Does Sequence Matter? IMPACT of Redesigning Sequential Calculus Course on Students’ Learning Outcomes

As colleges and universities increasingly transform their STEM courses through the adoption of more active, student-centered pedagogies, there is a growing need to understand the impact of these educational innovations on student outcomes. This study is conducted in the context of a university-wide faculty development and course redesign project, IMPACT (Instruction Matters, Purdue Academic Course Transformation). IMPACT supports faculty in implementing student-centered pedagogical practices and creating equitable and inclusive learning environments. This study focuses on a sequence of two introductory calculus courses (Calculus 1 and Calculus 2, hereafter CALC 1 and CALC 2) that were transformed as part of the IMPACT program. To evaluate the effectiveness of the course intervention (i.e., IMPACT), some sections of each course used the IMPACT-redesigned model while the remainder of the sections continued with the traditional, lecture-based teaching (control). Students who enrolled in these courses had the option to self-select their sections, but had limited information about the nature of the different sections. To account for the sequential nature of the two courses, the study classified the students into four distinct groups based on the order in which they took the two calculus courses: Group 1: IMPACT-IMPACT, Group 2: IMPACT-control, Group 3: control-IMPACT, and Group 4: control-control. MANOVA was used to examine how students’ different sequential participation in student-centered learning affected their learning outcomes. We examined students’ Calculus Concept Inventory (CCI) test results, final grades, and DFW (grades of D, F or withdrawal) rates after taking the two calculus courses. Results showed that students in the IMPACT-IMPACT group outperformed the other groups in all three measures. Students in the IMPACT-control group had the worst scores in both course grades and the CCI test as well as the highest DFW rates. Suggesting that, when the student-centered, autonomy-supportive environment was taken away in the second calculus course, students’ outcomes were negatively affected. This study indicates the vital importance of considering the overall curriculum of a program when engaging in course transformation, especially for sequential courses that build upon each other.