UBC Mathematics Department

Overview

Starting in 2008, the UBC Mathematics Department is participating in the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) to improve undergraduate science education. In 2010 the Math-CWSEI program has undergone a major expansion thanks to the generous donation by Prof. David Cheriton, UBC alumnus, now Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University.

Instructors who participate in the project should review the Course Transformation Expectations document which outlines the specific tasks to be completed and the expected timeline for completion.

An important first step for the Math CWSEI in all the courses involved in the project is to write down a set of learning goals. Learning goals (also called "learning outcomes" or "learning objectives") make explicit what the students are expected to be able to do at each stage of the course. They are useful to instructors in preparing tests, and assessing the success of a course. In lower level courses, where the students and instructors may start out thinking about the material in radically different ways, learning goals can help to focus the instruction at the appropriate level. They provide a communication channel for successive intructors in a given course, so that effort in improving paedagogy is transmitted. Made available to students, they help students assess their understanding and to prepare for exams. The learning goals developed by the Math CWSEI team will be posted below as they are completed. Other examples of learning goals can be found here.

An important last step for all the projects in the Math CWSEI is the archiving of materials in the SEI Course Materials Archive. This archive contains material developed by departments participating in the CWSEI at UBC, and is intended to be an open resource for educators.

A listing of the projects currently involved with the Math CWSEI, indicating the degree of completion and with links to relevant documents, is given in the links below. This list will be updated as the projects progress.

History

In 2008-2009 our projects were concentrated in two areas.

The first area was computing and computer labs in a number of applied courses (Math 152, Math 256/Mech 221, Math 257/316, Math 253/Mech 222, Math 307). These courses had all recently introduced computing as an intrinsic part of the syllabus. The Math CWSEI helped in the creation of tutorials and lab materials, assisted in integrating the computational component into the course material and developing testing methods, and assessed the effectiveness of the computational component.

The second area was support for the Math 180/184 workshop program and the Basic Skills Test. The problem-solving workshops in Math 180 and Math 184 were originally introduced as a pilot project in a single section of each course. After some experimentation, in 2008 the program was extended to all sections, resulting in new challenges in course management and coordination. The Math CWSEI helped to assess the effectiveness of the program in such large, multi-section courses, and contributed to the development of effective program management strategies. The Basic Skills Test was first developed by our department in 2007, and subsequent revisions based on results from a statistical analysis were completed in 2008 and 2009. The Math CWSEI assisted in the test analysis and the study of how well it predicts success in a first-year Calculus course.

In 2009-2010 our focus was mainly in-depth assessment of student activities and engagement, improvements to course materials based on data collected in the previous year, and better coordination of workshops and labs with course lectures. The Math CWSEI also provided support for the development of a new computing module in Math 318.

In 2010, following the generous donation by Prof. David Cheriton, the Math CWSEI was expanded to incorporate new, longer term projects, mostly involving tracking and improving key skills throughout the curriculum and supporting the implementation of effective teaching methods and use of classroom technologies.

People and Courses

2011-2012

Math CWSEI Group
Costanza Piccolo	Math CWSEI Director and Science Teaching and Learning Fellow (STLF)
Warren Code	Science Teaching and Learning Fellow (STLF)
Quin Wai (Joseph) Lo	Science Teaching and Learning Fellow (STLF)
Sandra Merchant	Science Teaching and Learning Fellow (STLF)

Faculty
Jim Bryan	Math 253 Multivariable Calculus
Albert Chau	Math 104/184 Differential Calculus with Applications to Commerce and Social Sciences
Eric Cytrynbaum	Math 102 Differential Calculus with applications to Life Sciences
Julia Gordon and Brian Marcus	Math 200 Calculus III
Rajiv Gupta	Math 180 Differential Calculus with applications to Physical Sciences and Engineering
Christoph Hauert	Math 103 Integral Calculus with applications to Life Sciences
Fok-Shuen Leung	Math 110 Differential Calculus
Keqin Liu	Math 105 Integral Calculus with applications to Life Sciences
Philip Loewen	Math 264 Vector Calculus for Electrical Engineering
Sujatha Ramdorai	Math 104 Differential Calculus with Applications to Commerce and Social Sciences
Andrew Rechnitzer, Julia Gordon, Ed Perkins	Math 220 Mathematical Proof
Zinovy Reichstein and Vinayak Vatsal	Math 221 Matrix Algebra
Brian Wetton	Math 210 Introduction to Mathematical Computing
Ozgur Yilmaz	Math 152 Linear Systems