GP-IMPACT: Integrating Geoscience to Engage Majors with Mathematics: iGEM2

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Part IAt The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), mathematics courses leading to Calculus constitute a major obstruction to success for alarming numbers of STEM-intended majors. This fact reflects a challenge faced by universities across the country. Our goals are to (1) improve success of intended STEM majors at UTA in mathematics courses that lead to Calculus, courses taken primarily by STEM-intended majors, but yielding D-F-Withdraw rates 60%, and (2) introduce first and second year students to the geosciences and related career pathways before they decide on a major, thereby increasing the number and diversity of students who choose to major in the geosciences. We will do this by modifying the laboratory/recitation component of Math 1302 (College Algebra) by integrating geoscience research of The Ohio State University (OSU) and UTA faculty into the mathematics curriculum, reaching approximately 1,000 students per semester. Weekly lab meetings in the mathematics courses will incorporate a video presentation by geoscience faculty describing how the mathematical skill is essential for his/her scientific research, and exercises the students perform will be cast in the context of that research project, followed by problem-solving activities that synthesize mathematical concepts and apply the concepts with problems related to geoscience research. In this way, the mathematical abstraction will be connected with geoscience content crossing the fields of geophysics, environmental geochemistry, and oceanography. This is a strategic partnership, as the geosciences incorporate research methods from across all of STEM and are therefore likely to be relatable to a broad range of STEM-intended students. This collaboration will empower beginning STEM students by placing abstract mathematical concepts in a scientific context at a critical transition, which constitutes statistically a major stumbling block for many STEM-intended majors. At the same time, it will expose students early in their college experience to geoscience as a potential major. This project will be made possible by building a new partnership between the School of Earth Science at OSU and Mathematics at UTA. Success of the project will be determined by monitoring D-F-W rates of this course, evaluate students? perceptions of the geosciences and confidence in mathematics, and tracking students through declaration of their major and beyond. In the final year of the project, the model implemented at UTA will be propagated to OSU, demonstrating long term transportability and sustainability.Part IIFreshman level math courses often form a roadblock for STEM-intended students, particularly when students do not test directly into Calculus when they enter college. This is certainly true at The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), an access-oriented university. Calculus is the first mathematics course in all natural science degree plans at UTA; however, Algebra or Precalculus are common mathematics entry points for STEM-intended majors especially those who begin their major through nontraditional pathways. In 2012, UTA had the highest acceptance rate and highest number of new transfer students (8,649) in the country (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center) and this trend continues. Given these statistics, and the fact that the proposed work will directly affect ~1000 students per semester, this project will have an enormous impact on a diverse population of at-risk students who aspire to graduating in a STEM degree. Our goals are to (1) improve success of intended STEM majors at UTA in mathematics courses that lead to Calculus, courses taken primarily by STEM-intended majors, but yielding D-F-Withdraw rates 60%, and (2) introduce first and second year students to the geosciences and related career pathways before they decide on a major, thereby increasing the number and diversity of students who choose to major in the geosciences. We will recast College Algebra concepts in the context of research areas of Earth Science Faculty at The Ohio State University (OSU) and UTA without changing the content of the current course. In this way, we will empower beginning STEM students by placing abstract mathematical concepts in a scientific context - crossing the fields of geophysics, environmental geochemistry, and oceanography - at a critical transition which constitutes statistically a major stumbling block for many of STEM-intended majors. This is a new strategic partnership, as the geosciences incorporate research methods from across all of STEM and are therefore likely to be relatable to a broad range of STEM-intended students. At the same time, it will expose students early in their college experience to geoscience as a potential major. Success of the project will be determined by monitoring D-F-W rates of this course, evaluate students? perceptions of the geosciences and confidence in mathematics, and tracking students through declaration of their major and beyond. In the final year of the project, the model implemented at UTA will be propagated to OSU, demonstrating long term transportability and sustainability.