RUME 27
2025
Alexandria, Virginia
Rethinking Single Variable Calculus for Life Sciences for Advancing Equity
Page: 742
Calculus with Applications in the Life Sciences (Biocalculus) is an impactful and required course for all STEM majors at our institution, a large public university. A disproportionately high percentage of Latinx and students from low-income households (EOP) earn failing grades in this course. This study examines student learning outcomes and experiences based on project assessment (N=152) and student survey (N=130) to answer the following questions: (a) Did changing a course structure based on working within a teaching team change students’ agency? (b) Did minoritized students achieve similar levels of conceptual understanding as their counterparts in the course, when the curriculum was designed with project-based learning situated within the teaching team? We found that the inclusive course structure provided minoritized students with a supportive environment and positively impacted their learning. We believe our specific implementation can be helpful to many large public universities with diverse student populations and relatively limited resources.