Scholarly & Creative Work

At the end of Spring 2024 I was awarded two grants to adopt and develop supplemental materials for the OpenStax text “Calculus Volume 3” to be used in my sections of MATH 2110Q. The goal of switching to this OER text is to significantly reduce the financial burden on students who take MATH 2110 at Avery Point. In addition to converting all course material to be based on the new text, the major task was creating a completely new set of online homework problems and solutions  in Blackboard for chapters 2-6 to replace the currently used Cengage online homework system (WebAssign). The homework problems designed for this course are now published and available on the CT OER repository GoOpenCT: goopenct.org/courseware/lesson/1812 . 

• Module 1: Functions 

• Module 2: Simplifying Algebraic Expressions 

• Module 3: Trigonometry 

• Module 4: Logs and Exponentials 

• Module 5: Solving Equations 

Calculus 1 (MATH 1131) is an introduction to differential and integral calculus, which is the mathematical language used in any science concerned with dynamically changing quantities. The main topics covered are limits, derivatives, integrals, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, and some basic applications of these ideas. These topics require students to have a working knowledge of mathematical tools and techniques from algebra, trigonometry, and precalculus. However, several math and science instructors at Avery Point have noticed that many students are at a serious disadvantage in MATH 1131 (and, in turn, future math and science courses) because they are unfamiliar with this important background. 

The goal of this grant was to address this issue by developing a set of mastery-based online learning modules to accompany the topics covered in Calculus 1. To this end, I created five modules that touch on each of the relevant prerequisites areas in algebra/trigonometry (sample PDFs for each module are linked above).

Each module begins with a set of learning objectives and a summary of topics that students should be familiar with. The topics, definitions, facts, and examples in each module are specifically chosen to accompany the corresponding sections of MATH 1131. For example, one major area at the beginning of 1131 that students typically struggle with is simplifying and manipulating functions to evaluate limits. As a result, this is one of the first things I bring up in Module 1 with the intent on preparing students for what they will see in class. Definitions, facts, and examples are color-coded in the PDF documents that accompany each module and full solutions to all examples are included. Students also have the option to listen and/or watch videos for each module instead of reading. In addition to already solved examples, like the one above, I created a set of WebAssign assignments where students can work through examples on their own and get immediate feedback. 

Overall, I believe the materials developed through this grant successfully provide additional assistance to students who feel they have not mastered the algebraic/trigonometric background and techniques required for MATH 1131. Exam results made it clear that the modules had an impact on exam grades as students scored 4%-5% higher on average when the modules were implemented versus when they were not.