How can we help students succeed in Calculus I?

Removing barriers that impact college students’ entry into STEM careers

Field M Watts and Erin Barno

Calculus 1 is often the first course new college students encounter when planning to pursue a variety of careers in both STEM and STEM-adjacent fields. But before students can declare a major and register for more advanced STEM courses, they must pass Calculus 1. That requirement makes Calculus 1 a gateway course for everything from medical school to a master’s in machine learning.

In our work with the Gates Foundation, we are studying how to reimagine the coursework and assessment of Calculus 1 for college undergraduates. Our goal is to eliminate barriers to learning and help students move into and through the college-level coursework that supports their career choices. We’ve identified three areas of focus.

• Create outcomes for college-level calculus that are accessible for students, no matter their high school experience.
• Students’ experiences with mathematics can vary from high school to high school. Some students may have had access to everything they need to know to enter Calculus I while other students may not have had the opportunity due to the socio-economic status of their high school.. Students without such opportunities are sometimes painted as lacking the ability  rather than a simply lacking access to needed materials and instruction. This variation in high school content coverage contributes to students not signing up for, withdrawing from, and failing college-level calculus courses at high rates, particularly for minoritized groups of students.
• Develop outcomes that focus on the concepts of calculus.

Calculus I prioritizes knowing how to do the math (process) over what the math tells us (concept). The focus on procedural accuracy rewards students who excel at rote learning and memorization, and punishes students whose strengths lie in conceptual explanations. Such a divide ultimately pushes students out of the mathematics field simply because they may not have had the opportunity to exhibit their understanding beyond procedural fluency. 

• Change the perception of who belongs in calculus.

When professors perceive that students lack the ability for foundational mathematics skills, they may label students as “in the wrong track” or “overambitious” to consider a STEM major. When students are told they should not be in the class and have no clarity as to why calculus is important to them, they may be less likely to finish or continue the course.

With all this in mind, we are organizing specific ideas and skills under broader umbrellas of core concepts to help students understand why they are learning specific concepts or skills. We are also developing learning outcomes and assessments that demonstrate how key skills developed in math courses align with the skills and knowledge needed for success in different career pathways. Together, we can move students beyond the gateway. 

Field studies open-ended assessments and artificial intelligence in STEM classroom settings, and Erin studies teacher learning and digital simulations in mathematics. Field is a research associate, and Erin is an associate measurement scientist.