%0 Journal Article %A Millar, Susan B. %A Burda, Anne C. %A Alexander, Baine B. %D 1997 %I Begell House %N 3 %P 145-159 %R 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.v3.i3.20 %T A COMMUNITY APPROACH TO LEARNING CALCULUS: FOSTERING SUCCESS FOR UNDERREPRESENTED ETHNIC MINORITIES IN AN EMERGING SCHOLARS PROGRAM %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/00551c876cc2f027,362ba26578b58afc,401f14d5758444cc.html %V 3 %X Failure to successfully complete gateway calculus courses often prevents ethnic minority students from pursuing science and engineering majors. Research suggests that this failure to succeed is caused more by social factors than attributes related to ability. This article presents the findings of an evaluation study of the Wisconsin Emerging Scholars (WES) Program, a nonremedial, multicultural workshop approach to learning calculus. Through its emphasis on community and collaboration, WES is a more culturally relevant approach to learning calculus and is designed to foster substantial participation of underrepresented ethnic minority students. The WES approach also helps to alleviate the problem of isolation and lack of support that ethnic minorities can face in a large, predominantly white university. Optimal program implementation creates a community of confident calculus learners who academically outperform traditional calculus students and who are better prepared to succeed in future science and engineering courses. %8 1997-09-30