Calculus is a course that is offered at almost any college or university, and in many high schools as a free-standing or as an Advanced Placement course. Math 115 is significantly different from many of these other courses that carry the same name: it doesn’t focus on rote memorization or rote practice, and it isn’t a course where students are told what to know and expected to learn it on their own. It isn’t a course where students are shown recipes for how to do problems and then expected to reproduce those on exams.
Math 115 is a course in which we want students to really understand mathematics and be able to apply it to their personal and career interests. It focuses on conceptual understanding, real-world applications, and collaborative learning. To allow accomplishment of these goals, it is taught in small sections (course sections are capped at 24), each with its own instructor. In class, we do a lot of active learning and group work, because math education research irrefutably demonstrates that all students learn best in this context.
Expectations and History
We set high standards in our introductory math courses because we know our students are capable of truly mastering the mathematics in our courses. We know there will be times when different students struggle with the material and make mistakes: this is part of learning! Some students come into Math 115 expecting it to be hard and inaccessible, but we truly believe everyone here can succeed, and almost all students who work hard do succeed.
We’ve been improving the introductory math sequence since the 1990s, when “Calculus Reform” changed how we taught Math 105, 115, and 116. Michigan Math is nationally recognized for its success and use of active learning, and, more recently, adoption of mastery learning and assessments that move beyond timed, high-stakes exams. We hope that this results in students (re)discovering math and its beauty, and learning what they need for their program of study and career goals!
