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Where Calculus and Engineering Converge: an Analysis of Curricular Change in Calculus for Engineers

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Abstract

Calls to increase the number of STEM graduates on a global scale have created pressure on universities to graduate higher numbers of quality engineers. In response, many engineering and mathematics departments have begun to develop variations of calculus courses specifically for engineering majors. Using a mixed methods research design, we investigated similar curricular changes in calculus that were designed to support engineering students at two large research-intensive universities in the United States. The curricular change at one university was sustained over time while the other was not, which focused our study on understanding what accounted for the curricular sustainment or termination. A finding from our study illustrates that stakeholders’ perceptions of the engineering calculus course impacted the success (or failure) of the variation over time.

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Notes

  1. Note that all names presented in the narratives are pseudonyms.

  2. We use singular “they/them” throughout the results section to anonymize the results and conform to APA guidelines around pronoun usage: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/grammar/singular-they

  3. It should be noted that the pass rates in engineering calculus are also significantly lower compared to the regular course, so this could be at least partially explained as a function of eliminating those students from the engineering sequence that would more likely underperform in the PDE course.

  4. The mathematics chair explained that the engineering department made substantial efforts to grow their program about five years prior to our visit, and enrollment increased from about 300 to 1000 students in a relatively short amount of time. Likely as a result of this growth, the size of the engineering calculus lecture sections increased to about 90 students, while the regular calculus sections maintained smaller class sizes of about 34 students in lecture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Portland State University, 1825 SW Broadway, Portland, OR, 97201, USA

    Brittney Ellis & Sean Larsen

  2. Department of Engineering and Science Education, Clemson University, 198 Old Greenville Hwy, Clemson, SC, 29631, USA

    Matthew Voigt

  3. Department of Mathematics, Oregon State University, Kidder Hall 368, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Kristen Vroom

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  1. Brittney Ellis
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  2. Sean Larsen
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  4. Kristen Vroom
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Correspondence to Brittney Ellis.

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Ellis, B., Larsen, S., Voigt, M. et al. Where Calculus and Engineering Converge: an Analysis of Curricular Change in Calculus for Engineers. Int. J. Res. Undergrad. Math. Ed. 7, 379–399 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40753-020-00130-9

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