| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | April 22, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | April 22, 2012 |
| Award Number: | 1141320 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Virginia Carter
vccarter@nsf.gov (703)292-4651 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | June 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2015 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $161,367.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $161,367.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1050 STEWART ST. LAS CRUCES NM US 88003 (575)646-1590 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
Las Cruces NM US 88003-8002 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
TUES-Type 1 Project, S-STEM-Schlr Sci Tech Eng&Math |
| Primary Program Source: |
1300XXXXDB H-1B FUND, EDU, NSF |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
New Mexico State University and El Paso Community College are collaborating to create a new introductory course that fully integrates instruction in biology and mathematics. The idea grew from a successful Undergraduate Biology and Mathematics project in which teams of faculty and students worked together on common research questions. Now that effort is being broadened and tested on a larger and less experienced student population. Targeted to students beginning their studies of STEM disciplines, the course is offered at both institutions in parallel with more traditional courses and the effectiveness of the two instructional models are compared using common assessment tools. If the combined approach is as successful at influencing student learning and conceptual mastery as expected, it will replace traditional instruction at both institutions. Not only does this innovative interdisciplinary approach provide a solid foundation for future studies in quantitative STEM subjects, it also allows development of strategies to encourage participation of more underrepresented minority students, a large part of the population in Southern New Mexico and Western Texas.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Educators from the Departments of Biology and Mathematical Sciences at New Mexico State University (NMSU) and from the Departments of Biology and Mathematics at El Paso Community College (EPCC) created new introductory courses at their respective institutions that integrated fully biology and mathematics instruction. These new courses were directed to beginning Science-Technology-Engineering-Math (STEM) undergraduates, were team-taught by biology and mathematics faculty, and integrated material from introductory biology, probability and statistics, and college algebra. In addition, the courses emphasized key STEM learning objectives, including hypothesis formulation and testing, mathematical modeling, data analysis, problem conceptualization and solving, and interdisciplinary thinking. Thee courses were targeted at an ethnically diverse and economically disadvantaged student population – exactly the type of population that is grossly underrepresented in the STEM disciplines. Consequently, the proposed program may serve as a model system and test bed for developing strategies and methods to increase minority participation in STEM disciplines.
Students in math-integrated courses exhibited significantly higher positive attitudes than did students in traditional courses regarding the importance of a working knowledge of math to a professional biologist. However, students in the math-integrated courses exhibited significantly higher levels of math anxiety and significantly more negative attitudes than did students in the traditional courses. In other words, students recognized that math was important to their biology education, but they did not want their courses mixed.
Finally, integrating mathematics into a introductory biology course had no significant effect on the learning of key biological concepts. Introducing students to mathematics had no negative impact on the students learning biology.
Last Modified: 12/14/2015
Modified by: William J Boecklen
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