Collaborative workshops and student academic performance in introductory college mathematics courses: A study of a Treisman model math excel program

School Science and Mathematics, Nov 2000 by Duncan, Hollis, Dick, Thomas

At the University of Kentucky, the target population of the Math Excel Program consisted of students from predominantly rural communities. Freeman (1998) found that the students enrolled in these Treisman-style collaborative workshops consistently achieved higher grades than students not in the workshop, but the statistical significance of these results was not addressed.

A new implementation of Math Excel, also using the Treisman Emerging Scholars Workshop model, was instituted at Oregon State University in the fall of 1998 for several introductory mathematics courses. The purpose of the present study is to assess the effectiveness of the Math Excel program in helping these students attain greater academic success in these courses.

The Math Excel Program at Oregon State University

During the academic year 1998-99, the Oregon State University mathematics department implemented a supplemental collaborative workshop aimed at helping students attain higher grades in four freshman level college mathematics courses: college algebra, precalculus, differential calculus, and integral calculus. The model used at Oregon State University is most heavily based on (but not identical to) the Math Excel program at the University of Kentucky (Michael Freeman, director).

The course structure at Oregon State University involved regular lectures (three 50-minute sessions per week) and a recitation or "laboratory" (one 50- to 80-- minute session per week) for college algebra, precalculus, differential calculus, or integral calculus. Each of these regular mathematics courses was four credits (quarter system). Students in the Math Excel program enrolled in additional separate workshops that met once or twice a week throughout the term.

During the 1st year of the Math Excel program, the workshops for college algebra and precalculus met once a week and were 2 hours in duration. During the 2nd year of the program, these workshops met twice a week and were 80 minutes in duration. The workshops for differential and integral calculus were 2 hours long and met twice a week both years of the program. The additional workshops carried one credit for college algebra and precalculus and two credits for differential and integral calculus. The grading was Pass/No Pass and was based entirely on regular and faithful attendance, punctuality, and participation (attendance at less than 90% resulted in a No Pass grade).

The Math Excel sessions were small (no more than 24 students), and each was led by a graduate student assisted by one or two student assistants. Undergraduate student assistants were often either mathematics majors or alumni of the Excel program. The ratio of students to assistants was generally no more than 8 to 1.

In many Emerging Scholars Programs, including Math Excel at the University of Kentucky, the workshop sections are composed of students that all have the same corresponding lecture section and instructor, and the workshops are attended in lieu of a traditional recitation. At Oregon State University, the workshops were taken as a separate course in addition to both the lectures and the recitations ofthe corresponding course. Also, students from several sections with different instructors were mixed together in a single Math Excel workshop section.