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Readers Respond: Does Fixing the Leaky STEM Pipeline Require Calculus To Adapt?

ED Surge

The need to strengthen the science, technology, math and engineering (STEM) careers pipeline has received renewed interest lately. A number of instructors say it’s partly reconsidering how calculus, a crucial step toward STEM careers and often a “weed out” course in higher ed, is taught. Can math be taught [or] is it just a gift.

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The Math Revolution You Haven’t Heard About

ED Surge

Math professor Martin Weissman is rethinking how his university teaches calculus. Over the summer, the professor from the University of California at Santa Cruz, spent a week at Harvard to learn how to redesign the mathematics for life sciences courses his institution offers. There are math requirements for those majors.

Math 362
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Evidence Is Mounting That Calculus Should Be Changed. Will Instructors Heed It?

ED Surge

Calculus is a critical on-ramp to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Good news: There's mounting evidence that changing calculus instruction works for the groups usually pushed out of STEM. That the traditional lecture method of teaching calculus isn’t as effective as active models.

Calculus 298
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UCLA Life Sciences Revamped How It Teaches Math. Is It an Example Others Should Follow?

ED Surge

About 10 years ago, Alan Garfinkel, a professor in the life sciences department at the University of California, Los Angeles, got a call. It was from his dean, who said that the department had inspected their freshman calculus course, “Calculus for Life Sciences.” The students have voted with their feet, Van Valkenburgh adds.

Calculus 313
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Why Some Students Feel Like They Can’t Excel In Math

ED Surge

Sabrina Colon, a first-year student at University of California, Merced, remembers when math first became a problem. She says she’s not a math person, but she was able to pass her high school math classes without too much trouble, earning Cs. But in college, where she’s a business major, calculus is proving insurmountable.

Math 324
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In College Math, Faculty Is Key. But Will This Insight Actually Help Students?

ED Surge

A number of instructors in the math department at San Diego Mesa College, where she's a professor, had started exploring how to weave standards-based grading — an approach that evaluates students on how effectively they have mastered content — into the way they teach calculus.

Math 265
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Top 5: A Quiet Revolution in Math and Affordable Teacher Housing Among Most-Read Topics of Sept 2023

ED Surge

Our coverage of new approaches to math education drew the most interest from readers, with two different features exploring how to rethink calculus making our Top 5. EdSurge takes you inside Harvard’s Science Center, where this summer, professors imagined new ways to push calculus past its limits.

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