Contextualizing Elementary
Algebra across disciplines
Jonathan Cornick & Karan Puri
Queensborough Community College
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

Origins & Philosophy
 Previous work with Elementary Algebra
 Faculty Inquiry Groups
 Mathematical proficiency in STEM credit courses
 Skill transfer in general education courses
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

Fundamentals of Chemistry
 Wrote OER textbook with Tirandai Hemraj-Benny (QCC)
 Based on guided problem solving philosophy
 Student-centered
 Idea was to bring success with My Math GPS into the chemistry classroom
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

Chemistry-related topics
1.
2.
3.
4.
Significant figures
Scientific Notation
Percentages
Unit conversion in various guises.
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

Chemistry Assessment
 Departmental standardized assessment questions
 Persistence
 Performance
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

Chemistry Feedback
 Full control on material
 Gained from mathematics perspective (expectation change)
 Struggle to break away from traditional methods
 Students don’t make Math  Chem connections
 Calculator Skills lacking
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

Introduction to Sociology
 C3IRG: Amy Traver (QCC) & Stuart Parker (KCC)
 3 Modules: PreHW, In-Class, PostHW. CEAFE aligned
1.
Deviance: Marijuana use – Percentage/Proportion
2.
3.
Inequality: State Test outcomes/Poverty/Race – Linear graph (correlation)
Tipping Point: Changing demographics – linear inequalities
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

Sociology: Assessment
 8 sections – 4 intervention/4 control
 Pre/ Post test CEAFE like & Attitudes survey
 Student research – QR in Teaching sociology
 Impact remedial and credit math?
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

Sociology: Feedback so far
 Instructor rusty math skills, QR fellow helpful
 “bigger picture” , “diverse groups”, “relevant”
 “continue to struggle”, “weak conceptual”
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

Positives
 Understanding of other disciplines’ needs
 Other instructors cited gains from mathematicians’ perspectives on instruction
 Students see value of math skills (sociology)
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

What have we learned about alignment?
 Limited with other STEM requirements.
 Lack of context. Students see it as separate topic.
 Most useful content (proportions and percentages) now been deleted
 Calculators needed for applications
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

Moving forward
 STEM pathway confused
 Clear learning objectives
 Use backwards design process
 Non-STEM…
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.

Contact
 Jonathan Cornick jcornick@qcc.cuny.edu
 Karan Puri – kpuri@qcc.cuny.edu
Cornick & Puri, Queensborough
Community College Innovative Practices in
Developmental Education, La Guardia
Community College, April 15th 2016.