Abstract:

As part of a Fellowship with a goal of empowering faculty to implement inclusive teaching strategies, resulting in the academic success of under represented minorities (URM) and first-generation students, we designed a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) Calculus corequisite pilot. The course was designed to build student’s sense of belonging and growth mindset, while encouraging help seeking behaviors.

The corequisite allowed students whose math placement score was below the Calculus I cutoff within a particular range, to register for any STEM Calculus section as long as they also registered for the corequisite course. The course was intentionally designed to cover both prerequisite material, as well as calculus content, closely aligned with the calculus schedule. The students in the pilot program passed their Calculus course at somewhat higher rates than those who placed into the Calculus course.

We will discuss our approach to the course design and implementation, with an emphasis on fostering a growth mindset and increasing student’s sense of belonging. This will include examples from our training for instructors, structure of the course, language used in communication with students, activities with students, surveys, and results of the pilot.

Keywords:

Corequisite, growth mindset, sense of belonging, equity, inclusion, calculus, curriculum design.