Mathematics Partnering with Computer Science to Improve Calculus Instruction and Learning

跨学科（99）数学科学和计算机科学学院正在开发微积分课堂活动，利用平板电脑的数字链接功能，使学生能够在课堂上的不同时刻提交详细的问题解决方案，然后进行投影、讨论、注释和保存。一个基于网络的开源软件应用程序Messagegrid正在被增强，以包括记录功能和基于规则的评估算法。通常情况下，学生在应用程序问题上的工作是随意地分散在一张纸上，这要么是不可能的，要么是太花时间来辨别学生的思维顺序，并确定思维过程中的错误。检查学生输入的顺序，即平板电脑上的“墨水”笔画，允许对不同的错误进行分类。这个项目的智力价值是双重的：1)支持主动学习，学生可以立即得到反馈，这种反馈可以通知班级的其他成员，并保持教学环境的流动；2)收集和处理大量的学生作业样本，对这些样本进行分析，以制定紧急问题解决策略。基于这样的分析，精心选择多步骤问题的课堂活动被组织起来，在数据显示学生通常采取错误路径的关键时刻暂停解决问题的过程。该项目更广泛的影响包括messaggrid应用程序的实施及其在三县技术学院（一所当地两年制大学）的使用评估，在克莱姆森其他部门的类似实施，与项目网站问题库的贡献者和用户的互动，以及与夏季教师研讨会参与者的互动。还通过收集和分析下列绩效指标（例如普通考试分数）来评价该项目的影响；使用这种方法的班级的学生保留总数；学生行为与满意度调查；以及教师投入的时间和满意度调查。

Interdisciplinary (99) Faculty in the mathematical sciences and computer science are developing calculus classroom activities that exploit the digital-ink feature of the Tablet PC to enable students to submit detailed problem solutions at various points throughout a class that are then projected, discussed, annotated, and saved. An open-source web-based software application, Messagegrid, is being enhanced to include a recording capability and rubric-based evaluation-algorithm. Normally, student work on application problems is scattered haphazardly across a piece of paper where it is either impossible or too time-consuming to discern the sequence of the student's thought and to determine where the thought process goes astray. Examination of the sequence of student inputs, the "ink" strokes on the Tablet PC, permits categorization of different errors as they occur. The intellectual merit of this project is two-fold: 1) supporting active learning where students receive immediate feedback in a way that informs the rest of the class and maintains the flow of the teaching-learning environment; and 2) collecting and processing large samples of student work which is analyzed for emergent problem-solving strategies. Based on such analysis class activities with carefully-chosen multi-step problems are structured to pause the problem-solving process at junctures where the data show students typically take incorrect paths. The project's broader impacts include implementation of the Messagegrid application and evaluation of its use at Tri-County Technical College, a local two year college, similar implementation in other departments at Clemson, interactions with contributors to and users of the project's website repository of problems, and engagement with participants in summer faculty workshops. The impact of this project is also being evaluated through the collection and analysis of: performance measures (e.g. scores on common exams); student retention totals in the classes using this approach; student behavior and satisfaction surveys; and faculty investment of time and satisfaction surveys.