Interdisciplinary Curriculum Design for College Algebra

1. Interdisciplinary Curriculum Design for College Algebra Susan Staats Associate Professor-Math University of Minnesota staats@umn.edu

2. Interdisciplinary math is… • Different from “math in context.” • Different from an application. • Must support learning that is significant in a partner discipline. • Requires assessment of learning in partner discipline. • Can’t be evaluated from a math standpoint alone.

3. Today in my ____________ class, we discussed _______________. — First year university student, describing a non-math subject

4. Why interdisciplinary college algebra? • Relatively few college algebra students plan a STEM career. • High rates of DFW grades slow progress in major. • Poor alignment with students’ needs and interests. Herriott & Dunbar, 2009 Small, 2002; 2006

5. Conversation 1:Does Math Really Relate to Everything? • Review your “student statements” and challenge each other to find a math connection. • Which connections are substantial and support liberal education goals?

6. Challenges in creating interdisciplinary algebra curriculum • Feeling like a non-expert. • Math curriculum may be defined more rigidly than other fields (Grossman & Stodolsky, 1995, Staats, 2007). • Mathematics faculties often have limited professional interactions with faculty in other disciplines (Ewing, 1999). • Philosophical basis of mathematics contrast to the integrative goals of interdisciplinary education (McGivney-Burelle, McGivney & Wilburne, 2008; Siskin, 2000). • Difficulty of creating materials. • Cost and effort of team-teaching.

7. Components of an interdisciplinary algebra curriculum • Introduction • Essay—ideally written by a creative writer • Learning goals for algebra and for partner discipline • Scaffolding questions for algebra and for partner discipline • Interdisciplinary questions • Bibliography for further reading

8. Conversation 2: Placing college algebra in the general education curriculum • To what extend can the design model connect math to general education curriculum? • Should math be more broadly connected to general education curriculum (e.g. non-STEM subjects)?

9. A module on educational equity • Support elementary education majors in college algebra • Data set on Minnesota graduation rates by race and by income. • Allows problem-solving choices in making predictions. • Teaches risk-ratio calculation.

10. Risk Ratio sample calculation Risk Ratio = Sample 2: Risk Ratio for Low Income MN students (2011) LI potential graduates= 22,693. LI graduates = 13,239 HI potential graduates= 48,516. HI graduates = 41,492 R.R. = = = = 2.87

11. Contextualizing Risk Ratio Calculation Three theories of achievement gap: • Oscar Lewis: Culture of Poverty • Funds of Knowledge Approach • Lisa Delpit on structural inequality in schools Interpret results of predictions and risk calculations from the perspectives of these theorists.

12. Learning Goals • Predict future graduation rates for groups of students in Minnesota using linear equations. • Evaluate equity in graduation rates by using the risk ratio calculations. • Learn several historical theories about the educational achievement gap. • Use these theories to critique or improve the calculations that you do in this model.

13. Conversation 3: Learning Goals • Can you find evidence of learning goals in the student samples?

14. Conversation 4: Affordances and Limitations • What could be gained by supplementing college algebra with intentional interdisciplinary curriculum? • What are the most significant limitations?

15. References Ewing, J. (Ed.) (1999). Towards excellence: Leading a mathematics department in the 21st century. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society. Grossman, P. and Stodolsky, S. (1995). Content as context: The role of school subjects in secondary school teaching, Educational Researcher24(8), 5 - 23. Boston, MA: Pearson. Herriott, S. & Dunbar, S. (2009). Who takes college algebra? PRIMUS: Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, 19(1), 74-87. McGivney-Burelle, J., McGivney, K. & Wilburne, J. (2008). Re-solving the tension between interdisciplinarity and assessment: The case of mathematics. In D. Moss, T. Osborn & D. Kaufman (Eds.), Interdisciplinary education in the age of assessment (pp. 71 – 85). New York: Routledge. Siskin, L. (2000) Restructuring knowledge: Mapping (inter) disciplinary change. In S. Wineburg & P. Grossman (Eds.), Interdisciplinary curriculum: Challenges to implementation (pp. 171 – 190). New York: Teachers College, Columbia University. Small, D. (2002). An urgent call to improve traditional college algebra programs. Retrieved from http://toyama45.maa.org/t_and_l/urgent_call.html. Check if this is the cite I want here. Small, Donald B. (2006). College algebra: A course in crisis. In N. Baxter, N. Hastings, F. Gordon, S. Gordon & J. Narayan (Eds.), A fresh start for collegiatemathematics: Rethinking the courses below calculus (pp. 83-89). Washington, D.C.: Mathematical Association of America. Staats, S. (2007). Dynamic contexts and imagined worlds: An interdisciplinary approach to mathematics applications. For the Learning of Mathematics 27(1), 4-9.