Collaborative Research: Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning

San Diego State University Foundation, San Diego CA

Investigators

Abstract

Overwhelming evidence from education research has shown that active learning instructional techniques generate significantly greater student learning than traditional approaches in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. To date, though, few college and university faculty employ active learning approaches in their introductory STEM classes. This disconnect between practices with established higher effectiveness and actual classroom teaching is particularly troublesome in mathematics because student success in all STEM disciplines relies on a strong mathematics foundation. This project will investigate environments at six institutions that have successfully improved student learning in the Precalculus-to-Calculus 2 (P2C2) sequence by employing active learning in mathematics (ALM). The results of this work will lead to important strategies for adapting, implementing, supporting, and assessing ALM in P2C2 courses. In order to meet the needs of institutions wishing to improve their mathematics instruction, the project will produce multiple options for implementation based upon case studies of the successful institutions. Overall, the project will benefit the mathematical sciences community by: improving student success in high-enrollment undergraduate courses, better preparing those students who go on to STEM majors, and improving the teaching of future faculty through the mentoring of graduate students. Faculty members at the University of Colorado at Boulder (1624628), San Diego State University (1624639), and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1624643) will collaborate with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) (1624610) to research and advance how to influence and sustain educational change in mathematics departments--ultimately, at national scale. A fundamental goal of the project is to develop a better understanding of how to enact and support institutional change for implementing ALM in undergraduate learning environments. The underlying research question is: What conditions, strategies, interventions and actions at the institutional, departmental and classroom levels contribute to the initiation, implementation, and institutional sustainability of ALM in the undergraduate P2C2 sequence across varied institutions? Project team members will work as part of APLU's ALM Research Action Cluster to advance understanding of the factors that influence and enhance institutional change as manifested through implementation of models of ALM in the P2C2 sequence. Research will follow a design research methodology linking qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis to capture the iterative and cyclical processes of institutional change. The project will be carried out in two phases, with Phase 1 consisting of the aforementioned case studies at six institutions and Phase 2 consisting of longitudinal case studies of nine diverse institutions that set out to infuse and institutionalize ALM in the P2C2 sequence. Phase 1 will offer the field a retrospective account of ALM models of change that worked, and Phase 2 will develop theory and insights into the processes by which change focused on ALM can unfold over time, along with the affordances and constraints related to institutional change. The project will proactively disseminate its results and findings across APLU's large network of member institutions and beyond to promote adoption of ALM approaches.