The University of Pittsburgh announced on May 5 that it will offer a new, free six-week online workshop this summer to help students strengthen their math skills before taking natural sciences courses. The program, created by the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, is open to all Pitt students and does not include grades or tuition fees.
The initiative aims to support students who may feel anxious about mathematics or lack confidence in their foundational skills. Organizers say the workshop was designed so that no student would be discouraged from pursuing science coursework due to gaps in their math background.
“We don’t want the fact that maybe a student came here without really being so comfortable with trigonometry or something like that to prevent them from being able to engage with physics concepts and to understand how the world works,” said Andrew Zentner, professor and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The program covers topics such as symbolic algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and problem solving—skills considered essential for introductory physics classes. Teaching Assistant Professor Arnab Dasgupta said he observed that many students’ fears come from seeing math as “math and not a language.” “The entire thing that we do in physics is just observing nature and putting it in a language,” said Dasgupta. “And the language that we use is math.”
Dasgupta explained his teaching method focuses on daily practice similar to learning a foreign language: “I want this to be a playground area where they come and learn at their own will, at their own pace.” Zentner added: “We don’t want to just have it be only the people that can pay extra tuition. All Pitt students should be able to access the stuff that we’re teaching here at Pitt.”
All sessions will be recorded for later viewing on Dasgupta’s YouTube channel. The department hopes for at least 200 participants this summer, with plans for expansion if successful. Zentner said building confidence is key: “All of these classes where you might have to do some algebra, and that anxiety of doing algebra might discourage the students from taking it—all of that. We want to get rid of that anxiety.”
