MATH 160-212 Calculus 1 - Wangberg

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About This Article

This article describes how mobile computing, specifically tablets, was piloted in Prof. Aaron Wangberg's MATH 160 Calculus I to transform teaching and learning.


Intended Audience

WSU instructors interested in past faculty experience with tablet devices in the classroom.

Spring 2013 iPad Pilot

Students in this course had access to an iPad tablet to use throughout the spring semester along with several apps selected by Dr. Wangberg for use in class and in the field.

How the iPads are Used in MATH 160 and MATH 212

Traditionally, math classes teach an understanding of mathematical principles and promote the use of these principles to solve problems. These two operations, the first being comprehension and the second application, represent the second and third levels of competency in Bloom's Taxonomy. With the introduction of the iPads and their associated applications into the classroom, MATH 160 and MATH 212 students are now able to investigate the affects of variables within the problem, connecting and explaining how the modification to the variables change the results. These skills are part of the analysis level of Bloom's, the fourth level of the Taxonomy.

All student work is recorded and submitted to the instructor. The applications on the iPad give immediate feedback to the students whom can then replay their work and find where they may have gone astray. Dr. Wangberg can replay individual student solutions in class for discussion or view larger numbers of solutions offline to look for patterns in errors.

Professor Wangberg used the iPads to accomplish several key objectives of the course that would be difficult or impossible utilizing only traditional educational methods. The iPads and their associated applications enabled Professor Wangberg to:

  • Improve student understanding and advance to a higher level of Bloom's Taxonomy. Because the applications give immediate feedback to the students and allows the student to then go back and discover their errors through the recording, students move from the comprehension and application levels of Bloom's to analysis.
  • Collect data on student understanding and use as input into the course. Because the recordings are made available to the teacher, Dr. Wangberg can use real student work for discussion purposes in the class as well as look for areas where students consistently went awry in their solutions.

Outcomes

Changes in the classroom

  • Students are more engaged in the classroom. The students talked more, collaborated on solutions, evaluated peer work, and were more engaged in general.
  • Learning improved. Because feedback was immediate and the work could be replayed for correction, students knew right away where they went wrong and could learn the correct way to solve the problem.
  • Changes made to teaching method. As student work was reviewed and patterns in error came to light, teaching methods could be modified to better explain the areas where confusion began.

Recommendations

  • Large format iPads more useful for this work. Because of the need for maximum screen space to solve the Calculus problems, full-sized iPads were recommended.

iPad Applications Employed in MATH 160 and MATH 212

Professor Wangberg used the following applications in his MATH 160 and MATH 212 iPad pilot:

  • WeBWorK

Descriptions, pricing, and links to iTunes for each of these applications is available on the iPad Pilot Applications page.

Professor Wangberg also employed some custom applications he and his research cohort created, including a graphing calculator and a digital whiteboard. For more information on these applications, contact Dr. Wangberg.

More Information

Related Wiki Topics


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