← Back to Vol. 10 Issue No. 02 — Issue 02
Abstract
The failure rate in the Calculus sequence is alarming. Generally speaking, this is attributed to poor preparation in that the students are weak in pre-requisites skills. As educators, we then must stop and think how best to reach the students. Several techniques are in use such as recitation sections, embedded tutors, and Learning Commons for peer-to-peer review, but institutional data shows that the needle has not shifted significantly as the prognosis for success remains at around 50%. The goal here is to develop and bring meaningful support to the math-challenged students within a semester, so that they can achieve mastery of skills and knowledge to pass the course. The target course is Calculus I. This is foundational and predictive course for later STEM success. With the pedagogy developed and discussed in this paper, the Embedded Mini Boot Camps, the success rate (as defined by grades A, B and C) was above 80%. This is noteworthy for our institution, as the DFW rates in this course was upwards of 50%, pre-pandemic. Further the challenges of COVID-19 have also taken a toll in K-12 education, Mathematics education has taken a particular hit. We expect to see an increased number of math challenged students this year and moving forward. We want to get ahead of the curve and put mechanisms in place such as the proposed Embedded Mini Boot Camps to cope with the crisis that is practically at our doorsteps. In this paper I present a new pedagogy which builds on some elements of several existing methodology to develop a new model of Embedded Mini Boot Camps for our Calculus sequence. I have run this model successfully in Calculus I and I discuss the encouraging results obtained. Calculus is a challenging course, and the concepts can get confusing or difficult but thankfully, Professor Dutta Gupta is there to help and provide opportunities for one to be able to improve their performance on exams and their grades. Professor Dutta Gupta introduced the class to Boot Camps after the first exam which opened up a wonderful opportunity. The Boot Camps required extra work, more studying, and a retake of the exam that was taken before (the questions were different but had the same concept). Along with the extra work/effort that had to be put in, you had to attend lectures so that the Professor could help and keep track of deadlines for the work.