Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Asymptotic Dream, Oscar Gonzalez

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

A love poem about breaching mathematical limits, inspired by the tragic beauty of calculus.

The List: Proverbs For Calculus, Bruce H. Pourciau

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Topics chosen from first-year calculus illustrate a number of “sayings” or “proverbs,” the first three, for example, being: be awed, like a child; meaning before truth; and act with intention. Many are proverbs for life as well as mathematics.

Resources For Supporting Mathematics And Data Science Instructors During Covid-19, Eduardo C. Balreira, C. Hawthorne, G. Stadnyk, Z. Teymuroglu, M. Torres, J. R. Wares

Mathematics Faculty Research

In late May of 2020, a few months after the raging COVID-19 pandemic forced university faculty to quickly switch to online teaching, the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) released a call for grant applications to support working groups "to help faculty within our consortium who will be teaching during the pandemic (e.g., from hybrid courses with some remote/online components to fully remote/online courses; socially distanced face-to-face courses)." We replied to this call and the ACS awarded the six of us (from four ACS schools) a Summer Rapid Response Grant in early June. The grant funded our efforts to create …

Engaging Students Early By Internationalizing The Undergraduate Calculus Course, Chinenye Ofodile

CODEE Journal

Today's world is global. However, despite increasing numbers and diversity of participants in Study Abroad programs, only 10% of U. S. college students get that experience. There is an ever-growing need for students to become aware of and experience other cultures, to understand why others think and act differently. Internationalization is the conscious effort, begun nearly 40 years ago, to integrate an international, intercultural, and global dimension into the purpose, functions, and delivery of post-secondary education.

Albany State University began a Global Program Initiative in the 1990s. In 2016, we extended into mathematics the curriculum innovations of this program. The …

Numerical Integration Through Concavity Analysis, Daniel J. Pietz

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

We introduce a relationship between the concavity of a C2 func- tion and the area bounded by its graph and secant line. We utilize this relationship to develop a method of numerical integration. We then bound the error of the approximation, and compare to known methods, finding an improvement in error bound over methods of comparable computational complexity.

Performance In Calculus Ii For Students In Clear Calculus: A Causal Comparative Study, Ty Mckinney, Rebecca Dibbs

Pursue: Undergraduate Research Journal

Calculus is one of the greatest intellectual achievements of the world and is the main gateway for students that are heading into the fields that will power the economy of the 21st century. However, over 25% of students fail U.S. calculus courses each year and end up changing majors. It is important for educators and researchers to try to improve student success and find ways to increase STEM major retention. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance between students that are in traditional and non-traditional calculus II courses based on their preparation in either traditional or non-traditional …

Analyzing Applied Calculus Student Understanding Of Definite Integrals In Real-Life Applications, Cody Hood

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

An individual’s knowledge of definite integrals can range from rote memorization to a strong foundational connection harkening back to its Riemann sum limit definition. In my research, I conducted seven task-based face-to-face interviews with Applied Calculus students. Through the use of real-life examples and guided reinvention, I analyzed ways in which these students, who all initially demonstrated rote memorization, could exhibit a Riemann sum based level of comprehension. This research was conducted in the confines of a student population with definite integral experience, but no formal instruction on limits. My results show that the lack of computational emphasis in class …

Transitioning To An Active Learning Environment For Calculus At The University Of Florida, Darryl Chamberlain, Amy Grady, Scott Keeran, Kevin Knudson, Ian Manly, Melissa Shabazz, Corey Stone

Publications

In this note, we describe a large-scale transition to an active learning format in first-semester calculus at the University of Florida. Student performance and attitudes are compared across traditional lecture and flipped sections.

Supporting Student Success And Persistence In Stem With Active Learning Approaches In Emerging Scholars Classrooms, David Miller, Jessica Deshler, Tim Mceldowney, John Stewart, Edgar Fuller, Matt Pascal, Lynnette Michaluk

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Over the last several decades, Emerging Scholars Programs (ESPs) have incorporated active learning strategies and challenging problems into collegiate mathematics, resulting in students, underrepresented minority (URM) students in particular, earning at least half of a letter grade higher than other students in Calculus. In 2009, West Virginia University (WVU) adapted ESP models for use in Calculus I in an effort to support the success and retention of URM STEM students by embedding group and inquiry-based learning into a designated section of Calculus I. Seats in the class were reserved for URM and first- generation students. We anticipated that supporting students …