• Integration of math, physics and engineering;

• Technology that supports conceptual and skill-based learning;

• Application of principles to novel situations; and

• Collaborative learning

Integration of math, physics and engineering
The IMPULSE faculty chose to integrate math, physics and engineering in order to connect concepts, applications, and methods. In the traditional classroom setting, these subjects are typically taught in an isolated manner, leaving students the responsibility to draw the connections and relationships between them. The end result is that, while students spend hours learning derivatives, for example, they are unable to use them in a different context.

John Dowd (physics) commented: Integration--the fact that students are learning in a cross-disciplinary kind of way--is a key goal. So that when they're doing math, they're also doing physics. They realize that these subjects somehow connect to each other. In the past, I've had students come to me who know how to take the derivative of x squared; it's 2x. I ask them: "What's the derivative of t squared?" "I don't know; we didn't study that." They're doing mechanics. Many of the derivatives and integrals are over time. They don't make the conceptual jump, going from one symbol to another. They don't realize the symbol can stand for anything. The technology is a part of it; the teaming and the active learning are very important.

Technology that supports conceptual and skill-based learning
Technology use is an integral part of the reform. IMPULSE instructors understood that today's students see computer use as a sign of a modern, up-to-date curriculum. Nick Pendergrass (electrical engineering) explained that using state-of-the-art equipment in the classroom helps get both student and faculty attention and interest:

Our objective was to use technology to accelerate and improve the learning process and help motivate students to do what we wanted to get done. Technology somehow helps bring relevance to the classroom for the student. In the mind of today's student, if computers are involved and if a lot of video things are involved, they seem to be more willing to pay attention, and believe that this is a forward-looking environment that they're in. So it has a motivational factor for the students. There's no doubt about that. The other thing is that it's much easier with these classrooms to attract really first-rate faculty in to teach freshmen.

Learning content is always important to IMPULSE instructors, and they believe that the computer-based studio classroom, combined with this new pedagogy, helps students learn to apply content.

As Bob Kowakcyk (mathematics) said: First of all, I hope they learn calculus better. So whether I teach in a traditional course or in this course, the underlying goals are the same: to teach them good insight into calculus as well as how to apply calculus. It's just the way we go about trying to impart the knowledge to the students and how they learn is completely different in the IMPULSE environment. And you know, this is still an experiment. We got some assessment data from last year. We compared the calculus students in IMPULSE to students in the traditional section, and it seems that with this new pedagogy they seem to be learning better.

Application of principles to novel situations
Getting students to understand basic concepts was a clear goal of IMPULSE. As noted by researchers in the national physics reform movements (e.g., Workshop Physics), students may be skilled in the mechanics of applying memorized formulas, but unable to relate these calculations and their results to the concepts. At UMD, IMPULSE instructors want their students to be both conceptual and problem-solving learners.

Renate Crawford (physics) explained: I have really high hopes that get crushed a lot of times- that they really understand the fundamentals. We need a way to measure both their conceptual understanding and their problem solving skills. These are different types of skills. I would really like for them to understand the relationship between the two. Sometimes I give them a problem on one of the worksheets. They throw a ball up into the air and I ask them, "How long does it take to come down? How high does it get in the air, and what is the velocity? They plug in all the right values at each point. Then I asked them to graph it. Disaster. They think the acceleration is a sine function; but they understand that whenever they see "a" (acceleration) in a free-fall problem they should plug in -9.m/s28. But they don't really understand what they have just done. So that's what I'm hoping, that they understand the concepts, that they can do the problem solving and see the relationship between the two. And it hasn't happened yet, so I'm redesigning yet again.

Collaborative learning
Another important strategy for the program is to use collaborative learning methods, which UMD faculty called "teaming." IMPULSE faculty are very aware of the team approach to projects in industry. Their intent is to get students to function in collaborative settings that research shows facilitate learning citations, and that resemble working environments in the real world.

John Dowd (physics) explained: For the engineers, teaming in itself was a goal. As Nick pointed out so many times, engineers work in teams when they get out. The companies don't want ivory tower type workers, who work by themselves in a corner; it's not how companies function. They work in teams; sometimes, a team works on a design project for six months or a year, then it is broken up. Then comes a new project and they rearrange the people depending on who's available. That was very important for the engineers.

A technician who works in the program gave his perspective on the need for collaborative learning:

The whole emphasis was collaborative learning, okay, in a computer-based environment. In the traditional lecturing system, there seems to be some gaps, and the students aren't necessarily picking up the material, and they aren't necessarily relating it in between the individual courses. So they wanted to get the professors talking to each other, so that you would have a more cohesive program, and also get the students to work as groups, because we're training engineers. We educate students on a basis of individual performance, and then they get a job at a company like Boeing, they immediately are dropped into a team environment, because there is very little you can accomplish in engineering by yourself. So IMPULSE wanted to emphasize collaborative learning from a very, very early point, and also use this as an opportunity to bring in computers, and integrate the computers into the curriculum.