Curriculum integration in the freshman year at the University of Alabama-foundation coalition program

Abstract

The University of Alabama presented its first set of freshman year courses as part of the NSF sponsored Foundation Coalition during the 1994-1995 academic year. The three major thrust areas of this coalition are: curriculum integration; technology enabled education; and human interface issues. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspects of the freshman year engineering, mathematics, and sciences curriculum. Most freshman level mathematics, chemistry, and physics courses are taught in isolation from each other. Consequently, there is relatively little interaction on the education level between engineering professors and their colleagues in the math and science departments. As a result, most engineering programs lose many students during the freshman year. Our solution to this problem is an integrated set of courses for all engineering majors in chemistry, engineering, mathematics and physics, which must be taken together. The authors were the instructors for the initial offering of the courses mentioned above. The paper focuses on several specific examples of curriculum integration that have been attempted, along with observations about the success of the program. The Foundation Coalition consists of the following: Arizona State University, Maricopa Community College District, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University Kingsville, Texas Women's University, The University of Alabama.