Monthly Archives: April 2021

Senator Wright’s opinion piece about the nation’s space program in this morning’s Orlando Sentinel provides new evidence that Florida’s policy-makers are allergic to high school students who are high-achieving in math and science.

Posted on April 27, 2021 by Paul Cottle

Are Florida’s policy-makers allergic to high school students who are high achievers in math and science? The latest evidence that they are is an opinion piece published in this morning’s Orlando Sentinel by Senator Tom Wright, who represents a district … Continue reading →

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Son of Senate Bill 86: Under House Bill 1261, tuition and fees would be waived at Florida’s public universities for upper-division courses in an Elite Eight college majors chosen by the Board of Governors. What could possibly go wrong?

Posted on April 24, 2021 by Paul Cottle

Update, April 29: I learned from Ana Ceballos of the Miami Herald that I had one piece of this wrong: The tuition waiver is Buy One Get One Free (BOGO). So every other upper division course will be free. In … Continue reading →

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Was my online learning environment this year an inferior instructional product? Yes. And no.

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Paul Cottle

Did the students in my introductory calculus-based physics classes at FSU this academic year get an inferior instructional product? Yes. And no. I usually teach active learning introductory calculus-based physics classes in SCALE-UP classrooms, like the one in the picture … Continue reading →

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There are three possible responses to the underrepresentation of Black students in Florida’s AP Calculus classrooms. Which would you choose?

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Paul Cottle

Of the students in Florida’s K-12 schools, 22% are Black. But of the high school students taking AP Calculus AB – a key course to prepare for college majors in math-intensive STEM fields – only 7.5% are Black. This contributes … Continue reading →

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A shout out to my assistant instructors, who did a marvelous job with our students during a horrific year for college teaching.

Posted on April 19, 2021 by Paul Cottle

This year more than any before, I counted on my assistant instructors – my graduate teaching assistants and my undergraduate learning assistants – to connect with their students. Of course, the circumstances conspired against them. Connecting with students in a … Continue reading →

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A calculus course in high school provides a big boost for college majors in math-intensive fields like engineering and physics. But few Black students make it to calculus in Florida’s public high schools.

Posted on April 17, 2021 by Paul Cottle

If you ask the advisors at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering about high school preparation for college majors in engineering fields, they will tell you that taking a calculus class during the senior year of high school is the “most … Continue reading →

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Smidgen of Progress: Florida moves from 38th to 35th among states in rate at which the state graduates students with bachelors’ degrees in science and engineering fields.

Posted on April 5, 2021 by Paul Cottle

For 2019, Florida was the 35th ranked state for the rate at which it graduates students with bachelors’ degrees in science and engineering (S&E) fields, according to data recently released by the National Science Foundation. Florida graduated 20.24 students with … Continue reading →

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The Opposite of Serious: Problems in Florida’s public high schools with calculus and physics show state isn’t serious about coaxing students toward college majors that “lead directly to employment”

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Paul Cottle

When it was first filed by Senator Dennis Baxley of Ocala, Senate Bill 86 would have severely reduced Bright Futures scholarship support for college students who were majoring in fields that would not “lead directly to employment”. That provision has … Continue reading →

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