Oct 8, 2013 - All Rights Reserved. Eos, Vol. 94, No. ... science courses need to accurately portray the science as quantitative [e.g., Wenner et al.,. 2009].
Eos, Vol. 94, No. 41, 8 October 2013
Discipline-Based Remediation: Bridging the Mathematics Gap
and when they revisit concepts later in the course. TMYN’s design of contextualized quantitative problem solving, combined with instructor and student engagement with the material, has the effect of leveling the playing field by providing students with support that prepares them to realistically address quantitative problems in their geoscience courses.
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The Math You Need, When You Need It
Geoscience relies on numbers, data, equations, graphical representations, and other quantitative skills; therefore, introductory geoscience courses need to accurately portray the science as quantitative [e.g., Wenner et al., 2009]. However, up to 57% of students arrive at college underprepared to perform mathematics at the level necessary to succeed in introductory courses [ACT, 2011]. Although some institutions have turned to prerequisites as a way to ensure appropriate preparation, these extra courses can place undue financial, temporal, and academic burdens on interested students, keeping them from enrolling in science courses that may interest them. As an alternative to mathematics prerequisites, geoscience faculty at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and Highline Community College in Des Moines, Wash., funded by the National Science Foundation, developed a model of successful integration of disciplinebased mathematics remediation into an introductory geoscience course: The Math You Need, When You Need It (TMYN; http://serc .carleton.edu/mathyouneed/).
TMYN is a series of asynchronous Webbased mathematics remediation modules that instructors can integrate into any introductory geoscience course. The TMYN website currently includes modules that cover quantitative concepts common to introductory geoscience curricula: calculating density, plotting points, best fit line, reading a point from a curve/line, hypsometric curve, rates, rearranging equations, slopes, topographic profiles, trigonometry, and unit conversions. Each Web tutorial provides students with an introduction to the quantitative concept, which includes an algorithm for approaching the quantitative concept, a “Why should I care?” section, and several contexts in which the concept is used in the geosciences (e.g., http://serc.carleton.edu/mathyouneed/units/ index.html). A second page includes worked problems, using each step of the algorithm, placed in a variety of appropriate geoscience contexts (e.g., http://serc.carleton.edu/ mathyouneed/units/UnitExample.html). With TMYN, students learn to transfer basic mathematical concepts to multiple geoscience topics just before they are introduced to them in class or lab [Wenner et al., 2011] (see additional supporting information). Students work through modules at their own pace (spending anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes on each assignment) outside of class, and they ultimately complete a quiz that tests their ability to apply concepts covered in the module. Instructors further reinforce specific quantitative concepts by applying them in the following class or lab
The Need for Basic Math Skills in Introductory Geoscience Because introductory geoscience classes are often populated with students seeking general education science credit, these courses may represent one of the few opportunities for those students to discover and explore a love of science. Geoscience, when taught as a quantitative science, may also open students’ eyes to the power of mathematics as it relates to the natural world. However, introductory geoscience students enroll because they perceive the geosciences to be nonquantitative [e.g., Manduca et al., 2008], and many view mathematics as a barrier to success, whether due to lack of use, anxiety, expectation of failure, or difficulty transferring from abstract to concrete. Thus, students may need a significant amount of dedicated support to review or relearn the basic skills needed to succeed in introductory geoscience. When provided with an engaging, realistic portrayal of quantitative geoscience and adequate assistance to develop wide-ranging mathematical skills, a majority of students can gain the ability to apply mathematics to appropriate scientific problems. A 2-year study of the use of TMYN in geoscience courses demonstrates the success of an integrated approach to remediating quantitative skills through discipline-based tutorials (Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this brief report).
Evaluating the Effectiveness of TMYN To examine the effectiveness of TMYN, faculty at 22 universities and colleges across the United States (see Additional Supporting Information) assessed students’ readiness to apply mathematics essential to their introductory geoscience course by administering a pretest before introducing TMYN modules. For 1133 students enrolled in 43 geoscience courses that used TMYN between August 2010 and June 2012, two thirds of students (n = 759) scored below 70%; the average pretest score (xpre ) was approximately 60% (Table 1). These results reinforce the notion that before enrolling in the course, a large proportion of students are unable to apply mathematics to concrete geoscience examples and may need dedicated support to be successful in their geoscience courses. TMYN tutorials are designed to enhance and facilitate transfer of abstract mathematical concepts to concrete scientific examples, which builds student self- efficacy (the belief in one’s capabilities to achieve a goal or an outcome), provides the opportunity for success, and reinforces the value of mathematics in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) contexts. Students who completed TMYN modules assigned in their course showed improvement from pretest to posttest, with the average score increasing 14 percentage points (60% to 74%; ppdif, Table 1). On average, students with wideranging pretest scores increased their abilities to apply quantitative treatments to problems
Table 1. Student Data for 43 Geoscience Courses Offered Fall 2010 Through Spring 2012a Student Zpre
ntotal
n ppdif > 0
n ppdif
