By Audrey Malagon, Lead Editor, DUE Point, Virginia Wesleyan University

The SUMMIT-P project aims to strengthen the relationships between mathematics and other disciplines through curricular innovation and partnerships. As a joint effort among many institutions, ranging from two-year community colleges to R1 universities, the project is having a significant impact on the academic community nationwide. Since Lee University had been considering reforming their core mathematics classes, they decided to join this project. Here PI Caroline Maher-Boulis tells us about the Student Exchange Program Lee University created to facilitate communication and transfer of knowledge between mathematics and other disciplines.

What makes your project different from the other projects in the SUMMIT-P consortium?

Lee’s project is the only project that involves three partner disciplines: the sciences, the social sciences, and education. We also are the only institution with a Student Exchange Program (SEP), a concept suggested in the MAA’s Curriculum Foundation Project reports. In our program, an undergraduate math major is paired with a student from another discipline. These are paid positions to which the student must apply. Selected students then engage in activities like structured interviews about shared concepts in each discipline and tutoring other statistics students as a collaborative pair where each can give insight from their disciplinary perspective. The SEP students have also created a resource website for the institution’s statistics class. This collaborative work helps each student learn the language of the other discipline and improves their knowledge of statistics and its applications in a given field.

What benefits have you and other faculty gained from this project?

This project has been very successful in opening doors for faculty from different disciplines to talk about student learning and curriculum alignment. Before this project, we were working in silos. To our students, it seemed we were speaking different languages and they had trouble transferring their mathematical knowledge to other disciplines. Now, our courses are more focused on the needs of our respective disciplines. Our faculty realize that they can’t teach math just for the sake of math, and our institution has seen the benefit of interdisciplinary collaborations. Our students are aware of where and how they will use the mathematics they are learning. They also learn that their academic courses are not separate. They are connected and so is our world.

On a personal level, I have learned that I can’t teach math the way I was taught math. I need to listen to other disciplines and learn how they are using the mathematics we are teaching.

What motivates students to join the exchange program and what have their experiences been like?

Let’s ask the students!

From Andrea, a psychology major, who was paired with a political science and mathematics double major:

“I applied to work in SEP because I had a little information on the program, but overall, I was very excited about getting to do collaborative research with someone outside of my field. Additionally, I love statistics so that was a big motivator. I think the most exciting project was working on linear regressions. That project had three different groups which made the study very interesting and fun to see how students interacted with it. I felt that project was more integrated and collaborative because it truly was a combination of social sciences and mathematics.

“I have learned or been reminded of the importance of perspective as well as the complexity of research and collaboration. I have gained a lot more detailed knowledge of mathematics as well as the difference of STEM and Social Science research. The most challenging [part] has been realizing how different the two fields are and not assuming my partner is approaching the research the way I am so we both don’t miss an important detail.”

From Andrew, a Spanish and mathematics double major, paired with a psychology major:

“I applied the first semester of my freshman year in hopes of gaining research experience. It also turned out to be a great fit to my dual interests in math and psychology since at that time I was a psychology major taking calculus II for fun. The most interesting project I worked on was probably studying if humorous exam materials helped with math testing anxiety. Although our sample size was low, researching the topic and designing testing materials was a great chance to use creativity and critical thinking at the same time, plus I found it ironic that, according to our results, tests that try to be humorous can cause greater distaste for the subject. From the program I have gained a greater love for research and stronger research skills. I really appreciated working with students from other disciplines as it caused me to think outside of my own experience and learn new methods and techniques of research that I could then apply to my skill set in my personal research.

“The most challenging thing in my work has probably also been my favorite part: working with students from other disciplines. While there is certainly a barrier to be broken, especially between mathematics and social sciences, and communication skills were forced to be sharpened, I have nonetheless loved learning to think in new ways.”

Learn more about NSF DUE (Award #) 1625199

Full Project Name: Collaborative Research: A National Consortium for Synergistic Undergraduate Mathematics via Multi-institutional Interdisciplinary Teaching Partnerships (SUMMIT-P)

Abstract Link:  https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1625199

Project Contact: Caroline Maher-Boulis , Lee University, cmaherboulis@leeuniversity.edu

Project Website: https://www.summit-p.com/institutions/lee-university

*Responses in this blog were edited for length and clarity.