Many college students experience negative feelings around math courses. An OER curriculum helps reduce stress and improve teaching of statistics in higher education.
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Milena Cuéllar has been a professor of mathematics, engineering and computer science at LaGuardia Community College, part of the City University of New York, since 2012, teaching college statistics and upper-level courses for over a decade. And in every class, there’s a student who hates math.
“Across all my classes, from basic math to differential equations, I encounter students who experience stress and anxiety in the math classroom,” Cuéllar says.
In 2013, Cuéllar first started using Statway, created by Carnegie Math Pathways, which is an introductory college statistics course with development supports. Over the years, she has seen how the course’s guiding principles impacted student learning, her pedagogy and overall outcomes among participants, improving student success across the department.
“This approach to teaching has really pushed me to see and get to know the students in my classes,” Cuéllar says. “Because of this, it has made me far more intentional about creating a class experience that is welcoming, open and an effective learning space for everybody to succeed.”
How it works: The course uses a contextualized and relevant curriculum, which helps make math more inviting to students, as well as adds social emotional supports and collaborative learning for engagement. All Statway resources are available as OER materials as well.
One assignment asks students to propose a statistical study to a New York City official around an issue of importance to them and the city at large. Over the years, students have selected topics including childcare options for children with autism, understanding train delays and poor air quality.
“We are consistently blown away every time we read these essays, because the students bring in issues that they’re passionate about and they get really enthusiastic about the assignment.”
Through this curriculum, Cuéllar says she uses a more welcoming and open approach to teaching math, helping create a safe learning environment for students that supports them and reminds them that they’re capable of succeeding.
“This approach is especially valuable for our students at LaGuardia, who are living very challenging lives in New York City but at the same time bring with them a wealth of diverse experiences and perspectives shaped by their backgrounds and life in this city,” Cuéllar says.
Often, students in the class are non-STEM, liberal arts majors who declare that they hate math, they don’t want to be in the course and they’re just trying to get through it and never take math again, Cuéllar shares. These students are also often determined, resourceful and able to thrive in dynamic environments but don’t know how to leverage those tools to support their math learning.
“Having and expressing faith in your students and their abilities is crucial,” Cuéllar says. “I begin my classes by saying that I don’t want anyone to fail this class.”
The outcomes: Since LaGuardia instructors began using the curriculum in fall 2013, over 7,000 students have engaged with Statway. Non-STEM students have higher achievement rates in their math courses and are more likely to complete their math requirement in one semester, saving them time and money.
Student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many students sharing that they appreciate the course structure and content and they carry the life lessons they’ve learned into their other courses.
Other colleagues who use Statway have noticed it changes their way of interacting with students across courses. Cuéllar will use strategies from Statway in group work across colleges and has since embedded experiential learning into her differential equations course.
“Even my research has evolved from purely statistical research to, increasingly, more work on how to provide equitable access to a safe math learning environment, equity analytics for student success and studying the impact of how our interactions with students [affect] their success,” Cuéllar says.
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