This research explores the use of guided notes in a post-secondary calculus course and the extent to which use enhanced students' success in a first year calculus course. Guided notes have been previously shown to be perceived as helpful to learning by students, and one study showed that the use of guided notes improved pass rates in a first year…

Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we examine the association between taking Algebra I by the eighth grade and students' later achievements and advanced mathematics course-taking. To explore our research questions, we employ three distinct methods--regression analysis, fixed effects models, and propensity score matching. In all our…

The paper describes active learning strategies used in undergraduate college algebra and business calculus courses. There are a variety of active learning strategies described in the literature. We wanted to implement a few that together, satisfy the key characteristics of active learning strategies. The active learning strategies described in…

This article illustrates ways that dynamic software using some sophisticated techniques in Excel can be used to demonstrate fundamental ideas related to regression and correlation analysis to increase student understanding of the concepts and methods in elementary statistics courses and in courses at the college algebra/precalculus level that…

Previously, we had reported on the relationship between AP physics experience and exam scores, and student scores on the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation and in an introductory calculus-based mechanics course [E. W. Burkholder and C. E. Wieman, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 15, 020117 (2019)]. Two limitations to our previous work were that we…

Students experience great social and academic challenges during their first semester of college and for many, the completion of required mathematics courses is one of those challenges. This study investigated the relationship of first-time college freshmen's mathematics course enrollment, gender, and high school mathematics course experience to…

Responsive instruction--or instruction that foregrounds and takes up the disciplinary substance of student thinking--is both a hallmark of recent STEM education reforms and challenging to enact. This kind of instruction may be especially challenging in instructional contexts that mandate or rely on curriculum with set, structured learning…

Several prior studies in introductory physics have found a gender gap, i.e., a difference between male and female students' performance on conceptual assessments such as the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism (CSEM) with male students performing better than female students. Moreover, prior studies…

Undergraduates pursue degrees in disciplines in which they hold an affect or possess an interest. Math and science majors possess a positive affect for mathematics; however, to maximize the number of math majors, it is important to boost the motivation of non-math majors to learn mathematics. This study examines the relationships between…

The attainment and retention of later algebra skills in high school has been identified as a factor significantly impacting students' postsecondary success as STEM majors. Researchers maintain that learners develop meaning for algebraic procedures by forming connections to the basic number system properties. In the present study, the connections…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the misperceptions and performance of king Saud University students' about concept and finding the limit of same partial functions given in the form of both graphical and symbolic. In the collection of the data, the researcher employed the open-ended question test consisted of four items. Firstly,…

In this article we examine how secondary school students think about functional relationships. More specifically, we examined seven students' intuitive knowledge in regards to representing two real-world situations with functions. We found students do not tend to represent functional relationships with coordinate graphs even though they are able…

This paper reports on different underlying structures of the derivative schema of three undergraduate students that were considered to be at the trans level of development of the derivative schema (action-process-object-schema). The derivative schema is characterized in terms of the students' ability to explicitly transfer the relationship between…

One goal of an undergraduate education in mathematics is to help students develop a productive disposition towards mathematics. A way of conceiving of this is as helping mathematical novices transition to more expert-like perceptions of mathematics. This conceptualization creates a need for a way to characterize students' perceptions of…

Peer-led Team Learning (PLTL) is an instructional method reported to increase student learning in STEM courses. As mathematics is a significant hurdle for many freshmen engineering students, a PLTL program was implemented for students to attempt to improve their course performance. Here, an analysis of PLTL for freshmen engineering students in…