How can a mathematics department provide a meaningful summer experience to incoming first-year STEM students with a wide variety of high school experiences and place them appropriately on a path to calculus? At CSUDH, we offer a 2-unit problem-solving course using interactive, hands-on problem-solving activities. The problems involve all students in doing mathematics and seeing mathematics as a tool to make sense of the world. Problem sessions allow students each to contribute and grow at their own level while building community and fostering a sense of belonging. Meanwhile, algebra review is provided by ALEKS software done primarily outside of class . We will describe our program and curriculum and share preliminary data collected from the program.

“I believe that the joy of learning, the freedom to grow, and the benefits of education are basic human rights at a university. I want every aspect of our class to uphold these values. Traditional grading does not give joy, offer freedom, or confer much benefit. It is a tool of the Industrial Revolution and we should have better systems by now.”

That’s part of the pitch I made to my Crop Ecology students in Spring 2023.

Here’s the rest:

"A significant professional skill is the ability to assess and evaluate your own work, and to talk to your boss about it. In this class, you'll learn to assess yourself and talk to me about how it’s going."

For some years, I’d tried to apply specifications grading to my other class (Basic Soil Science). Crop Ecology was an advanced capstone-style class with only 12 students, meeting once a week. I pounced on this opportunity to try “ungrading” as I understood it with what felt like a manageable class situation.

This presentation will describe my system and assignments, how it all turned out, if I think I kept the promises to my students, and what improvements I made for Spring 2024.