of students entering with AP® Calculus credit. Three universities have special lower credit courses that enable students who begin in a non-mainstream Calculus I to transition to mainstream calculus.
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOXatM-xfyhAyko5v8CjQ74wMwdgIOjaOYfMXceBJ1N-Q5pWhjS54KoYoR9YEvktteaZ3e-1mnpaa_8zW2ZoYu7siYkKkdRL84-WbyS-aUpsCia_hQfG59tfG2WAdVlU724luATYTHgiE/s1600/launchings+PtC+table+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOXatM-xfyhAyko5v8CjQ74wMwdgIOjaOYfMXceBJ1N-Q5pWhjS54KoYoR9YEvktteaZ3e-1mnpaa_8zW2ZoYu7siYkKkdRL84-WbyS-aUpsCia_hQfG59tfG2WAdVlU724luATYTHgiE/s400/launchings+PtC+table+1.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 1: Number of surveyed universities that reported using each <br />
of the listed variations in single variable calculus classes.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Every five years, CBMS surveys departments of mathematics in the U.S. to get enrollment numbers, but those are only gathered for the fall term. In this survey, we were particularly interested in how these numbers vary over the full year, both academic and summer terms. While we only have results for a sample of universities, and no undergraduate colleges, the numbers are large enough, 150,000 in Precalculus, 200,000 in mainstream Calculus I, and 160,000 in subsequent mainstream single variable classes, to get a good idea of how these enrollments distribute over the year. For Precalculus, 57% of the enrollment occurs in the fall term. Fall term accounts for 60% of the Calculus I students. Not surprisingly, Calculus II is predominantly a second-term course (47%), but 40% of the students who take Calculus II do so in the fall. The distribution among the terms is complicated by the fact that some universities are on a quarter system, others on semesters. What I have labeled <i>2nd Term</i>, is either spring semester or winter quarter. The <i>3rd Term</i> refers to the spring quarter for those on a quarter system. <i>Summer</i> aggregates all summer terms. Figure 1 shows actual numbers from the universities that responded to give an idea of how enrollments drop off. For the purposes of the survey, “Precalculus” was defined as the last course before mainstream Calculus I. It is variously called Precalculus, College Algebra, College Algebra with Trigonometry, or Preparation for Calculus. Calculus II includes all mainstream single variable calculus courses that follow Calculus I. On a semester system, there is usually just one. On a quarter system, there usually are two such courses.
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHvplFhh6DELAwca0d22sxPIPHd9itC9070fZPeo02B4QsYI1gOe3KOHyXmrp0GwRMty-59rmMeNUoiFFFmsrGRPXK61FS1shP75JOrWd8Kd0LPDGN6iUodUvIll40qv-1jxcYJyzb0uN/s1600/Fig1.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHvplFhh6DELAwca0d22sxPIPHd9itC9070fZPeo02B4QsYI1gOe3KOHyXmrp0GwRMty-59rmMeNUoiFFFmsrGRPXK61FS1shP75JOrWd8Kd0LPDGN6iUodUvIll40qv-1jxcYJyzb0uN/s400/Fig1.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1: Distribution of enrollments by term among the 205 universities that respond to this question. <br />
2nd term = spring semester or winter quarter. 3rd term = spring quarter. <br />
Calculus II includes all mainstream single variable calculus classes that follow Calculus I.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The number of contact hours (including recitation sections) in Calculus I averaged 4.17 (SD = 0.77) at PhD-granting universities and 4.25 (SD = 0.64) at Masters-granting universities. The DFW rate in mainstream Calculus I was 21% (SD =12.2), at PhD-granting universities and 25% (SD = 13.7) at Masters-granting universities.
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<br />
The next table (Table 2) reports the fraction of universities in which Calculus I is frequently taught by each type of instructor. For each category of instructor, the options were “Never,” “Rarely,” or “Frequently.”
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxr1ZSq571nUPJCVRAxvoc1hi9-8ATyu67IPKYIN98GdZHeFJKWjEGeoqZvm-wzj25tDY0y16v-WpDg02Sl15b-5dFoOyeaLuSWQtBYPfvcn1fnqlVe6z5pf0fEX3lTIwGqc5Em0RKd3V/s1600/launchings+PtC+table+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxr1ZSq571nUPJCVRAxvoc1hi9-8ATyu67IPKYIN98GdZHeFJKWjEGeoqZvm-wzj25tDY0y16v-WpDg02Sl15b-5dFoOyeaLuSWQtBYPfvcn1fnqlVe6z5pf0fEX3lTIwGqc5Em0RKd3V/s400/launchings+PtC+table+3.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 2: Percentage of universities for which each category of <br />
instructor frequently teaches mainstream Calculus I.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Recitation sections were far more common at PhD-granting universities. All classes have recitation sections for 49% of the institutions, some classes at 6%, and there are no recitation sections at 45% of the universities. For Masters-granting universities, the percentages were 18% for all classes, 6% for some classes, and 76% for no classes.
<br />
<br />
We also found that active learning was much more common at Masters-granting universities than PhD-granting universities. Figures 2 and 3 record primary instructional format for mainstream Calculus I. “Some active learning” includes techniques such as use of clickers or think-pair-share. “Minimal lecture” includes Inquiry Based Learning and flipped classes. “Other” usually means too much variation to be able to identify a primary instructional format. We did find that 35% of the PhD-granting universities did report having at least some sections that were using active learning approaches.
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvAoaIgSMpdO5hITM1nGybD4-wSFzspD9d-VvbzPddoxytxcVTVh_23ri0fG9m407qaCazYdYjER4PTKxyQeuBrecF8H_VBfo6ovLlcwDpJLSJHDJtmzVu4EdSyA8gLPjyPcwCl3HvfLWm/s1600/launchings+PtC+table+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvAoaIgSMpdO5hITM1nGybD4-wSFzspD9d-VvbzPddoxytxcVTVh_23ri0fG9m407qaCazYdYjER4PTKxyQeuBrecF8H_VBfo6ovLlcwDpJLSJHDJtmzVu4EdSyA8gLPjyPcwCl3HvfLWm/s320/launchings+PtC+table+4.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 2. Primary instructional format for regular classes <br />
(not recitation sections) at 214 PhD-granting universities.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBheXayA8UU6X70uoIBJR4GZlznLDtxOMZau4DZqoONpB6MgNlzvgAFEia0X7XFEpb1lg5m9EGXZj62hmDPaGHO1x2Xhr8toPpsuXriiC-DVxm6mw6tPO8eEQ49lZKVx1LBOGQK_xZsbw/s1600/launchings+PtC+table+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBheXayA8UU6X70uoIBJR4GZlznLDtxOMZau4DZqoONpB6MgNlzvgAFEia0X7XFEpb1lg5m9EGXZj62hmDPaGHO1x2Xhr8toPpsuXriiC-DVxm6mw6tPO8eEQ49lZKVx1LBOGQK_xZsbw/s320/launchings+PtC+table+5.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 3. Primary instructional format for regular classes <br />
(not recitation sections) at 109 Masters-granting universities.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
At 73% of the PhD-granting universities and 74% of the Masters-granting universities that offer recitation sections, they are simply homework help, Q&A, and review. Recitation sections are built around active learning approaches 21% of the time at PhD-granting universities, 4% of the time at Masters-granting universities.
<br />
<br />
Table 3 reports which elements of mainstream Calculus I are common across all sections. We see much more uniformity at PhD-granting universities. In view of our findings from the earlier <i>Characteristics of Successful Programs in College Calculus</i> that coordination of course elements was one of the significant factors of successful calculus programs (see my <i>Launchings</i> column from <a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2014_01_01_archive.html" target="_blank">January 2014</a>), the results of this study suggest a great deal of room for improvement.
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKp_UaTkxvOhlxMvfoLYOt-QT47gK51DLo3XiUy6EZ1JSglVn8vpopTZ417buTxhmiyN8cLHtb4A5D_8M4SDZ03R6TGSs7e-3kUcTicboBztdJxH5S4_IaAJF7lQ3hy2FpGMEma_s9vM2e/s1600/launchings+PtC+table+6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKp_UaTkxvOhlxMvfoLYOt-QT47gK51DLo3XiUy6EZ1JSglVn8vpopTZ417buTxhmiyN8cLHtb4A5D_8M4SDZ03R6TGSs7e-3kUcTicboBztdJxH5S4_IaAJF7lQ3hy2FpGMEma_s9vM2e/s400/launchings+PtC+table+6.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 3: Percentage of reporting universities that have these elements across all sections of mainstream Calculus I.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Another aspect of coordination that was characteristic of the most successful programs was the practice of regular meetings of the course instructors. As shown in Table 4, there is also a great deal of room for improvement here.
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1V2G7VldI5W4CyGCFg8wS9AQEryZs1sLPtjZnGkmMPMtLoNd3SmJN4DhIQgRrLPubjhxir51oAflkhpp63rPA59lovIEUyps5jEBfMC_Ytich8FO7cysUyAwaviSCDtQYHHJq2sonLC0y/s1600/launchings+PtC+table+7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1V2G7VldI5W4CyGCFg8wS9AQEryZs1sLPtjZnGkmMPMtLoNd3SmJN4DhIQgRrLPubjhxir51oAflkhpp63rPA59lovIEUyps5jEBfMC_Ytich8FO7cysUyAwaviSCDtQYHHJq2sonLC0y/s1600/launchings+PtC+table+7.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Table 4: Response to "When several instructors are teaching in the same term, <br />
how often do they typically meet as a group to discuss the course?"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The situation at PhD-granting universities is disappointing. The primary means of instruction is still large lecture with few or no structured opportunities for students to reflect on what is being presented to them, supplemented by recitation sections in which graduate students simply go over homework and answer student questions. At the Masters-granting universities, where classes are smaller and there is more emphasis on teaching, there is little coordination, often resulting in highly variable instruction. But there is room for hope. While there is no previous study with comparable data, there appears to be good deal of experimentation. My own experience in visiting these predominantly large public universities is that they are aware that what they are doing is not working, and they are looking for ways to improve what happens in this critical sequence.
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<br />Mathematical Association of Americahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10559021045290192742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251686825560941361.post-57055565074220777922017-01-01T07:00:00.000-05:002017-01-01T07:00:08.913-05:00IJRUME: Approximation in Calculus<b><i>You can now follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/dbressoud" target="_blank">@dbressoud</a>.</i></b><br />
<br />
In an earlier column, "<a href="http://launchings.blogspot.com/2014/09/beyond-limit-iii.html" target="_blank">Beyond the Limit, III</a>," I talked about how Michael Oehrtman and colleagues
have been able to use approximation as a unifying theme for single variable calculus that helps
students avoid many of the confusing aspects of the language of limits. I also pointed out that this
is hardly a new idea, having been used by many textbook authors including Emil Artin in <i>A
Freshman Honors Course in Calculus and Analytic Geometry</i> and Peter Lax and Maria Terrell in
<i>Calculus with Applications</i>. The IJRUME research paper I wish to highlight this month, “A study
of calculus instructors’ perceptions of approximation as a unifying thread of the first-year
calculus” by Sofronas et al., looks at how common this approach actually is.<br />
<br />
The authors address four research questions:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Do calculus instructors perceive approximation to be important to student
understanding of first-year calculus? </li>
<li>Do calculus instructors report emphasizing approximation as a central concept and-or
unifying thread in the first-year calculus? </li>
<li>Which approximation ideas do calculus instructors believe are “worthwhile” to
address in first-year calculus? </li>
<li>Are there any differences between demographic groups with respect to the
approximation ideas they teach in first-year calculus courses? </li>
</ol>
They surveyed calculus instructors at 182 colleges and universities, collecting 279 responses.<br />
<br />
<br />
To the first two questions, 89% agreed that approximation is important, but only 51% considered
it a central concept, and only 40% found that it provides a unifying thread (see Figure 1). For
those who did consider it central and-or unifying, the reasons that they gave included: (a) it
illuminates reasons for studying calculus, (b) most functions are not elementary and
approximation is helpful in dealing with such functions, (c) approximation facilitates the
understanding of fundamental concepts including limit, derivative, integral, and series, (d) linear
approximations lie at the foundation of differential calculus, and (e) an emphasis on
approximation resonates with the instructors personal interests in applied mathematics or
numerical analysis.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRldN86NRmimTpo_M0411iGJogiAuo5qAhfmyIU877Ar_c8-3aDVlBpWWofa2uvoc-o9MuOwCAaKM4fgBnHHQQ_Mu7C5YB9oS96opBXYL5eLl3VzW_MVjwzqW7cjJYJNx_MQ7pBTeZF8pM/s1600/IJRUME_Approx_in_Calc.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRldN86NRmimTpo_M0411iGJogiAuo5qAhfmyIU877Ar_c8-3aDVlBpWWofa2uvoc-o9MuOwCAaKM4fgBnHHQQ_Mu7C5YB9oS96opBXYL5eLl3VzW_MVjwzqW7cjJYJNx_MQ7pBTeZF8pM/s400/IJRUME_Approx_in_Calc.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1: Graph depicting participants’ perceptions of approximation (N=214).<br />
Source: Sofronas et al. 2015.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />For those who did<i> not </i>consider approximation to be central or unifying, many stated that it is not
sufficiently universal, only important in a few contexts such as motivating the definition of the
derivative at a point or the value of a definite integral. Many stated other unifying threads such as
limit or the study of change. Some objected to an emphasis on approximation because of its
inevitable ties to the use of technology. There were also a large number of obstacles to the use of
approximation that instructors identified. These included: (a) an overcrowded syllabus that left no
room for the instructor to develop a unifying thread, (b) required adherence to a curriculum
emphasizing procedural facility, (c) students with weak preparation who are not prepared to
understand the subtleties of approximation arguments, (d) lack of access to technology, (e) lack of
familiarity with how to use approximation ideas in developing calculus. I personally find these
obstacles to be very sad, in particular the assumption on the part of many instructors that the only
way to get through the required syllabus or to enable students to pass the course is to focus
exclusively on memorizing procedures.
<br />
<br />
Jumping ahead to the fourth question, the authors found that the single factor that most highly
correlated with emphasizing approximation as a central concept and-or unifying thread was
having served on either a local or national calculus committee. Not surprisingly, this factor was
also highly correlated with number of years teaching calculus, rank, being the recipient of a
teaching award, and having published or presented on a calculus topic.
<br />
<br />
To the third research question, the combined list of topics gleaned from all of the responses truly
spans first-year calculus: numerical limits, definition of limit, definition of the derivative,
derivative values, tangent line approximations, differentials, error estimation, function change,
functions roots and Newton’s method, linearization, integration, Riemann sums, Taylor
polynomials and Taylor series, Newton’s second law, Einstein’s equation for force, L’Hospital’s
rule, Euler’s method, and the approximation of irrational numbers. One unexpected outcome of
the survey is that several of the respondents commented that answering this survey about their use
of approximation in first-year calculus opened their eyes to the opportunity to use it as a unifying
theme. As one respondent wrote,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I agree that approximation is an important concept AND after taking this survey I can see
teaching calculus using approximation as the main theme. The rate of change theme
offers many opportunities for real-life applications but I can see how using
approximations from the beginning would offer other opportunities. It is an interesting
idea, and I would love to incorporate more of this theme into my lessons.</blockquote>
For those who are interested in following up on the use of approximation as a unifying thread,
this article also supplies a wealth of background information that includes a discussion of the
different ways in which approximation can be used and the research evidence for its effectiveness
as a guiding theme in developing student understanding of limits, derivatives, integrals, and
series.
<br />
<br />
<b>References
</b><br />
<br />
Artin, E. (1958). <i>A Freshman Honors Course in Calculus and Analytic Geometry Taught at
Princeton University</i>. Buffalo, NY: Committee on the Undergraduate Program of the
Mathematical Association of America
<br />
<br />
Lax, P. & Terrell, M.S. (2014). <i>Calculus with Applications</i>, Second Edition. New York, NY:
Springer.
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