Speaker
Description
Linear algebra enrollments are increasingly comprised of students from applied STEM majors. Little research has systematically examined the ways in which the curricular resources commonly used in first linear algebra courses relate to the linear algebra applications encountered by students from applied fields in their subsequent coursework and career fields. In this talk, we will summarize findings from interviews with instructors of STEM classes that list a first course in linear algebra as a pre-requisite course. Major areas of focus include computer engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, economics, statistics, computational science, and biomathematics. Interviews focus applied STEM fields instructors’ perceptions of how linear algebra is applied in their fields, topics they need to review or teach to cover their own course content, which concepts are most important more broadly in their field, and the kinds of notation and computational tools needed and used in their disciplines. We also ask instructors to reflect on example applications problems taken from linear algebra textbooks and reflect on those from the lens of their own discipline and students’ learning in that discipline. We will provide a preliminary summary of findings from our interviews, relate these to current research on the teaching and learning of linear algebra, and discuss how our findings can inform curriculum development and enactment in the context of linear algebra.