Engaging and Empowering Majors to Succeed in ‘Fundamentals’ Courses at All Levels

1. Engaging and Empowering Majors to Succeed in ‘Fundamentals’ Courses at All Levels Jenni Evans and Richelle Allen-King

2. “Fundamentals” Courses for Majors • Critical material for majors – faculty • Unrewarding and difficult – students • How can this dichotomy be resolved? • Explore methods used by the leaders • Identify problems relevant to participants • Group brainstorming session • Summary discussion

3. Motivation Strategies • Communicate your expectations early and consistently reinforce them • Provide plenty of feedback • Regular graded quizzes help/motivate/force students to keep up • Regular homeworks provide an opportunity for longer, worked problems • Post homework solutions promptly

4. Grading Strategies • For larger classes, alternate 50% grading with your TA (if you have one), but do grade quizzes and/or homeworks yourself as they’re a great way to keep tabs on class progress • When grading all material is infeasible, spot grade a “randomly” selected question

5. Engagement Strategies • Constantly make the link between the math and the “real world” application • Problem-based framework • ‘Field’ (or field-like) applications, hands-on examples or forecast sessions (lead with labs) • Translate math into physics and physics into math

6. Engagement Strategies • Team problem challenges • Interactive group project: “Tornadoes and anthropogenic vorticity” example • Applied research projects: Riverine discharge example • ‘4 ways’ • graph, tabulate, describe, apply or predict

7. Other Essentials • Encourage controlled interaction • Keep a “safe” classroom environment (being wrong is allowed, not trying is frowned upon) • ‘Two minute essays’ to check in with students • Have high standards for your students and yourself

8. Example 1: Riverine N discharge • Local problem provides context to • Develop overarching course concept – mass balances and • Learn/practice selected quantitative skills • Problem: What is the dominant source of Nitrogen (N) leading to eutrophic conditions in our local River?

9. What students do (1) • Create hypotheses about temporal N pattern for different potential N sources based on study of selected background preparation • Design and execute sampling plan (constraints by instructor) to test hypotheses

10. What students do (2) • Use data collected to complete CHALLENGING calculations that evaluate hypotheses • limited data set, pencil and paper analysis first, then to EXCEL (new tool) • Use available web data to extend the assessment beyond their measurements • practice Excel, more extensive data available, broaden interpretation) • Work quantitatively with data in MANY ways

11. Example 2: “Tornadoes and Anthropogenic Vorticity” • Premise is that cars cause an increase in the number of tornadoes in the USA: link is vorticity • Paper published in Nature • Journal article generated many detailed responses -- all about why the article is wrong • Vorticity taught in class • Use this as an applied problem

12. Example 2: “Tornadoes and Anthropogenic Vorticity” • Each student provides a 1-2 page paper prior to the first class on this project • Instructor assigned discussion groups based on talent and personality • Groups discuss all aspects of their papers and the motivating publications and reach a “group consensus” • These discussions are moderated

13. Example 2: “Tornadoes and Anthropogenic Vorticity” • Each student completes another 1-2 page paper summarizing the group consensus and any arguments on which they differ • The second discussion is class-wide • Achieve >80% discussion participation typically • This project receives rave reviews!

14. Discussion • Think of a concept you want to convey: • How can you approach this in a novel way? • Brainstorm with group