Allied Health Applications Integrated into
Developmental Mathematics Using Problem Based Learning
Shore, Mark; Shore, JoAnna
; Boggs, Stacey. Mathematics and Computer
Education
38. 2 (Spring 2004): 183-189.
; Boggs, Stacey. Mathematics and Computer
Education38. 2 (Spring 2004): 183-189.
Abstract (summary)
For this
FIPSE funded project, mathematics
faculty attended allied health classes and allied health faculty attended
developmental mathematics
courses to incorporate health examples into the developmental mathematics curriculum. Through the
course of this grant a 450-page developmental mathematics book was written with many problems from a variety of allied
health fields (Shore, 2003). A pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire were
developed and found to be reliable. Results consistently showed the
experimental sections of developmental mathematics that incorporated allied health examples and problem-based learning scored significantly higher than the
control sections. In fact,
the scores for students in
sections taught using PBL and allied health examples during the first year of
the grant were significantly greater than the scores for students the preceding
semester of the grant, taught by the same teachers. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
Full text
Headnote
Abstract
For this
FIPSE funded project, mathematics
faculty attended allied health classes and allied health faculty attended
developmental mathematics
courses to incorporate health examples into the developmental mathematics curriculum. Through
the course of this grant a 450-page developmental mathematics book was written with many problems from a variety of allied
health fields (Shore, 2003). A pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire were
developed and found to be reliable. Results consistently showed the
experimental sections of developmental mathematics that incorporated allied health examples and problem-based learning scored significantly higher than the
control sections. In fact,
the scores for students in
sections taught using PBL and allied health examples during the first year of
the grant were significantly greater than the scores for students the preceding
semester of the grant, taught by the same teachers.
Project
Overview
This project
started from a workshop that was made involving members of the mathematics and nursing faculty
which put together a prototype lesson that used problem-based
learning and integrated a topic from nursing (kidney function). Through
the collaborative work of this workshop, the mathematics and nursing faculty decided to write a
FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education) proposal, which was accepted.
Example Problem
Blood Urea
Nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine: Keys to kidney function. Although serum
creatinine levels indicate renal damage more reliably than BUN levels, a nurse
needs both values for a complete view of kidney function. Their simultaneous
rise is the focus. As nephrons lose the ability to remove waste products from
the blood, BUN and creatinine accumulate. The change is subtle at first because
nephrons that can still function will compensate for a while. But as more and
more nephrons stop functioning, BUN and creatinine levels rise significantly.
Although serum creatinine levels indicate renal damage more reliable than BUN
levels, you need both values for a complete view of kidney function. Their
simultaneous rise is the key to diagnosing kidney disease.
The graph
below shows the relationship between glomerular filtration (in percent of normal as measured
by creatinine clearance), BUN, and serum creatinine. The broken horizontal line
represents the upper normal BUN and serum creatinine levels. The curve shows
changes in BUN and serum
creatinine levels as the glomerular filtration rate decreases. As much as 75%
of renal function must be lost before BUN and serum creatinine levels rise
above normal. However, further small losses of renal function cause large
increases in BUN and
creatinine levels.
1. What are
the approximate upper-normal BUN and serum creatinine levels?
2.
Approximately, what does a person's glomerular filtration (% of normal) need to
drop to before a person's BUN and serum creatinine levels are above
upper-normal?
3. Does your
answer to question #2 agree with what is stated in the paragraphs next to the graph? Explain why or
why not.
4. As a
person's glomerular filtration (% of normal) increases, what is happening to
their BUN and serum creatinine levels?
5. Does a
person's BUN and serum creatinine levels increase more when the glomerular
filtration (% of normal) goes from 100 to 25 or when the glomerular filtration
goes from 25 to 0?
6.
Approximate the BUN level when the glomerular level is at 50%, and 75%.
7. Find the
slope of the line that goes through the points you got from problem #6.
8. What does
the slope of the line tell us about the BUN and glomerular filtration level?
9. Find the
equation of the line (model) that goes through the points from problem #6.
10. What is
the y-intercept and what does it tell us about the BUN and glomerular
filtration level?
11. Use your
linear model from problem
#9 to predict the BUN level if a person's glomerular level is at 90% of normal.
12. Use your
linear model from problem
#9 to predict the BUN level if a person lost 90% of renul function.
13. Do you
believe a linear function models this situation well? Why or why not?
Purpose and
Results
This project
addressed the high percentage of students that fail Developmental Mathematics courses. To try to
make more students in these
courses successful, this project developed a curriculum, a Developmental Mathematics book, and new
assessments that would link the Developmental Mathematics curriculum to the allied health fields.
It was hoped that through this integrated approach, students would find the
Developmental Mathematics
courses more meaningful and therefore would more likely succeed in the course. The results showed
that this integrative approach did work, and hundreds of students benefited
from the work from this project. Comparison of post-test scores for
experimental sections and control sections of Developmental Mathematics consistently showed
that the experimental sections that used problem-based
learning and allied health examples performed significantly better than
students in the control
sections. Also from questionnaire results, experimental sections of
Developmental Mathematics
rated what they learned to be more useful in their science and allied health courses. This project could
be used to link any mathematics
course (developmental or general education)
to any major field at any college. For example, a project could be developed
similar to this one that links the mathematics
courses that elementary teacher education
majors need to take with computer literacy skills (such as using spreadsheets).
After completing
this project we now understand that there are some Developmental Mathematics students that will
not succeed no matter what the teacher does. The lack of success of these
students often has little to do with ability, but rather their motivation and/or
inappropriate reasons for attending college (e.g., to qualify for their
parent(s) health insurance coverage). While the project consistently showed
significantly higher scores for the experimental sections compared to the
control sections, there were always students in both the experimental and control sections that
did not bother to attend most of the classes and therefore did not succeed. It
was also found during the course of this project that many mathematics faculty are
entrenched in the belief that
the topics that are currently taught in
Developmental Mathematics
should not change and are unwilling to make a change in the curriculum for fear that it would hurt the
students' future mathematics
courses. Therefore, any project that wishes to make a significant curriculum
change must address the fact that some faculty members are unwilling to change.
For example, while many Developmental Mathematics
educators have changed their teaching
and the curriculum to incorporate graphing calculators, the collaboration
project found that allied health faculty did not want Developmental Mathematics students using
graphing calculators, since allied health majors must do calculations without a
calculator on state board tests.
As part of
the grant, the percentage of test problems
that related to allied health were to be at 30% the first year, 50% the second
year, and 70% the third year. While we met all of these goals, we found that
the 70% level was too high and lowered the success level during the third year.
A lesson here is that the project directors should not try to meet the goals of
the grant as they were stated in
the original write up, but adjust them based on the new knowledge gained during the project. Also, any
future project that integrates two different curricula, must realize that
faculty that are not teaching in
the major area of the grant will have a very difficult time developing example problems.
In designing a project, the project director should check background
references with department heads for the faculty members that want to be a part
of the grant. The project director should also get in writing a memo of understanding with the faculty
team members of the grant to make sure they understand what tasks they will
need to complete and the time schedule for the completion of each topic.
Background
and Origins
This project
started as a workshop between nursing and mathematics faculty to illustrate to the rest of the college
faculty the use of problembased learning
and how to integrate topics from other fields (such as allied health) into
other fields (such as Developmental Mathematics).
Prior to this project the success rates (the percentage of students that
obtained a grade of "C" or higher) in Developmental Mathematics was at 50%. The first year of the grant
involved three mathematics
instructors and two nursing faculty and affected 110 students. The second year
of the grant added a respiratory therapy instructor, a radiology instructor,
and a physical therapy instructor and affected 350 students. The third year of
the grant involved everyone from the second year of the grant and added an
occupational therapy instructor, two medical laboratory instructors, an
additional mathematics
instructor, as well as a helping fields instructor, and affected 512 students.
During the course of the grant we received funding for equipment from Allegheny
Energy, and two Eisenhower grants. These three additional grants allowed us to
digitally record these problem-based learning lessons and to put
them onto CD's and onto the college's web site. After the first year of the
grant we bundled the Developmental Mathematics
textbook we wrote with the current textbook so that neither the college nor
FIPSE would have to pay for the cost of duplication. It is hoped that next year
the textbook that we wrote will be able to be used as a stand alone text.
Evaluation/Project
Results
A
questionnaire and a pretest/posttest were developed and found to be reliable.
Each semester the questionnaire and the test instruments were given to all
Developmental Mathematics
students at the college. Developmental Mathematics sections were divided into "control
sections" (sections that did not use problem-based
learning and examples from allied health), and "experimental
sections" (sections that used problem-based learning and examples from
allied health). Each year of the grant the experimental sections' scores were
significantly higher than the control sections. In fact, the scores for students in sections taught using PBL and
allied health examples during the first year of the grant were significantly
greater than the scores for students the preceding semester of the grant,
taught by the same teachers. The grant also satisfied the goal in constantly increasing the
percentage of problems on
tests in developmental mathematics that related to the
health fields. The success percentage of students enrolled in Developmental Mathematics also went up for two
of the three years of the grant. In
the third year of the grant, the success percentage fell. This drop was due to
two reasons; 1) the college had a sharp increase in enrollment and the majority of students that made
up the increase tested (on placement tests) at a very low level, 2) the
percentage of questions on tests that related to allied health for the third
year of the grant was to be at least at 70%. The actual percentage was nearly
80% and I believe that this percentage of applied allied health mathematics problems, which are
more difficult than procedural problems,
also affected the success percentage.
There are
many variables that affect student success in Developmental Mathematics
such as; student and teacher motivation, proper placement, use of technology,
and the use of real-life examples (such as allied health). This grant only
focused on the use of real-life examples. More work needs to be done to
incorporate the other variables, such as using technology (e.g., spreadsheets),
into the Developmental Mathematics
curriculum.
References
References
1.
Introductory and Intermediate Algebra: Applications and models related to the
Health Fields, (2003), Pearson Education,
ISBN 0-536-704821
