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Such learning helps students develop math skills, reasoning and ability to communicate mathematical reasoning to others, mathematician says

The University of Colorado Boulder has been chosen by the (APLU) to help lead the SEMINAL project鈥攁 study funded by the National Science Foundation researching how to best incorporate 鈥渁ctive learning鈥� into math classrooms.

The SEMINAL award, or Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning, is part of a national push to promote active learning鈥攕tudents learning via meaningful activities versus lectures鈥攊n undergraduate math education for students working toward a degree in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields.

The APLU says it chose CU Boulder because of its past success using active learning in math instruction.

鈥淐U professors have been using active learning techniques in their classes for many years鈥攁t least since 1993,鈥� says Robert Tubbs, associate professor of math at CU Boulder.

He adds that the math department began adding active learning in calculus a decade ago by allowing students to work in groups on worksheets.

Other examples of active learning at CU Boulder involve students鈥� gathering in groups to sort and categorize cards with graphs on them; align math 鈥渄ominoes鈥� so that a question on one domino matches the answer on the next; and arrange 鈥渟entence cards鈥� into the correct order to form a valid math argument.

鈥淲e now use active learning several days a week, not only in precalculus and calculus sequence, but also other introductory math courses,鈥� Tubbs says.

He says active learning is 鈥渃entral to what we hope to achieve for our students鈥攄eveloping their math skills, their reasoning and their ability to communicate mathematical ideas and reasoning to others. It also makes the classroom a more equitable place by encouraging all students to become engaged with math.鈥�

Eric Stade, a colleague of Tubbs and professor of math at CU Boulder, agrees and says both he and Tubbs believe in active learning for math because they have seen its benefits first hand, but they also know studies have shown it works.

One such study, which was the largest study of undergraduate STEM education literature to date鈥攁 鈥攆ound that students using active learning methods had higher course grades by half a letter grade, and students in classes with traditional lectures were 1.5 times more likely to fail.

鈥淲e strongly believe that it better prepares students for the work they will do after their college careers as well,鈥� Stade says.

Through the award, CU and the APLU will research how best to encourage active learning at and then develop models that all universities can adopt.

Howard Gobstein, APLU鈥檚 executive vice president and one of the principal investigators, says many introductory math courses are 鈥渢he biggest hurdle鈥� for students beginning their STEM course work. He adds there is 鈥渁 persistent shortage鈥� of skilled workers in STEM fields and that SEMINAL is 鈥渁 tremendous opportunity to broaden participation.鈥澨�

Gobstein says there鈥檚 evidence that active learning is more effective than traditional methods. 鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled to scale an approach that we know works to help more students realize their dreams in the STEM fields,鈥� he said.