3-2-2 Developmental Math setup

happyg1

Hello,
I'm just wanting to hear from anyone who has taught the 3-2-2 (Class is worth 3 credit hours, 2 hours of lecture, 2 hours of "lab") This means that the students have class 4 days a week.

We just changed over to this set up this semester. I am an instructor and I have TA's that head up the labs. The problem is that the "lab" winds up being a study hall and attendance has fallen off (like, 5 of 30 show up). I tried handing out worksheets to supplement the HW to do in lab time to get them to show up, but the Director told me not to do that because it will "mess up the baseline".

Anyway, has anyone taught Developmental Math with this approach? Do you guys have any advice for me as far as maybe activities for the kids or advice for me?

These are Freshmen/Sophomores at a 4 year University. It's Beginning and Intermediate Algebra.

I'm having a really hard time covering the material in 2 50 minute sessions per week. I'm having to blaze through the material and these are students who have always struggled with Math. If I slow down, then I'll get behind and I won't cover all of the required material.

CC

symbolipoint

Can you redistribute the "lecture" part of instruction, so that some of the "Lab" time is actually continued lecturing? About actual laboratory activity for Intermediate Algebra, laboratory work seems difficult to imagine for such a course. Since Intermediate Algebra gives learners more tools (once those tools are understood) than Introductory, you could use mathematical modeling exercises. You could create activities to give data generated in the lab class section, and you could take data from a variety of other sources. You can also find at least a small number of textbooks dedicated to modeling with functions for the level of intermediate Algebra.

Moonbear

I have no experience with a math "lab," since no such thing was offered when I was an undergraduate.

I suggest you take a look at the thread on Team Based Learning. Maybe this is something you could incorporate into your math lab to supplement the lecture? I'm hoping this will help with my anatomy course too...I have a similar problem of attendance dropping off from the labs because the course coordinator never bothered to include an attendance policy! So, when the students are all feeling overwhelmed with classes, guess which one they decide to skip? All I can think is that perhaps they'll change their minds about skipping the class when they take it again next year.

symbolipoint

happyg1, how is your class of beginning and intermediate algebra progressing? Do the students use textbooks in your 3-2-2 class which must remain IN the class, or can the students buy the book/s and bring them home? Are your students expected to do ALL of their coursework assignments in the classroom during class/lab time?

Moonbear

How do you teach a class if students aren't allowed to bring their books home to study? Even if they do all their assignments in class (which I also think is a bad idea unless perhaps they are developmentally disabled or something and need the extra help of a teacher present when working on assignments), they should be able to take their book home to study.

Is that what is meant by a math lab? Just more time to do problems? But I think I see your point...if they have to do the work in school, if they don't have enough time in class, they're going to try to do it in another class. All the more reason to send them home with books. Kids learn at different paces. Those who need more time to work through a problem shouldn't have to cram that into a standard class period and keep up with faster classmates. That's not letting them learn the material, that's testing if they can learn it in a limited amount of time. I had friends in high school who could get most of their math homework done in study hall or during the lunch period so they didn't have to take it home with them. I couldn't. I'd work on it for hours at home trying to figure it out. In the end, we came out with similar grades on exams (sometimes I even did better than them). I just needed more time to learn it initially, but once I had it figured out, I REALLY understood it and did well on exams.

happyg1

Hey,
The students have their books to take home. They can work on their HW at home.
The problem is that the "lab" is just a study hall and noone comes at all anymore. So the thing has turned into 2 50 minute lectures with 2 labs that noone goes to. It's hard to get through all of the material in 2 50 minute lectures per week with no lab backup.
CC