Building Community Through Systemic Initiative for Modeling Investigations and Opportunities with Differential Equations (SIMIODE)

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With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program, the SIMIODE (Systemic Initiative for Modeling Investigations and Opportunities with Differential Equations) community will develop a mathematical-modeling approach for the first undergraduate calculus course. Introductory calculus is an important course in undergraduate STEM curricula, and the design and teaching enhancements proposed in this project have the potential to increase the retention, graduation, and quality of STEM majors nationwide. The mathematical-modeling approach to differential equations uses best practices in STEM undergraduate teaching: it is hands-on, problem-based, inquiry-driven, and incorporates group learning. The project will create teaching materials that focus on real world data and encourage students to transfer knowledge between mathematics and other disciplines. The project will combine in-person and virtual support for faculty seeking to adopt a mathematical-modeling approach in their own classrooms. This support includes workshops, panel discussions, presentations at regional and national conferences, and mentoring in an online community. The project will support different levels of faculty engagement: some faculty will introduce a few modeling activities into their classes while others will complete a full curriculum shift to mathematical models. Finally, the project will conduct research on the efficacy of specific approaches to faculty development. The first part of the project will support the development of peer-reviewed, open-source teaching materials that will be made available to the public through SIMIODE's HUBZero platform. The online platform will allow users and authors to share comments, modifications, and extensions of the material. The project will also promote awareness of this modeling approach through dissemination of teaching materials at conferences. Secondly, the project will provide initial and long-term support for faculty development via an online community and in-person workshops. These workshops will focus on incorporating these materials into courses, thus encouraging a sustained pedagogical shift from technique-driven to a model-driven approach. Summer workshops and annual mini-courses at national conferences will demonstrate the modeling approach to teaching differential equations and will provide in-person mentoring and support to faculty adopting this approach. Throughout the project, the assessment team will review the effectiveness of the online communities and in-person workshops so the program staff can modify them to provide the best support. SIMIODE employs a double-blind peer review of published materials by a Board of Contributing Advisors that includes material authors and users. The Board and participants will also provide feedback on the efficacy of the project's activities in delivering faculty support needed to affect pedagogical change. The online community platform will provide the flexibility needed to adapt multiple approaches in faculty support, (e.g., webinars; group or individual mentoring) as dictated by the ongoing formative project assessment.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.