Dr. Jaime Bestard

Project Objectives Increase student engagement in the instructional process by facilitating the association of the learning outcomes in different disciplines reinforcing common topics in competencies. Improve student motivation and acquisition of quantitative reasoning skills, when the solution of an example in class has potential environmental, technical and social extended impact in a real life application. Raise student success rates, as well as student pass rates in critical courses, by the effect of the multidisciplinary approach to the solution of problems and cooperative discussions. Improve renrollment and retention in critical courses by effective multidisciplinary and college-wide coordinated interactions.

Project Experimental Measurements

Project Impact on Students Decrease math anxiety Positive learning attitude Recognition of math in daily life Lifelong appreciation of math Positive experience in math courses Perception that math is relevant Development of quantitative reasoning

A Learning Community of Miami Dade College Students Essence of the Project The idea to link a math course with a science course using quantitative reasoning became the foundation of our learning community. There is certain trend to advise students not to take their mathematics requirements with science or other math related courses, due to the belief that students with poor expectations in quantitative reasoning may perform low in a semester with another science or related course to mathematics. The authors of this study participated in several previous projects related to Math Across the Curriculum, sponsored by the AMATYC Summer and Winter Institutes. The preparation of the exercises to extend the interaction of the quantitative reasoning competencies to the multidisciplinary learning community was outlined and constructed in such an institute. Teaching Strategies During the fall replication, integrative instructional methods were applied to the students in the combined subjects. The environmental immersion consisted in a data collection of the velocity of the wind, air humidity, temperature and position, and the observational study of the sea grass. The immersion was subject of theoretical discussion based on the bibliography. Group work followed the data collection and from there to the interpretation of the results, supported by the application of statistical software. The framework to produce the Learning Community was possible with the support of the college-wide interaction, the collaborative work of the instructors and the support of the Earth Ethics Institute.

Collaboration and Cooperation: Students and Faculty

Dr. Arturo Rodriguez

Project Need There is an existing demand for motivational instructional engines targeting underprepared students in need of intensive instructional techniques. MDC Faculty research best practices in teaching and learning strategies in order to serve students better. According to the Mathematics Discipline Annual Report for the academic year 2007-2008, student performance in several Math courses reveals pass rates under 60 While MAC1105 College Algebra was not the worst case scenario, there was no consistent positive trend.

Graph Showing the Function and Presented by Students

Project Impact on Faculty Collaboration and cooperation Enhancement of departmental and campus vision Improvement in teaching and learning strategies Generalization of conclusions