Excellence through Mathematics Communication and Collaboration, which is also known as E = mc², is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project designed to assist students in bridging the gap between high school and college-level mathematics.  More specifically, it makes use of a video-based cooperative learning approach to help new college students develop the soft skills needed to be successful in learning mathematics.  These soft skills include working in teams, utilizing available resources, relating to the instructor in a positive manner, communicating mathematics, and understanding different learning styles.

 

Historically, far too many students in our South Carolina technical college system have struggled and failed when attempting to complete their first college-level mathematics course.  For example, over the past nine years, only 34% of the students enrolling in College Algebra, MAT 110, at Tri-County Technical College have achieved a grade of “C” or higher in any given semester.  One goal of this project is to increase student success rates in MAT 110.

 

The premise of this project is that students are not just passive recipients of information but must be actively involved in teaching themselves, and therefore require training in how to do it more effectively.  A series of ten videotapes are used to assist students in learning how to take better notes in class, how to get more out of homework assignments, how to prepare for tests, and how to communicate mathematical content.

This project was partially funded under Award DUE-0089404 of the Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program of the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) of the National Science Foundation.  Opinions and results are those of the authors and not NSF.

Please send comments and/or questions to Dr. Gerald L. Marshall.

This page was last modified on September 12, 2007.