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September 1, 2000 JOURNALISTS: Here is a story idea and select events from the Purdue News Service. To arrange interviews or campus visits, contact Jesica Webb, (765) 494-2079 or page her, (765) 743-4333-4117. Crash course helps the math afflicted Incoming freshman engineering students who perform poorly on a math placement test are required to take an algebra and trigonometry course their first semester, rather than starting with a calculus class. Missing that first-semester calculus course makes it nearly impossible for an engineering student to graduate in four years. But an alternative to the algebra and trig course is helping some students keep pace. An intensive, week-long crash course, called the Mathematics Bridge Program, allows students to study algebra and trigonometry 13 hours a day. The class takes place a week before the regular semester begins. An unprecedented 85 percent of the students passed the program this year, allowing them to take this fall's calculus class. Last year, 20 percent passed. Freshman Engineering Head Jennifer Sinclair credits assistant professor Heidi Diefes-Dux for the unusual success. Diefes-Dux, teaching the course for the first time, used an innovative approach of less lecturing and more problem solving, including having the students work in teams to solve math problems from a loose-leaf binder of assignments that she prepared, instead of using a conventional textbook. CONTACTS: Heidi Diefes-Dux, (765) 494-3887; hdiefes@purdue.edu, Jennifer Sinclair, (765) 494-3884; jlds@ecn.purdue.edu Events • Thursday, Sept. 14. 4:30 p.m.  Philosophy Dept. Fall Colloquium Series. University Hall, Room 219. Guest speaker Michiel Korthals, professor of applied philosophy, Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands, will present "Taking Consumers Seriously: Two Perspectives on Consumer Concerns." CONTACT: Paul Thompson, (765) 494-4295, pault@purdue.edu • Tuesday, Sept. 19. 7 p.m.  Black Cultural Center's Cultural Arts Series: Play titled "Chocolate on the Outside." Fowler Hall, Stewart Center. Four African-American co-workers who set out for a team building workshop retreat in the snow blown Appalachian Mountains, where they explore intraracial issues that afflict many African-Americans. CONTACT: Renee Thomas, BCC director, (765) 494-3091, rathomas@hfs.purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page