1. Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence

2.  Nursing students are showing difficulty passing a 20 question test encompassing basic math skills.  In Spring 2009, only 17 of 45 students passed the exam on their first attempt. Students demonstrated careless math errors and not retaining information learned during 1 st semester Nursing courses.  The course needs to be offered early in the program to help students perform better on these tests.

3.  Courtney Nagle, Lecturer in Mathematics worked closely with nursing faculty Jo Anne Carrick and Margo Kertis to integrate healthcare applications into the standard College Algebra curriculum.  Courtney Nagle “shadowed” healthcare professionals to experience first hand the mathematics used in their daily work.  Courtney Nagle attended seminar, A Day in the Life of a Nurse, given by Margo Kertis in which mathematics used by nurses was presented.

4.  Math 21 for Nurses was taught for the first time in Fall 2008.  The course covered the standard Math 21 syllabus.Math 21 syllabus  Each lesson began with a Motivation Example to show students how the material related to the healthcare field.  Additional Application Exercises were presented after the section content was covered to give students additional practice applying the content in a healthcare setting. These problems were often worked on in small groups.

5.  Course Syllabus Course Syllabus  Sample Motivation Question Sample Motivation Question  Sections 3.1 and 3.2  Section 6.7  Sample Additional Application Problems Sample Additional Application Problems  Chapter 3 Additional Exercises

6.  A pre- and post- course survey was administered to analyze students’ overall perception of the course.  Pre-Survey Pre-Survey  Post-Survey Post-Survey

7.  Results from the Survey Results from the Survey  SRTE Results (On scale from 1-7 with 1 the lowest rating and 7 the highest)  Overall Quality of Course 6.20  Overall Quality of Instructor 6.47

8.  Continue to offer Math 21 for Nurses every Fall semester.  Track progress of nursing students who complete Math 21 for nurses for comparison with their peers who have not taken the course.  Track progress of students who hope to enter nursing program who have completed Math 21 for nurses.  Continue to improve and modify current Math 21 for Nurses curriculum by introducing more nursing content into the course.