What students say about learning physics, math, and engineering

Faculty from the mathematics, physics, and engineering departments at the University of California have collaborated over the past three years to restructure first year and lower division courses. Specific courses have been restructured in order to improve students' integrative understanding of calculus and the physical sciences, and their applications to engineering. The purpose of this project is to examine the impact that the reforms had on student learning, as well as to gain insight into students' experiences during their undergraduate engineering career. One-on-one interviews with Engineering students have been conducted in order to identify and understand differences, if any, between the `traditionally' taught physics and calculus courses and the `reformed' courses.