Topic:  Aligning Teaching Methods and Students' Learning Needs
When: Wednesday, January 9 from 12 - 1 pm (NOTE: different day)
Where: 321 Allen Hall

The next dB-SERC lunch discussion will take place on Wednesday, January 9 from 12 – 1 pm in 321 Allen Hall. During the lunch, Dr. Armin Schikorra from the mathematics department will discuss his course transformation: “Aligning teaching methods and students’ learning needs: Active learning vs. traditional classrooms.”

Most students in science and engineering programs start their university career by enrolling in the calculus sequence. In addition, the student body of the University of Pittsburgh is heterogeneous: students come to the university with a wide array of learning needs, from different cultural backgrounds, and from different educational systems. Dr. Schikorra plans to personalize calculus education by tailoring the educational approach to the individual traits, needs, and levels of each student. He is developing a group-work and active-learning based Calculus I course, and he will investigate what kinds of students thrive in which teaching environment. The goal is to offer a variety of Calculus courses which have consistent learning goals yet allow for different teaching approaches while making reliable recommendations to new students which teaching methods would suit them best. This is the first dB-SERC course transformation being implemented in the mathematics department. The purpose of the lunch discussion is to provide feedback on the project and encourage an interchange of ideas.