2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The Engineering in Context Learning Community at Whatcom Community College (NSF IUSE ITYC Program)

Significant numbers of first-year community college students place below Calculus-level mathematics and are underprepared for direct entrance to core prerequisite courses in an engineering baccalaureate degree curriculum. As a result, a potentially daunting and abstract sequence of math courses can dissuade otherwise promising candidates from the engineering profession. This NSF-IUSE project, launched in fall 2022, is a collaboration between engineering, mathematics, history, English, and physics faculty to create a two-quarter learning community experience for precalculus-level students entering our engineering transfer program at Whatcom Community College. The Engineering in Context Learning Community is a six-course curriculum that integrates contextualized precalculus, English composition, Pacific Northwest history, engineering orientation, and introductory problem solving and computing skills. The program employs high-impact practices including place-based learning, community-engaged projects, contextualized instruction, and undergraduate research to motivate foundational skill development, emphasize social relevance, and develop students' engineering identity, sense of belonging, and academic readiness.
The 2023-24 academic year marked the first pilot offering of the new learning community with an initial cohort of 19 students out of a capacity limit of 24. This paper and poster reports on early findings comparing persistence rates into the second-year curriculum between the first learning community cohort and our more general engineering student population. For example, 14 out of 19 (74%) cohort students enrolled in Calculus 1 within two terms of starting Precalculus 1. All 14 passed. This retention rate compares to 13 out of 30 (43%) for non-cohort students who were concurrently enrolled in Precalculus 1 and Introduction to Engineering. Only 11 of whom passed Calculus 1 on their first attempt.

Authors

Prof. Eric Davishahl http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9506-2658 Whatcom Community College [biography]

Eric Davishahl serves as professor and engineering program coordinator at Whatcom Community College in northwest Washington state. His current project involves developing and piloting an integrated multidisciplinary learning community for first-year engineering. More general teaching and research interests include designing, implementing and assessing activities for first-year engineering, engineering mechanics, and scientific computing. Eric has been an active member of ASEE since 2001. He was the recipient of the 2008 Pacific Northwest Section Outstanding Teaching Award, chaired the PNW Section 2017-2019, served on the ASEE Board of Directors as Zone IV Chair 2022-2024. and currently serves as Program Chair for the Two-Year College Division.
Anna Fay Booker Whatcom Community College
Mr. Pat Burnett Whatcom Community College [biography]

Pat currently teaches engineering at Whatcom Community College.
Seth Greendale Whatcom Community College
Petra McDonnell-Ingoglia Whatcom Community College [biography]

Academic Advisor and Outreach Specialist, History B.A. with Specialization in Memorial Studies and Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Anna Wolff Whatcom Community College
Tran M Phung Whatcom Community College
Tyler L Honeycutt Whatcom Community College [biography]

Tyler Honeycutt teaches precalculus, statistics, and calculus for engineers (and others) at Whatcom Community College. Tyler is passionate about integrating mathematical concepts with real-world applications. As one of the math instructors in a placed-based engineering cohort, they are working collaboratively with history, english, and engineering instructors to connect precalculus principles with Pacific Northwest history and fundamental engineering concepts. Research interests include developing pedagogical approaches that bridge mathematical theory within a historical context, particularly through mapping projects and data analysis. They are exploring new opportunities to integrate geometry and data science with environmental and historical research in the Pacific Northwest region.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

For those interested in:

1st Generation
2 Year Institution
Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology
transfer