There is a clear need to modify undergraduate training in mathematics to help grow a highly educated workforce that can meet the challenges of our increasingly data-driven world. This is not only the case for training in mathematics, engineering, and biological and physical sciences, but also in the social sciences, including economics, psychology, and sociology. Currently, social science majors at UC Davis are required to take Math 16ABC, a traditional calculus course taught in a traditional manner. This terminal math course does not prepare students for entering today’s modern workforce. Moreover, institutional data indicates that there is an unacceptable achievement gap in Math 16 between underrepresented minorities, first-generation college-students, and economically-challenged students compared to students not in these groups.
To better prepare students for STEM careers and to begin closing equity gaps, faculty at UC Davis are redesigning Math 16 to include a blend of calculus, probability, and discrete math and to build instruction around modeling and contextualized examples. The revised calculus course sequence will be taught as Math 19: Calculus for Data-Driven Applications. As part of this project’s efforts to restructure this course sequence, the team will develop an integrated weekly computer lab component. The labs will be designed not only to strengthen understanding of mathematical concepts being taught in the class, but also to expose students to computer programming, to provide them with experience in topically relevant mathematical modeling, and to offer them opportunities to analyze real data from the social sciences. The set of applied mathematics laboratories, as well as supporting instructional resources, will be organized using the LibreText platform and be freely available to all students and instructors at UC Davis and beyond.