15 Mar New Curriculum Products in Development
Curriculum developers in the STEM fields were busy this year with two new textbook projects.
Mathematics faculty are collaborating with the Center for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education at Iowa State University to create a new algebra text for the community college level based on the process approach used in CRDG’s popular and successful Hawai‘i Algebra Learning Project.
The book, with the projected title, Introductory Algebra: A Progressive Approach, addresses key problems struggling students bring to the learning of algebra. These problems are often perpetuated by the lack of opportunities for students to be engaged by dynamic material that calls on their higher level thinking processes. The new program will use an approach that is responsive to the learning needs of this particular group of students.
The science faculty is engaged in a major revision of the highly successful marine science high school text The Fluid Earth. The text, which teaches basic concepts of physics, chemistry, and geology in a marine setting as well as their practical applications in ocean engineering, has been in use throughout the United States and internationally for many years. The new edition will update some of the earth and physical science components based on new knowledge in areas such as meteorology, plate tectonics, and the science of hurricanes and tsunamis.
Both books are expected to be published in 2011.