To: Interested Faculty, Staff, and Administrators
From: Paul R. McCreary, Director of the Merit Workshop Program for Calculus
Date: December 10, 1995
Re: Academic Year 1994-95 of The Merit Workshop Program for Calculus
** In Fall 1994, the Merit Workshop students earned an unprecedented 82% A's and B's compared to 46% A's and B's for all 1,212 other students in all lecture sections of first semester calculus and compared to 30% A's and B's for students from minority backgrounds who did not participate in the workshop.
** For eight of the past ten semesters, a Merit Workshop participant has earned the very highest exam average in the large lecture section of which the workshop sections were a part. Often the top several exams scores in the lecture section have been earned by workshop participants.
** In Spring 1995, the Merit Workshop students earned a high 71% A's and B's compared to 52% A's and B's for all other students in second semester calculus and compared to 31% A's and B's for students from minority backgrounds who did not participate in the workshop.
** The calculus grade point average for Workshop participants in first semester calculus was 4.12 compared to 3.30 for the class as a whole and compared to 2.97 for students in the course from minority backgrounds not in the program.
Participants in the program attend the same lectures, complete the same homework assignments and take the same exams as other students in the first semester large lecture calculus course. The hour exams and final exam were, as is usually the case, graded in group sessions by all TA's and the lecturer in order to insure uniform grading. What makes the Merit Workshop different from "traditional" calculus sections is that participants spend four additional hours each week working collaboratively in small groups on specially selected, difficult calculus problems. An attempt is made to attract highly motivated individuals who are willing to work hard, qualities valued within and beyond our academic setting.
In the academic year 1994-95 a total of 90 students participated in the program. Included in this group were 47 women. 24 of the 90 were from Hispanic backgrounds and 42 were African-Americans. 12 graduated from small high schools. There were 43 engineering majors and 44 from the college of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Calculus & Mathematica, a computer-based text for introductory calculus developed on this campus by Professors H. Porta and J. Uhl, continues to be the curriculum for the Merit Workshop sections of Math 130. Every Merit Workshop Program participant in Math 130 engages in an intensive four-week project based on particularly challenging problems offered in the Calculus & Mathematica materials.
Twenty-seven of the calculus Workshop students were also participants in the Merit Workshop Program for Chemistry. This program was initiated four years ago by the Department of Chemistry. The staff of the two Merit Programs cooperate in recruiting and work together coordinating activities throughout the semester.
For the current academic year, 1995-96, in cooperation with the Department of Chemical Engineering, a third section of first and second semester calculus was added to the workshop offerings. This amounts to a 25% expansion in the number of student participants. The calculus and chemistry workshops are now a part of the academic program of virtually every student in the Minority Chemical Engineering Program.
We invite you to visit one of the calculus or chemistry Merit Workshop sessions. To make arrangements you may call Paul McCreary (Mathematics) 244-1659 or Susan Arena Zumdahl (Chemistry) 244-8279.