Impact of a basic mathematics course on the performance of college students in algebra subject

A common problem for universities is the lack of knowledge and mathematical skills of new students because this deficiency creates difficulties in their studies throughout their career, which can cause their dropout. The aim of this paper is to describe the impact of a basic mathematics course on the performance of college student in algebra subject. This is a 32-hour course which is developed in 16 sessions in parallel to the algebra classes and is mainly offered to students: a) identified with low performance on mathematics component of national highschool test, and b) remitted by the subject teacher. The main findings are: a) the pass rate for students who attended to more than half of the sessions of the course if 95%, and b) the average grade of the subject tends to increase as with the attendance level to the course of the students. Consequently, these results lead to the conclusion that the course has a positive effect on the students' performance

Factors that promote positive attitudes towards mathematics in higher education students

The purpose of this review article is to explain the importance of understanding attitudes towards teaching and learning mathematics in higher education students. For that, we start from the premise that attitudes are related to performance towards learning mathematics, bearing in mind that what directly influences their success are the feelings of possessing competencies to understand their contents and not the feelings of difficulty towards them. In essence, at first, we describe the different attitudes towards mathematics. Next, we examine how attitudes influence math learning and finally identify the factors that foster positive attitudes toward math. From this, we suggest teaching practices that can be carried out to foster positive attitudes towards mathematics and propose new lines of research in this field

Importance of coupling the teaching methodologies of mathematics with the learning styles of digital natives

The purpose of this article is to explain the importance of adapting the teaching and learning methods of mathematics through the use of ICTs. It is suggested that it is necessary to do so, because at present, we are in the knowledge and information society. For this, we use the literature review as an investigative method, with which we hope to explain the disadvantages of continuing to use traditional methods and the importance of innovating it through reflective practices and collaborative projects. Then, we will address the skills that need to be developed, to adapt students to the demands of today's societies. Similarly, we will explain the characteristics of modern students through the concept of digital natives, to identify what tools and methods can be used in order to facilitate meaningful learning of mathematics. Finally, we will be offering a discussion about the method that should be implemented and what studies exist to support its use. It is concluded that the Tics must be included in the teaching of mathematics because they are necessary to adjust to work and professional life

Burden of influenza-associated respiratory hospitalizations in the Americas, 2010-2015.

BACKGROUND:Despite having influenza vaccination policies and programs, countries in the Americas underutilize seasonal influenza vaccine, in part because of insufficient evidence about severe influenza burden. We aimed to estimate the annual burden of influenza-associated respiratory hospitalizations in the Americas. METHODS:Thirty-five countries in the Americas with national influenza surveillance were invited to provide monthly laboratory data and hospital discharges for respiratory illness (International Classification of Diseases 10th edition J codes 0-99) during 2010-2015. In three age-strata (<5, 5-64, and ≥65 years), we estimated the influenza-associated hospitalizations rate by multiplying the monthly number of respiratory hospitalizations by the monthly proportion of influenza-positive samples and dividing by the census population. We used random effects meta-analyses to pool age-group specific rates and extrapolated to countries that did not contribute data, using pooled rates stratified by age group and country characteristics found to be associated with rates. RESULTS:Sixteen of 35 countries (46%) contributed primary data to the analyses, representing 79% of the America's population. The average pooled rate of influenza-associated respiratory hospitalization was 90/100,000 population (95% confidence interval 61-132) among children aged <5 years, 21/100,000 population (13-32) among persons aged 5-64 years, and 141/100,000 population (95-211) among persons aged ≥65 years. We estimated the average annual number of influenza-associated respiratory hospitalizations in the Americas to be 772,000 (95% credible interval 716,000-829,000). CONCLUSIONS:Influenza-associated respiratory hospitalizations impose a heavy burden on health systems in the Americas. Countries in the Americas should use this information to justify investments in seasonal influenza vaccination-especially among young children and the elderly