HSU, CSU Northridge, CSU Long Beach and Los Angeles Pierce College will test a new approach to math curriculum developed by CSU Northridge Mathematics Professor Katherine Stevenson, director of that school's developmental mathematics.
The model has proved successful in a business calculus course at CSU Northridge and in a related trial run at CSU Long Beach.
Humboldt State mathematics faculty, along with undergraduate and graduate student assistants, will oversee one-hour problem-solving 'lab sessions,' based on a lab manual carefully correlated with course material and homework. Blended into this hybrid model of instruction will be supplemental online work designed to provide students additional instant feedback on their progress.
"The course lecture sections are also carefully coordinated with one another via a set of core lecture notes," said Humboldt State Mathematics Professor Tyler J. Evans. "There is a common final for all course sections, co-written by the lecturers."
The Gates-funded project will determine if Stevenson's model is portable to other courses at other universities and colleges.
HSU's plan is to pattern its Math 115 Algebra and Elementary Functions course along Stevenson's model, Evans said. Math 115 has an enrollment of some 700 students each academic year. It is given in a lecture format, geared to undergraduates majoring in the College of Natural Resources and Sciences. Tyler and Professor Brad Ballinger will write Math 115 lecture notes and a lab manual this summer, aimed at a projected Fall 2012 start date.