Building a Calculus Active Learning Environment Equally Beneficial Across a Diverse Student Population

This project aims to serve the national interest by implementing evidence-based active learning in a calculus course at Auburn University, a large public research-intensive university located in Alabama, an Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) state. Inspired by the Merit Program for Emerging Scholars from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, this project plans to establish Merit recitation sections at Auburn University.

In this type of recitation, students have extended class time to work collaboratively in groups on challenging tasks with a highly-trained facilitator. Recent studies have revealed that in some implementations of active learning, students from historically disenfranchised groups do not benefit to the same extent as other groups. This project plans to investigate this important issue, aiming to establish instructional best practices to enhance academic outcomes and encourage STEM persistence, with a specific focus on tapping the full spectrum of diverse talent at the institution.

A significant aspect of this project will incorporate the use of fitness trackers in education research to inform structural and curricular changes that will enhance student learning in calculus.

The project’s goals are to build an evidence-based calculus active learning program and determine stressors during the initial program implementation. The project intends to develop strategies and interventions, as well as restructure the active learning environment, to remove unintentional, ungrounded pedagogical stressors from the learning environment.

Further, the project plans to develop supports to minimize students’ psychological distress during intentionally-placed instructional stressors. The project team will measure students’ heart rate variability with a fitness tracker to identify when students might be experiencing distress during active learning. The program will be refined using insights gained from students’ heart rate data, self-reported levels of stress, and academic outcomes.

In addition, the project's scope includes contributing to the burgeoning field of in situ research in educational settings by helping to establish robust and valid methods for classroom sensor data collection. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.