2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Differential equations instruction for engineering students in the United States often follows a traditional lecture format and topics are often presented abstractly with applications subsequently tacked on. Additionally, the past focus has been primarily on symbolic manipulation and memorization and application of specific procedures. This study examines the impact of one department’s implementation of Inquiry Oriented Differential Equations (IODE). Beginning with materials provided by the NSF TIMES project (Teaching Inquiry-Oriented Mathematics) DUE#1431641, instructors developed classroom materials, homework assignments, and assessments aimed at engaging students in mathematical discovery, introducing new mathematics concepts through problems, and integrating symbolic, graphical, and numerical representations of the solutions of differential equations.

This study will address the following research questions: 1) How do traditional and inquiry oriented differential equations courses impact students’ views about mathematics and how do these results differ across different student demographics? 2) How does student performance on conceptual and procedural assessment items differ in traditional and IODE classrooms? To address question 1, we administered the View About Mathematics Survey (VAMS) to students at the beginning and end of the semester in two fall semesters, before and after the implementation of the new curriculum. To address question 2, we administered multiple assessment items on the final exam both semesters and compared the scored results.

Based on scored final exam questions, initial results suggest that students who took the IODE class demonstrated deeper conceptual understanding than those who took the traditional course without losing procedural fluency. When comparing the scores on the VAMS from the beginning and end of each semester, we saw that there was only a slight difference in the change between the Fall 2019 semester and the Fall 2021 semester.

We plan to compare VAMS results from Fall 2023 to Fall 2019 and Fall 2021. We will also collect data on final exam scores from Fall of 2023 for the same questions we asked in Fall of 2019 and 2021. We also plan to do a statistical analysis of the exam scores as well as the VAMS results. Furthermore, we plan to look at changes in individual VAMS questions, as well as looking at VAMS and final exam results across demographic groups.