Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Non-Academic Support Math Faculty Members Provide In Developmental Accelerated And Corequisite Support Courses In California Community Colleges, David Vakil '92

Doctoral Dissertations

To guide practitioners of rapidly evolving developmental math reform in community colleges, this study surveyed California community college math faculty who taught accelerated developmental courses or corequisite support courses. The survey was conducted during the early implementation phase of both course types, during spring and fall 2018 terms. This study measured faculty’s self-reported provision of forms of non-academic support, frequency of implementation, and reasons faculty believed the support would help students succeed. The literature review guided grouping non-academic support into five forms: nurturing, helping students’ motivation, providing a growth mindset theory of intelligence, helping provide social integration, and helping to …

Investigation Of The Misconceptions Related To The Concepts Of Equivalence And Literal Symbols Held By Underprepared Community College Students, Terrence Joseph Maguire

Doctoral Dissertations

Many students struggle to learn mathematics in K-8 grades. Research has shown that lower grade students often misconceive equivalence as an operation rather than a relation, and that students also form various misconceptions of literal symbols. Many students arrive at college seriously underprepared in mathematics, but there is scant research on the difficulties and misconceptions of these college students. The purpose of this research was to learn if underprepared community college students harbor misconceptions of equivalence and of literal symbols similar to K-8 students.

For this study, 191 underprepared college students were surveyed for misconceptions by a questionnaire of 43 …