Examining the Success of Students in Developmental Mathematic Courses in a Mostly Hispanic Border Town Community College

A random sample of 200 Hispanic/Latino students from a predominately Hispanic/Latino South Texas community college was used to determine if the implementation of MyMathLab had a positive effect on students’ academic grade performance. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a web-based technology, MyMathLab, made a difference in student success in both a developmental mathematics course and a subsequent College Algebra course. Additionally, this study examined whether the effect differs by instructors’ characteristics contributing to successes or failures of students in developmental mathematics courses. Student success in developmental mathematics courses was measured by pre and post MyMathLab tests in addition to grade distributions from 2001 and 2005 (before MyMathLab) across the two developmental courses and a college algebra course and the implementation of MyMathLab between 2008-2012 to determine if using MyMathLab had an impact on student success in two developmental courses and an early algebra course. Also, the instructors completed two surveys. The Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (MTEBI) and Instructors Educational Philosophies (IEP). The survey questions were compared to the results to determine if the instructors’ characteristics had an impact on student’s achievement in developmental courses enhanced by MyMathLab. The overall findings of the study suggests that with the implementation of MyMathLab taken on average the typical student was able to increase their academic performance in the developmental mathematic courses (Math0375, Math0376) and college algebra course (Math1314). The PTE overall findings suggest that mathematic instructors were uncertain if they had the ability to teach effectively in the classroom. The TOE represented mathematics instructors were uncertain if they effectively taught students to succeed in college and were uncertain if they had a positive effect on students learning. The IEP overall findings suggest that mathematics instructors’ personal teaching efficacy was a more learner-center approach rather than a teacher-center approach

MyMathLab Educational Intervention to Enhance Student Performance in Calculus I at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

According to the Obama Administration, we need a workforce that is going to be STEM ready because this is the only way that the U.S. will be able to compete on a global level with other nations. Louisiana will demand a total of 66,250 STEM jobs by 2018, up from 61,610 in 2008, according to Georgetown University (Carnevale, Smith, & Melton, 2014). By 2020, sixty-five percent of the nation’s jobs will require post-secondary education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the attrition rate between first- and second-year college students is 24.5% (2017). The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of computer assisted instruction, MyMathLab, in teaching Calculus I to increase academic achievement for students majoring in a STEM discipline at HBCUs. Research in this study was conducted by a quantitative study quasi-experiment design with one independent variable and one dependent variable. This study investigated the differences in the final course grade of Calculus I students that used the computer assisted instructional tool, MyMathLab and students who did not use the MyMathLab or any assisted instructional tool. For the purposes of this study, passage rate was defined by student’s letter grade. The historical data collected span over a seven-semester period, with a total of six hundred twenty-six participants, at an HBCU in the southeastern region of the United States. The results of the Wilcoxon two-sample test equals 103,064, which is the sum of the Wilcoxon scores for the students who used the MyMathLab. The sum is greater than 90,288, which is the expected value under the null hypothesis of no difference between the two groups of students. The one-sided p-value is less than alpha 0.0001, which shows the students who used MyMathLab are significantly more than those students who did not use the MyMathLab software

College Algebra (Fort Valley State University)

This Grants Collection for College Algebra was created under a Round Two ALG Textbook Transformation Grant. Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process. Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials: Linked Syllabus Initial Proposal Final Reporthttps://oer.galileo.usg.edu/mathematics-collections/1000/thumbnail.jp

College Algebra – Online Section Versus Traditional Section

The 21th century is considered to be the electronic age. This electronic age brings opportunities for new ways to deliver a lecture or a whole course in higher education. By offering courses online, universities are trying to reach the population of students that cannot attend classes on campus. Professors also utilize technology in a variety of ways to help them teach traditional classes. Valdosta State University (VSU) offers a variety of courses online including College Algebra (Math 1111). While we are trying to reach more students through the online courses, we should also examine the impact to student learning and success in College Algebra. In the fall 2016 and spring 2017 terms, VSU offered the first online sections of Math 1111 with 27 and 23 students, respectively. The course retention rate and the students’ performance on the departmental final exam for the treatment group, online section (OS), versus the control group, traditional section (TS) of 350 students, were compared. The OS had a statistically significant higher departmental final exam average, but there was no statistically significant difference in retention rate

Getting off the ground with AP Calculus

“The study of mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness but ends in magnificence.” – Charles Caleb Colton Caught in a downward spiral, American mathematical students continue to be outperformed by their international peers as reported by the TIMSS. This has left educators scrambling to find an instructional strategy that will slow this decline in mathematical literacy. This thesis reports on the framework that a new teacher could use to develop and establish a successful AP Calculus program, while increasing mathematical literacy, equity in the classroom, and student achievement through the integration of educational technology into current instructional trends. This thesis speaks to the advantages of educational technology in supplementing the classroom transformation from a teacher-centered classroom to a student-centered classroom. Such technology can offer many potential advantages to educators, by providing instantaneous feedback, tutorial assistance and increased practice opportunities for each and every assigned problem, affording students the opportunity to develop content mastery, and freeing teachers to teach. Herein lays the true novelty of this thesis. In the appendix, new AP teachers are provided a suitcase, equipped with everything they need to get AP Calculus off the ground. In this suitcase, they will find the instructor’s resource kit, a collection of lecture notes, student-centered activities, thought provoking projects, helpful hints and other instructional resources, and MyMathLab online system by Pearson Education serving as the online component. The combination of MyMathLab and the instructor’s resource kit act as a conceptual compass, helping the teacher maintain a steady bearing while allowing students time to stop and study concepts in further detail

An Exploratory Comparison of a Traditional and an Adaptive Instructional Approach for College Algebra

This research effort compared student learning gains and attitudinal changes through the implementation of two varying instructional approaches on the topic of functions in College Algebra. Attitudinal changes were measured based on the Attitude Towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI). The ATMI also provided four sub-scales scores for self-confidence, value of learning, enjoyment, and motivation. Furthermore, this research explored and compared relationships between students\u27 level of mastery and their actual level of learning. This study implemented a quasi-experimental research design using a sample that consisted of 56 College Algebra students in a public, state college in Florida. The sample was enrolled in one of two College Algebra sections, in which one section followed a self-adaptive instructional approach using ALEKS (Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Space) and the other section followed a traditional approach using MyMathLab. Learning gains in each class were measured as the difference between the pre-test and post-test scores on the topic of functions in College Algebra. Attitude changes in each class were measured as the difference between the holistic scores on the ATMI, as well as each of the four sub-scale scores, which was administered once in the beginning of the semester and again after the unit of functions, approximately eight weeks into the course. Utilizing an independent t-test, results indicated that there was not a significant difference in actual learning gains for the compared instructional approaches. Additionally, independent t-test results indicated that there was not a statistical difference for attitude change holistically and on each of the four sub-scales for the compared instructional approaches. However, correlational analyses revealed a strong relationship between students\u27 level of mastery learning and their actual learning level for each class with the self-adaptive instructional approach having a stronger correlation than the non-adaptive section, as measured by an r-to-z Fisher transformation test. The results of this study indicate that the self-adaptive instructional approach using ALEKS could more accurately report students\u27 true level of learning compared to a non-adaptive instructional approach. Overall, this study found the compared instructional approaches to be equivalent in terms of learning and effect on students\u27 attitude. While not statistically different, the results of this study have implications for math educators, instructional designers, and software developers. For example, a non-adaptive instructional approach can be equivalent to a self-adaptive instructional approach in terms of learning with appropriate planning and design. Future recommendations include further case studies of self-adaptive technology in developmental and college mathematics in other modalities such as hybrid or on-line courses. Also, this study should be replicated on a larger scale with other self-adaptive math software in addition to focusing on other student populations, such as K - 12. There is much potential for intelligent tutoring to supplement different instructional approaches, but should not be viewed as a replacement for teacher-to-student interactions

Dynamics of undergraduate engineering students’ learning activities in mathematics in an online and in a blended environment

Paper IV is not published yet.This thesis reports from a research study which investigates the role of technology rich environments in undergraduate engineering students’ processes of learning mathematics. The research is founded within a naturalistic research paradigm (Lincoln, 2007) and adopts a case study design (Yin, 2014). The two cases under consideration comprise a small group of undergraduate electronics engineering students, selected as participants, from an online and a blended learning environment (Borba et al., 2016). The first case study of online environment incorporates an online system, MyMathLab, for homework and assessment, and tutorial videos for the lectures in a calculus course. The second case study of blended environment involves group work using paper and pencil and face-to-face lectures instead of tutorial videos in the subsequent course for the same class. The incorporation of digital systems in mathematics, particularly with regard to students’ interactions, has not been researched enough (Borba et al., 2016). Qualitative approaches were adopted to collect and analyse the data, and empirical material was collected through multiple methods including student observations, interviews, field notes, and students’ weekly reports. The aim of the thesis is to analyse students’ interactions with these environments and to get insights into the factors which play a role in students’ engagement with mathematics. In doing so, the study explores dynamics that underlie students’ learning activities including students’ interactions with available resources, and macro and micro conditions of the learning environment. Cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) was used as an overarching theoretical framework for conceptualising students’ learning activities and for analysing the data.publishedVersio

Effectiveness and Efficiency of MATH 0045 at East Carolina University

At East Carolina University, students who do not place into a college-level mathematics course are required to enroll in a remedial course and master material before continuing with their mathematics studies. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of the remedial mathematics program, with a particular focus on the MATH 0045 course offered in conjunction with Pitt Community College. Over the years, the delivery method for course content has changed. To examine the effectiveness of the remedial mathematics program, student success in college-level mathematics courses was compared to their success in remedial mathematics courses, and by an evaluation of drop-withdraw-fail (DWF) rates. The efficiency of the course was examined by the analysis of test scores on a question-by-question basis, and data on students who successfully completed one or more recovery units. The results of this study will help to determine the program’s ability to remediate students and aim to improve the effectiveness of the program

Standards-Based Instruction: A Case Study of a College Algebra Teacher

ABSTRACT STANDARDS-BASED INSTRUCTION: A CASE STUDY OF A COLLEGE ALGEBRA TEACHER by Anthonia Ekwuocha The lecture method has dominated undergraduate mathematics education (Bergsten, 2007). The lecture method promotes passive learning instead of active learning among students, thus contributing to attrition in undergraduate mathematics. Standards-based instruction has been found to be effective in reducing students’ attrition in undergraduate mathematics (Ellington, 2005). College algebra is gatekeeper for higher undergraduate mathematics courses (Thiel, Peterman & Brown, 2008). Research indicates that if college algebra is taught with standards-based teaching strategies, it will help reduce students’ attrition and encourage more students to take higher level mathematics courses (Burmeister, Kenney, & Nice, 1996). Standards-based instructional strategies include but are not limited to real life applications, cooperative learning, proper use of technology, implementation of writing, multiple approaches, connection with other experiences, and experiential teaching (American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC), 2006). Despite all effort to improve undergraduate mathematics instruction, there are still limited empirical studies on standards-based instruction in college algebra. Research in undergraduate mathematics education is a new field of study (Brown & Murphy, 2000). Research reported that overall students’ attrition in college algebra could be as high as 41% in a community college (Owens, 2003). This high attrition rate in college algebra may impact students’ continuation in higher mathematics courses and their interest in the field of mathematics. As a result more research efforts must be focused on ways to improve college algebra instruction. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the teaching practices of a college algebra teacher who adopts standards-based techniques in his classroom. The research questions that guided the study were: What teaching practices are used in the mathematics classroom of a college algebra teacher? How are the teaching practices of the teacher aligned with the characteristics of standards-based instruction? The participant of the study was a college algebra teacher who was identified as a standards-based teacher. The teaching practices of the teacher were analyzed and presented using a qualitative single case study method. Data were collected from interviews with the teacher, classroom observations, and artifacts. The research project was drawn from the frameworks of culturally relevant pedagogy theory, symbolic interaction theory, experiential teaching theory, and standards-based instruction. Analysis of the data showed that the teaching practices of the participant were mathematical communication, proper use of technology in instruction and assessment, building mathematical connections, multiple representations, motivating students to learn mathematics, and repetition of key terms. The teaching practices aligned with the characteristics of standards-based instruction. Findings from the study suggest that standards-based instruction strategies should be used in undergraduate mathematics education, especially in teaching college algebra to alleviate some of the problems. Moreover, university administrators at college level should organize workshops and professional development about standards-based instruction strategies for their teachers

The Effect of Experiential Learning on the Mathematics Achievement and Mathematics Anxiety of African-American Students

This study examined whether or not there were any significant differences between the anxiety and achievement levels of African-American students enrolled in College Algebra courses taught using traditional instruction methods and those taught using experiential learning, as used in The Algebra Project curriculum. The classes were taught for the same amount of time for one semester, using the two curricular methods, and student anxiety was measured prior to the course and immediately following the implementation of an experiential learning module. Additionally, student achievement on selected questions focusing on the functions unit from the midterm exam were collected and analyzed to determine any differences in achievement based upon gender and teaching method. This quantitative study utilized a quasi-experimental nonequivalent control-group design. A sample of 102 African-American students, 41 males and 61 females, from a medium-sized university in central Virginia was used, with 30 students in the experiential learning group and 72 in the traditional instruction group. Student anxiety was measured using the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Anxiety Scale-Revised. A preliminary analysis of covariance was conducted to investigate differences in the anxiety levels of the experiential learning and traditional instruction groups. Student achievement was measured using scores on selected questions focusing on the functions unit from the common midterm exam and was analyzed using an independent samples t-test and a two-way analysis of variance. The results showed that there was no significant difference in anxiety between the experiential learning and traditional instruction groups at the p \u3c .05 level. Additionally, there was no significant difference in the achievement levels between the experiential learning and traditional instruction groups at the p \u3c .05 level