Faculty Member     William V. Thayer         Campus     Meramec

1.    What assessment procedures did you use? Please name and give a short description.
        (empty outline, minute paper, muddiest point, concept map, open response, questionnaire, etc )

Students in this calculus II class were asked to give an open response including pros and cons about an Arch project completed near the first week of October. They had just finished a study of hyperbolic functions. This project was developed during a week of classes. Arthur Grunmann talked about meeting Eero Saarinen during one class period. Also Professor Grunmann explained the arch work he saw in Saarinen's studio. He concluded with words about the future for architects, engineers and builders. The class took a two class period field trip to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (JNEM) Library in the Old Courthouse. Here they studied blueprints and other Arch information and JNEM Librarian Tom Dewey advised their research.

2.     What effect did the results of the assessment procedure(s) have on your teaching?

Students generally found an Arch project worth doing at this point in a calculus II course based on this "CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT RECORD" student response. In addition, some comments will help direct slight changes in future projects of this type. I will post this record on the Web site so other students and teachers may use it.

I plan to continue projects of this type in my teaching.

Individual student comments are listed below.

Student _______
The Arch project is somewhat above my knowledge, but as a team we spent some times together and worked it out. I'm glad that we did the project as a group. As an individual, I would slowly figure it out.

Student _______
The Arch project was a good way to show calculus in use and how important it was for the creation of the Arch. The choice of the Arch was very relevant because it is an object that we see all the time living in St. Louis. The only bad thing about this project was the lack of computers in the lab.

Student _______
Pros:   a) In depth handouts       b) Speaker/field trip
Cons:   a) In depth handouts       b) In class time allotted

Student _______
The Excel portion was interesting, but I thought that we spent too much class time on it. Some of the problems really made me think, but there was a high ratio of precalc to calc, and even some plug and chug which seemed tedious.

Student _______

I thought it was a good project; a nice way to understand calculus in more practical terms. What I didn't like was the grading and work on the chart. I think we were left on our own and then graded rather harshly for so little assistance.

Student _______
The Arch project was nice being a real-life problem. You could actually go and see what math you were doing on paper.

Student _______
I feel that the Arch project was interesting. It was a great opportunity to do hands-on mathematics. It gives us an insight on how Calculus is involved in so much of the world we live in. Before doing this, it felt more like Calculus was just a class of problems out of a book. Now I realize how interesting it can be.

Student _______
The Arch project was a good way to show how what we are doing in class is all around us. I got a good look at what architects do and how much planning and work goes into making such a magnificent structure.

Student _______
Overall, the project wasn't that bad. I liked going down and seeing the Arch. It was fun. I would not change anything.

Student _______
The concept of the math problems was interesting to see how they actually fit into applying them to construction applications.

Student _______
I think that the project about the St. Louis Arch was very helpful to Calc II students. It was a very interesting project to work on. The whole time I was working on it was fun.

Student _______
The Arch project was a good break/transition from Chapter 5 to Chapter 7. It gave me time to relax on homework and catch up on my other homework. For the most part I enjoyed it. But, the information that we had to gather was far less interesting that the information that you presented in class. I think that the tables of Calculus was a good idea but the web page involved too much work from a single person.

Student _______
I liked everything except not being able to see the Arch blueprints. I could not get a ride down there. Maybe I would prefer to do the project after Chapter 7.