Using Notebooks to Supplement Bridge Courses

Abstract

Faculty often wish to allow for guided exploration or a deeper view of at least one topic in a bridge course. However, when the time allotted to such a course is only seven to ten weeks, it can be difficult to avoid moving quickly from one topic to another—leaving little opportunity for students to see a unified context in which the structures and proof skills might actually be used. We describe three years of experience in supplementing a more traditional bridge course. Our strategy was a low-pressure “notebook” for guided exploration in a specific structure (graphs). This provided a unified environment for students to attempt various proof strategies, but (when properly managed and prepared) did not add appreciably to the pace or stress of courses—especially important when time is short! Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of PRIMUS (www.tandfonline.com/UPRI) for the following free supplemental resource(s): Appendix.