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Full-Text Articles in Teacher Education and Professional Development
Calculus Students’ Difficulties In Using Variables As Changing Quantities, Susan S. Gray, Barbara J. Loud, Carole Sokolowski
Calculus Students’ Difficulties In Using Variables As Changing Quantities, Susan S. Gray, Barbara J. Loud, Carole Sokolowski
Mathematics Faculty Publications
The study of calculus requires an ability to understand algebraic variables as generalized numbers and as functionally-related quantities. These more advanced uses of variables are indicative of algebraic thinking as opposed to arithmetic thinking. This study reports on entering Calculus I students’ responses to a selection of test questions that required the use of variables in these advanced ways. On average, students’ success rates on these questions were less than 50%. An analysis of errors revealed students’ tendencies toward arithmetic thinking when they attempted to answer questions that required an ability to think of variables as changing quantities, a characteristic …
Mathematics Placement Test: Helping Students Succeed, Norma Rueda, Carole Sokolowski
Mathematics Placement Test: Helping Students Succeed, Norma Rueda, Carole Sokolowski
Mathematics Faculty Publications
A study was conducted at Merrimack College in Massachusetts to compare the grades of students who took the recommended course as determined by their mathematics placement exam score and those who did not follow this recommendation. The goal was to decide whether the mathematics placement exam used at Merrimack College was effective in placing students in the appropriate mathematics class. During five years, first-year students who took a mathematics course in the fall semester were categorized into four groups: those who took the recommended course, those who took an easier course than recommended, those who took a course more difficult …