**4. An example of the process to develop an anti-deficit college mathematics program**

As noted, the DIRACC curriculum was not developed with an explicitly focus on equity, though it affords an equitable enactment. Here, I provide an example of a college Precalculus program developed with an explicitly focus on changing the program to better support a diverse population of students. This example comes from a mathematics class designed at Bates College to prepare students for calculus, called *Mathematics Across the Sciences.* Meredith Greer described the development of this course in depth in a recent *PRIMUS* article called "Interdisciplinarity And Inclusivity: Natural Partners in Supporting Students" [24]. I will summarize some key aspects of this course and its development, but encourage interested readers to read the article for more details.

A group of mathematics faculty at Bates College developed this new course mainly informed by (1) input from faculty from every science department on their campus, (2) a multidisciplinary group of faculty focused on diversity and inclusion, and (3) mathematics education research and national conversations. Input from science faculty was gathered primarily based off meetings centered on which concepts they teach draw significantly on mathematics and what mathematical topics they want their students to know better. After meetings with all science departments on campus, trends surfaced which were used to guide the content of the course. One or two faculty members from each department then came together to refine the topics and include examples from their own fields. After the content was decided on, presentations were made to science and mathematics department chairs and faculty. While the interdisciplinary group worked together on the content, another interdisciplinary group of faculty was working together on learning how to support diversity and inclusion on their campus. This group was supported by the college and motivated, in part, by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Making Excellence Inclusive project (which offers many very useful resources for departments interested in diversity and inclusion). This group primarily leveraged research on student experiences in higher education, especially the experiences of students of color, as well as the resources from the AAC&U Making Excellence Inclusive project. Based off these readings, the work developed pedagogical strategies that could be used across campus. These were then translated to the mathematics course being developed, resulting in a number of new pedagogical

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*Towards a Forward-Thinking College Calculus Program DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87940*

Inquiry Based Learning community [26].

been offered three times).

calculus and in their STEM careers.

**college calculus programs**

backgrounds and cultural diversity.

persistent many students' belief that

*a*<sup>2</sup> + *b*<sup>2</sup> = (*a* + *b*)<sup>2</sup>

strategies. Lastly, the group developing this course also read and brought in recommendations from national mathematics education conversations, including the Mathematics Association of America's Curriculum Foundations Project [25] and the

Informal conversations with students were also used to understand more about their program, especially among the faculty group focused on diversity and inclusion, but not as directly as with the science departments. Input from students, primarily from student evaluations but also from informal conversations, was used to make improvements to each future iteration of the course (which in 2018 had

Greer describes how these components came together to inform the development of the course curriculum and the pedagogical approach: "Class time, course topics, and out-of-class assignments are designed to encourage a diverse set of students to succeed in this course as well as when they later proceed to more advanced mathematics and science courses" ([24], p. 2). This quotes perfectly reflects what should be the guiding principle of all college calculus programs, and can be cultivated through shifts in both the curriculum and the pedagogical approach: A forward-thinking calculus program is developed so that calculus courses, including the class-time, course topics, and out-of-class assignments, are designed to support a diverse set of students to succeed in the course as well as in courses building on

**5. How such a program relates to the seven features of successful** 

calculus program would relate to the seven characteristics.

Based on our site visits to five doctoral-granting mathematics departments with college calculus programs which we identified as more successful than other programs, we identified seven features of college calculus programs that we hypothesize are related to these programs' successes [13]. In [14], I discuss how each of these features can be thought of while implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. Here, I consider how the above articulation of a forward-thinking

By my definition above, a forward-thinking calculus program is designed so that all components of the course support a diverse population of students to thrive. A diverse student population will include a diversity of mathematical backgrounds and experiences, cultural diversity, language diversity, as well as diversity of genders, ages, races and ethnicities, sexual orientations, and physical and mental abilities. While each of these types of diversity can influence the design of a forward thinking calculus program, here I foreground the role of diversity in mathematical

*A rich and engaging calculus curriculum* designed to support a diverse population of students to thrive would acknowledge the needs of the students taking the course, including what additional mathematical preparation they need to thrive in the course and what components of calculus are needed in their future courses and careers. At my own institution, the calculus coordinator is often surprised and disappointed by calculus students' algebraic knowledge – one example is how

One way to respond to this realization is to blame the students for not being prepared enough, and to continue assessing their calculus learning by inherently

. (1)

*Towards a Forward-Thinking College Calculus Program DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87940*

*Theorizing STEM Education in the 21st Century*

ics, as the guiding forces.

**mathematics program**

read the article for more details.

allowing every student to contribute thinking related to the question rather than simply answering correctly or incorrectly. The second class was a 120-person class where the instructor presented a slide presentation wearing a microphone, with three Learning Assistants circulating the room, and students discussing problems in small groups. The third class was a 30-person class where students spent the entire class working in groups of three-four on rich tasks while the instructor floated around the room, visiting with individual groups, and then bringing the class together for a whole-class discussion. The common element of these courses, in addition to the content being taught, was that the instructors authentically cared to understand what their students were thinking related to the mathematics, and that the instructors used this understanding of their students' thinking to connect the mathematics to the students' understanding of the mathematics – what Hackenberg has called exhibiting mathematical caring relations [23]. The DIRACC curriculum and its enactment at LSU illustrate a forward-thinking calculus program by centering the mathematics, and every individual student's construction of the mathemat-

**4. An example of the process to develop an anti-deficit college** 

As noted, the DIRACC curriculum was not developed with an explicitly focus on equity, though it affords an equitable enactment. Here, I provide an example of a college Precalculus program developed with an explicitly focus on changing the program to better support a diverse population of students. This example comes from a mathematics class designed at Bates College to prepare students for calculus, called *Mathematics Across the Sciences.* Meredith Greer described the development of this course in depth in a recent *PRIMUS* article called "Interdisciplinarity And Inclusivity: Natural Partners in Supporting Students" [24]. I will summarize some key aspects of this course and its development, but encourage interested readers to

A group of mathematics faculty at Bates College developed this new course mainly informed by (1) input from faculty from every science department on their campus, (2) a multidisciplinary group of faculty focused on diversity and inclusion, and (3) mathematics education research and national conversations. Input from science faculty was gathered primarily based off meetings centered on which concepts they teach draw significantly on mathematics and what mathematical topics they want their students to know better. After meetings with all science departments on campus, trends surfaced which were used to guide the content of the course. One or two faculty members from each department then came together to refine the topics and include examples from their own fields. After the content was decided on, presentations were made to science and mathematics department chairs and faculty. While the interdisciplinary group worked together on the content, another interdisciplinary group of faculty was working together on learning how to support diversity and inclusion on their campus. This group was supported by the college and motivated, in part, by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Making Excellence Inclusive project (which offers many very useful resources for departments interested in diversity and inclusion). This group primarily leveraged research on student experiences in higher education, especially the experiences of students of color, as well as the resources from the AAC&U Making Excellence Inclusive project. Based off these readings, the work developed pedagogical strategies that could be used across campus. These were then translated to the mathematics course being developed, resulting in a number of new pedagogical

**144**

strategies. Lastly, the group developing this course also read and brought in recommendations from national mathematics education conversations, including the Mathematics Association of America's Curriculum Foundations Project [25] and the Inquiry Based Learning community [26].

Informal conversations with students were also used to understand more about their program, especially among the faculty group focused on diversity and inclusion, but not as directly as with the science departments. Input from students, primarily from student evaluations but also from informal conversations, was used to make improvements to each future iteration of the course (which in 2018 had been offered three times).

Greer describes how these components came together to inform the development of the course curriculum and the pedagogical approach: "Class time, course topics, and out-of-class assignments are designed to encourage a diverse set of students to succeed in this course as well as when they later proceed to more advanced mathematics and science courses" ([24], p. 2). This quotes perfectly reflects what should be the guiding principle of all college calculus programs, and can be cultivated through shifts in both the curriculum and the pedagogical approach: A forward-thinking calculus program is developed so that calculus courses, including the class-time, course topics, and out-of-class assignments, are designed to support a diverse set of students to succeed in the course as well as in courses building on calculus and in their STEM careers.
