From Chemistry to Chaucer

When Visiting Professor of Mathematics Stavros Garoufalidis returned from intersession to teach the second half of Mathematics 22, "Honors Linear Algebra and Calculus," he saw nearly two-thirds fewer faces in his introductory level course.

Math 22--whose enrollment dropped from 52 to 18 students--is just a part of the annual exodus of students from introductory math and science courses.

Robert L. Chan '02, who took Math 22a, is not taking a math course at all this spring because of his dissatisfaction with the class.

"I feel that the math department is not strong in fostering the needs of those who are interested in math but don't love it," says Chan.

Every year, dozens of students--mostly first-years--shelve dreams of medical school and scientific careers after their first semester in Harvard's demanding math and science courses.

Some of the attrition rate is due to nothing more than natural change in academic interests, but some blame bad teaching and an unwritten agenda to "weed out" the less talented students.

Taking the Fun out of Calculus

When Sarah I. Meyers '02 arrived at Harvard this fall, she planned to concentrate in philosophy or music. But she was also wanted to study math, so first semester she enrolled in Mathematics 21a, "Multivariable Calculus."

"I began taking it as an elective, because I remembered how much I enjoyed [math] in high school," she says. "I just wanted to check it out."

But Meyers says she was sorely disappointed in her choice.

"Lower levels [in the Math Department] are not taught for pleasure or fun, but as a function to get from point A to point B," she says. "I felt like everyone teaching the course and everyone taking it used it to get to the next math course or physics course or to fulfill the next requirement, not because math was fun or interesting."

Students considering a concentration in math or science, or those just interested in taking a few classes within those departments, often perceive intro-level classes as frustrating, intimidating or disorganized.

"The class made me feel there was no way I could do math at Harvard unless I threw myself into it," Meyers says. "I'm definitely going to miss it, but I don't see doing it as possible. It just wasn't fun."

The Science of Diminishing Returns

Complaints about math and science entry-level courses seem to be widespread regardless of concentration.

"There are a lot of things wrong with sciences at Harvard," says Anne H. Beaudreau '01, a biology concentrator. "It's a pressure cooker environment with people going against each other."

Based on the enrollment rates from the last few years, Beaudreau is not alone in her complaints. Every year students begin two-semester science or math sequences without completing them.

This year, over 60 students--almost 20 percent of the class--decided not to take Chemistry 7, "Principles of Chemistry," following its precursor Chemistry 5, "Introduction to Principles of Chemistry." Almost half of the students in Mathematics 1a, "Introduction to Calculus," and Math 21a did not return to take the second installment of the courses in the spring.

Beaudreau blames many of her problems on the typically large class sizes in introductory courses and on the policy of teaching math in sections. In both instances, students have little contact with professors and find themselves at the mercy of teaching fellows, who range from inspiring to unintelligible.

Beaudreau complains that students have no control over this situation, and that when she approached an administrator in the math department with her problem, she was rebuffed.

"She was really nasty and it stopped me dead in my tracks," Beaudreau says. "It shocked me that she was admitting that there were bad TFs but that I was stuck with it."

To Be or Not to 22b

First-year math students single out Math 22 as a particularly unfulfilling course, citing the textbook, disorganization and a lack of curricular focus.

Enrollment dropped from 52 students in the fall to 18 in the spring, according to the Office of the Registrar.

James P. Chen '02, who is also a Crimson editor, has elected not to take Math 22b this spring.

"The class wasn't what I expected it to be," he says. "The biggest problem was the textbook...[Also] there wasn't really a logical progression of topics, at least in my mind. I got the feeling that the course didn't really have a focus; not even the professor knew where he was going."

Chen also says the course assumed too much prior knowledge.

"There was a time in the middle of class when the professor stopped his lecture and asked how many of us had seen multivariable calculus before," Chen says. "About half of us raised our hands, and this surprised me because it seemed from the reaction of the professor that he assumed we all knew it."

Many of the problems cited by students stem from the shifting curriculum of Math 22. According to the math department, the course was originally designed to complement the physics honors sequence, but now has more of a math base.

The transition period, which is only now coming to a close, has caused several problems, including an unclear focus and an outmoded textbook, according to Course Assistant Alex H. Saltman '00.

"Many of the problems of the class had to do with the fact that it was in transition," he says. "The course wanted to change focus but couldn't find a new book."

Students in the course almost universally condemned the textbook as too advanced and unclear.

"The textbook was not really written for someone who's learning the material for the first time," says Jordanna P. Schutz '02. "It's not at all conducive for learning."

Course assistant Michael L. Develin '00 called the textbook "very bad." "The course would have been better with just about any other textbook, or maybe with no text at all," he says. "One of the major problems was that the book was no longer coordinated with the aims of the course."

While the math department has promised a new curriculum and textbook for next year, Samit Dasgupta '99, president of the Math Club, says change should have come sooner.

Students have been asking for a new textbook since 1992, according to past CUE Guides. "Year after year there are complaints about the textbook," Dasgupta says.

While the structure and textbook were widely unpopular, students in Math 22 and in the math department praise Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics Stavros Garoufalidis, who assumed teaching responsibilities for the course this year.

Students say they appreciated his lecturing ability and sense of humor. Professor of Mathematics Clifford H. Taubes also praised the visiting professor.

"In any event, Professor Garoufalidis is doing a yeoman's job with the course and the dissatisfaction should not be blamed directly on him," Taubes says. "The responsibility for the curriculum and choice of text--not to mention advising towards 22--lies with me."

Students also criticize the time constraints on Math 22 tests. Unlike other advanced math courses, Math 22 does not offer take-home midterms.

"They cram as much into hourlies as possible," Schutz says. "No one held a gun to Einstein's head. Some people get turned off because they're not fast enough, but [speed] doesn't judge your effort or understanding."

Not all students were unhappy with Math 22, however. Eighteen students have elected to stay on for the spring semester.

"I think 22 is an interesting class," says Peter J. Dong '02. "It's not to the level of the higher courses, but it's significantly harder than 21. I like it because it doesn't require too much work but still presents good material."

Even some of the course's detractors say Math 22 has not diminished their interest in math or their plans to concentrate in math-related fields.

Chen says he's "willing to give [math] another shot," and is taking Mathematics 21b, "Linear Algebra and Differential Calculus," this semester, while classmate Eiichi A. Miyasaka '02 says he still hopes to concentrate in mathematics.

We've Got Chemistry

As a prerequisite for medical school, and most for most science concentrations, nearly 550 undergraduates--primarily first-years--took introductory level chemistry courses this past semester. The two largest are Chemistry 5 and Chemistry 10, "Accelerated Course, Foundations of Chemistry."

While student opinion always varies within a given course, the level of dissatisfaction with chemistry classes seems to be higher than most. Over the past six years, an average of 65 students took Chem 5 but did not enroll in Chem 7, its companion course.

Senior Lecturer on Chemistry James E. Davis, who teaches Chem 5, attributes the dropout rate to multiple causes.

"People come in with a romanticized notion of going to medical school or becoming a great scientist," says Davis. "Then they take Chem 5 and discover this is not really what they want to do."

Some of the first-years who decided against taking Chem 7 say they have found other areas of interest they want to pursue.

"If you're not really sure that you want to be premed, taking Chem 5 is a good idea," says Isaac J. Weiler '02. "It's good to find out in the beginning."

Yet Davis refutes the suggestion that Chem 5 is meant to "weed out" students who are med school-bound. He claims that it is a basic course with a lot of support for students without chemistry backgrounds.

"Chem 5 is the easiest course that students have to take for med school," says Davis, who is also a premed adviser. "And it is certainly easier than anything in med school, but we do not consider it a 'weeding out' course."

According to Davis, first-year students are often discouraged by the qualitative change in course expectations between high school and college chemistry courses. Students used to doing problems by rote find college-level exams a rude awakening.

"It's applying the knowledge that is difficult," Davis says, "not the knowledge itself."

Unlike high school-level exams, which seldom ask students to do more than regurgitate memorized formulas, most Harvard math and science courses force students to apply their understanding to problems they may have never seen before.

In addition, all introductory chemistry classes meet early in the morning. All Chem 5, 7 and 10 classes are held at 9 a.m. three days a week. As Weiler put it, "If you're serious you'll wake up. If not, you'll sleep. I slept."

Chem 10, which has come under more fire than either Chem 5 or Chem 7, is described as too fast-paced and irrelevant to the chemistry sequence.

"I don't remember anything about the class at all," says Peter B. Hamel '00. "I hated it. I went through the classes and went on to other chem classes and didn't remember anything from Chem 10. It was a waste of my time."

Hamel says Chem 10--which has had a decline in enrollment from 353 in 1992 to this year's 205--nearly deterred him from concentrating in chemistry. "Chem 20 really got me into doing chemistry," he says. "I definitely had second thoughts coming from Chem 10."

"I personally enjoyed the class," says Zalatan. "I like the way it was taught. There were some problems at the beginning and some with the labs, but on the whole it was a good course.

On the Horizon

While reform would come too late for this year's crop of disgruntled Math 22 and Chem 10 students, both the math and chemistry departments say they are committed to improving their intro-level course offerings.

Much of the impetus for change has come from student input within the departments. Students say course heads for Chem 10 reduced the class workload following predominantly negative mid-year evaluations, and Chem 5 and 7 offer tri-weekly "help rooms" to work through difficult concepts and problem set questions.

In the math department, the student-run Math Club, which holds a seat on the curriculum committee, has emerged as a voice for reform.

"Right now I've just been annoying the professors to change what we want," Dasgupta says. "We have an official position on the curriculum committee of the math department, but it hasn't met yet this [academic] year."

Dasgupta claims the department has been unresponsive to student complaints in the past.

"It seems to me that year after year there are complaints [the curriculums] should be changed, but the math department doesn't seem to have the people to do it," he says.

As a result, members of the Math Club have take en it upon themselves to design suggestedcurriculums for Math 22 and Mathematics 55,"Honors Advanced Calculus and Linear Algebra."

Officials in the math department promise Math22 reform is forthcoming. Senior Lecturer onMathematics Daniel L. Goroff '78 promises a morefocused, math-based curriculum next year.

To replace the much-maligned current textbook,the department recently selected a new textbookthat Goroff calls "unusually computer savvy,coherent and precise."

Goroff also points to recent innovations inother courses as departmental successes, includingnew textbooks curriculum reforms in Math 1 and 21and the use of what he calls "flavored sections"in Math 21.

"Depending on demand, these include ones thatemphasize applications to biochemistry, the socialsciences or physics, as well as others thatemphasize proofs or the use of computing,"Goroff says. "Student ratings of these specialsections have generally been quite high."

Meanwhile, top administrators say they are notworried by the enrollment drop-off in math andchemistry entry-level classes.

"There is in every college in the country, amigration out of the sciences into the socialsciences and out of the social sciences into thehumanities after arrival," says Dean of theFaculty Jeremy R. Knowles, also Amory Houghtonprofessor of chemistry.

"I am never going to be unhappy if studentsfind some other part of the landscape appealing,"he says

Officials in the math department promise Math22 reform is forthcoming. Senior Lecturer onMathematics Daniel L. Goroff '78 promises a morefocused, math-based curriculum next year.

To replace the much-maligned current textbook,the department recently selected a new textbookthat Goroff calls "unusually computer savvy,coherent and precise."

Goroff also points to recent innovations inother courses as departmental successes, includingnew textbooks curriculum reforms in Math 1 and 21and the use of what he calls "flavored sections"in Math 21.

"Depending on demand, these include ones thatemphasize applications to biochemistry, the socialsciences or physics, as well as others thatemphasize proofs or the use of computing,"Goroff says. "Student ratings of these specialsections have generally been quite high."

Meanwhile, top administrators say they are notworried by the enrollment drop-off in math andchemistry entry-level classes.

"There is in every college in the country, amigration out of the sciences into the socialsciences and out of the social sciences into thehumanities after arrival," says Dean of theFaculty Jeremy R. Knowles, also Amory Houghtonprofessor of chemistry.

"I am never going to be unhappy if studentsfind some other part of the landscape appealing,"he says