9455973 Boyce During the past five years Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has taken several major steps to modernize the content of elementary courses in mathematics, science, and engineering, and to bring contemporary computing technology into widespread use in the instruction of these courses. Two specific directions are being proposed. The first is to enrich the instruction in courses in all of these areas by preparing application modules in science and engineering for use in mathematics courses, and mathematical modules for use in science and engineering courses. The goal in both these cases is to forge closer links between instruction in mathematics on the one hand and in engineering and science on the other. In this way students will see mathematics developed more closely in the context of applications that are of interest to them. The second major direction of proposed work is to expand as rapidly as possible the use of a mode of instruction known locally as studio courses. In this type of course all class meetings take place in the same room, and the distinction among lectures, recitations, and laboratories is essentially eliminated.
