Spacer
Assessment : 2013 - 2014 : Educational Programs :
Mathematics BS

3 Goals    3 Objectives    2 Indicators    4 Criteria    4 Findings    3 Actions


GOAL: Deliver A Lower-Level Curriculum With Appropriate Discipline Specific Skill Sets

Objective  
Foundation Areas - Differential Calculus
MATH 1420 (Calculus I):  Students will demonstrate the following knowledge and skills:  differentiation of standard mathematical functions, application of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus to the evaluation of integrals, and using calculus techniques to solve optimization problems.

Indicator  
Course Assessment - Mth142  
All students enrolled in the program are required to complete Mth 142. Students will be administered a final exam developed and approved by the department faculty. The exam will require them to demonstrate the knowledge and skills mentioned in the objective.
Criterion  
Optimization Using Calculus Techniques  
On the final exam, 70% of the students will use appropriate calculus techniques to solve an optimization problem.
Finding  
Optimization  
Of 176 final exam problems concerning optimization, only 72 ( or 41%) received a passing grade on that problem.
Criterion  
Differentiation Of Mathematical Functions  
On the final exam, 70% of the students will provide the correct derivative for a given mathematical function.
Finding  
Differentiation  
Of 176 final exam problems concerning optimization, 129 (or 73%) received a passing grade on that problem.
Criterion  
Fundamental Theorem Of Calculus  
On the final exam, 70% of the students will correctly use the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus to evaluate a given integral.
Finding  
Integration  
Of 176 final exam problems concerning optimization, 127 (or 72%) received a passing grade on that problem.
Actions for Objective:

Action  
Need To Work On Optimization Applications  
We clearly need to pay more attention to the performance of our students pertaining to applications of the derivative, particularly optimization problems.  Difficulty often arises not only whe applying calculus, but earlier, in the setup of the problem.  Our new precalculus course, MATH 1410, is designed to help with some of these deficiencies.  It's too early to tell whether or not this new course is helping the performance of our calculus students.


GOAL: Improve Communication Between Department And Its Majors

Objective  
Improve Communication Between Department And Mathematics Majors
Communicate to our mathematics majors more and better information pertaining to internships, research opportunities, scholarships. etc.

Actions for Objective:

Action  
Have A Winter Meeting For All Mathematics Majors And Minors  
In January 2015, the chair will host an hour-long meeting of all mathematics majors and minors.  This meeting will inform all students of summer REU opportunities (application deadlines typically in February), graduate school opportunities (deadlines in March) and new courses avaiable for Fall 2015/Spring 2016.

All faculty will be invited, and slides will be prepared in order for students not able to attend to have the opportunity to receive the same information.  These slides will be made available on the departmental website.

An announcement will be made via email 3 weeks before the date, with a reminder sent one week prior.

Other actions will include the possibility of hosting a departmental Twitter account maintained by the office to better inform students of new sections of courses opened, advising deadlines, etc.


GOAL: Deliver An Upper-Level Curriculum With Appropriate Discipline Specific Knowledge

Objective  
Advanced Areas For Majors
Students preparing to graduate will demonstrate advanced mathematics knowledge and skills.

Indicator  
Euclidean Geometry Project - Math3363  
Students will complete a project on the role of proof and technology in communicating mathematics.
Criterion  
Project Assessment  
At the end of the semester, 70% of the students submitting their project will receive a rating of 8 out of 10 or better according to the attached rubric.
Finding  
3363 Project  
Of the 25 students that participated in the project, 20 received a score above 80%.  The mean grade on the assignment was an 88%.

This is better than we had hoped for in the objective.

Actions for Objective:

Action  
Continue To Assess  
We will continue to monitor the progress of our students in this course.  While it is a required course for future secondary teachers, enrollment is not that high (25 in 2014).  more monitoring is therefore necessary.



Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"

We will implement a new placement exam for MATH 1420/1410.
Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"

The placement exam for 1410/1420 has been in place since Summer 2014, in hopes fo correctly placing Fall 2014 students.  Upon completion of the semester, we will compare the performance of those students that took the placement exam with their grade in either 1410 or 1420.  The results of this comparison will begin to tell us the value of the placement exam.  Although, few students took the exam; several semesters will be needed in order to assess the value of the placement exam.
Plan for Continuous Improvement

We have plans to apply for 3 different NSF grants:  two interdisciplinary STEM-centered projects that will improve our STEM course offerings, and one research grant (PI: J. Wang).

We will hire two new faculty members, in the hopes of increasing our breadth of our graduate and advanced undergraduate course and research offerings.  We also hope to find new colleagues that have interests in community outreach and the development of a STEM center on our campus (one of the goals of the NSF grants mentioned above).


Sub Content Box

Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, TX 77341
(936) 294-1111
1-866-BEARKAT