Community Colleges in the Evolving STEM Education Landscape Summary of a Summit (2012) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix C: Two-Year College Mathematics and Student Progression in STEM Programs of Study--Debra D. Bragg
Appendix C: Two-Year College Mathematics and Student Progression in STEM Programs of Study--Debra D. Bragg
Pages 81-106
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From page 81... ...
National studies show student enrollment in two-year college mathematics is growing in proportion to overall enrollment growth in higher education, but a substantial portion of these students are taking pre-college mathematics courses. Research suggests many of these stu dents never reach college-level mathematics.
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From page 82... ...
This paper examines the influence of the two-year mathematics curriculum on students' progression into and through STEM programs by drawing upon extant literature, materials on the Internet, and personal communication with two-year college mathematics experts and practitio ners. It acknowledges the expansive developmental mathematics curriculum offered by two-year colleges, but even more importantly, provides insights into college-level mathematics that has been overshadowed by a preoccupation with developmental education.
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From page 83... ...
First, how ever, I provide a brief historical foundation and then move to contempo rary developments in two-year college mathematics. Liberal arts and sciences courses, including mathematics courses, have been part of the two-year college curriculum since creation of junior colleges in the early 1900s.
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From page 84... ...
Their analysis showed 9 percent of total course enrollments in the liberal arts, sciences, and humanities curriculum were in mathematics, and again reflective of Medsker's results, the survey revealed a high proportion of mathematics courses were at the pre-college1 level. Subsequent studies conducted by Cohen, Brawer, and colleagues included a curriculum mapping study conducted by Cohen and Ignash (1992)
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From page 85... ...
report that showed developmental mathematics courses were offered by 91 percent of two-year colleges (Baldwin and the Developmental Mathematics Committee, 1975)
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From page 86... ...
This trend and other critical aspects of the two-year mathematics curriculum, including documenting enrollment in mathematics course sequences extending from pre-college to college level, are examined in the next section. CONTEMPORARY TWO-YEAR COLLEGE MATHEMATICS Most of what we know about two-year college mathematics in the United States comes from a few large-scale national surveys.
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From page 87... ...
Figure C-1 reveals fall enrollments in mathematics and statistics at a 5-year interval from 1975 to 2005 (Lutzer et al., 2007) , compared to total enrollments in public four-year and two-year colleges obtained from the Community Colleges, Special Supplement to the Condition of Education, 2008 report (Provasnik and Planty, 2008)
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From page 88... ...
; however, they do not take into account mathematics courses taught outside of mathematics disciplinary units, including centralized pre-college education units that are responsible for teaching pre-college mathematics classes. Therefore, these figures almost certainly underestimate enrollments in pre-college mathematics (arithmetic, pre-algebra, elementary algebra, intermediate algebra, and geometry)
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From page 89... ...
. 2,500 2,016 2,000 1,696 1,425 Thousands 1,500 1,347 1,271 57.0% 56.8% 1,000 56.1% 56.6% 57% 500 Fall 1990 Fall 1995 Fall 2000 Fall 2005 Fall 2010 Pre-College Math Enrollment College Math Enrollment FIGURE C-3 Total two-year college enrollment in mathematics and percentage of total enrollment at the pre-college level (Fall 1990–Fall 2010)
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From page 90... ...
, with a small but persistent decline in enroll ment in pre-calculus (college algebra and trigonometry) courses since 1995, a slight drop but also fluctuation in calculus enrollment from 1990 to 2010, and a modest increase in enrollment in statistics courses since 1990 and in other mathematics courses since 1995, including classes for nonmathematics majors (e.g., mathematics for liberal arts and mathematics for elementary school teachers)
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From page 91... ...
, it is perplexing that so little change has occurred in the teaching of such important two-year college mathematics courses. Looking at both instructional and outreach methods in the Fall 2005 and Fall 2010 CBMS surveys (E.
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From page 92... ...
, and the subsequent Beyond Crossroads (Blair, 2006) initiatives conceived the two-year college position on reforming mathematics curriculum and instruction in community and technical colleges.
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From page 93... ...
Beyond Crossroads placed more emphasis on assessment of students' learning and promoting quantitative literacy (a topic discussed more fully later in this paper) , meeting the needs of diverse learners, promoting active learning and online learning, promoting professionalism among full- and parttime instructors, and recognizing and involving more stakeholders in
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From page 94... ...
The project looks at the introductory mathematics courses for the broad range of students who enroll in postsecondary education, most of whom will not be mathematics majors, and it solicits input from disciplinary groups (e.g., biology, engineering, computer science, etc.) on what mathematics departments can do to best prepare students for those disciplines.
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From page 95... ...
. AMATYC also admin istered an initiative called Mathematics Across the Community College Curriculum (MAC3)
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From page 96... ...
Despite a grow ing body of research, more rigorous research is needed on pre-college as well as college-level mathematics curriculum at the two-year college level. Research on mathematics teaching and learning at the classroom level is needed to provide a fuller and more nuanced understanding of content-based and pedagogically oriented reforms that may promote mathematics competency and positive student outcomes at the two-year level, including mastery of pre-college competencies, matriculating to and mastering advanced competencies, and advancing to and through the STEM pipeline.
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From page 97... ...
Compression often requires scheduling courses more hours a day for shorter amounts of time, and pairing courses that complement one another, including pairing mathematics and science courses or pairing multiple mathematics courses (including pre-college and college level) to create an intensive learning experience.
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From page 98... ...
Using an accelerated timeframe, the Quantway and Statway projects seek to prepare students for college level mathematics instruction. Quantway and Statway "enable developmental mathematics students in community colleges to complete a[n accelerated]
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From page 99... ...
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH, POLICY, AND PRACTICE In spite of strident pursuit of standards-based reform of two-year college mathematics, implementation of reform of the mathematics curriculum has been slow and uneven. National studies show more students are enrolling in two-year college mathematics, but a substantial portion of these enrollments are at the pre-college level, and many of these students never reach college-level mathematics.
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From page 100... ...
Given the national imperative to enhance the STEM pipeline, and the critical role that mathematics needs to play in that work, this recommendation may be the most important of all to emerge from the Summit on Realizing the Potential of Community Colleges as Pathways to STEM Education and Careers. More research is needed to improve two-year college mathematics instruction.
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From page 101... ...
In addition, Google and Google Scholar were queried to identify relevant documents and materi als that appear outside of the traditional scholarly databases. Searches of websites maintained by organizations known to research and publish on the topic of two-year college mathematics were conducted, including the National Center for Education Statistics, the National Science Foundation, the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, and Charles A
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From page 102... ...
Rikki Blair also served as editor of the 2006 Beyond Crossroads report of AMATYC and was an especially thoughtful and gracious con tributor. I also sought guidance from several two-year college mathemat ics practitioners and colleagues at the University of Illinois, including George Reese, director of the Office of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, and Catherine Kirby, assistant director of the Office of Community College Research and Leadership, who collaborated recently on a literature review on this same topic and brought numerous sources on two-year college mathematics to my attention.
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From page 103... ...
. Survey of developmental mathematics courses at colleges in the United States.
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From page 104... ...
. Improving developmental mathematics education in community colleges: A prospectus and early progress report on the Statway Initiative .
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From page 105... ...
. Course-taking patterns, policies, and practices in developmental education in the California Community Colleges .
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