This study examined the relationship between high school mathematics curricula and student achievement and course-taking patterns over 4 years of college. Three types of curricula were studied: National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded curricula, the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project curriculum, and commercially developed curricula. The major result was that high school mathematics curricula were unrelated to college mathematics achievement or students' course-taking patterns for students who began college with precalculus (college algebra) or a more difficult course. However, students of the NSF-funded curricula were statistically more likely to begin their college mathematics at the developmental level.
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Michael R. Harwell, Thomas R. Post, Amanuel Medhanie, Danielle N. Dupuis, and Brandon LeBeau
Sister M. Stephanie
All teachers of college mathematics test their students. They administer achievement tests when the student arrives at college to learn his mathematical maturity, something that is not always clearly represented by a certain number of entrance credits or a grade on his high school transcript.
W. D. Reeve
The problem of coordinating high school and college mathematics is one in which both high school teachers of mathematics and college teachers of the same subject should cooperate in solving. Failure to coordinate these separate fields in the past has led to a great deal of confusion and genuine loss both to the students involved and also to their teachers.
I. L. Stright
How can one construct a valid examination in college mathematics? The test is to be completed in a one or two hour period. One problem may be given which, although representative of the work covered, may require the majority of the time available for testing. Does such a problem or a group of several problems, usually less than ten, give an accurate measure of how well a student has mastered the material covered?
Richard D. Pethtel
Edited by Eugene D. Nichols
During the last decade or so, there has been a tremendous increase in the use of television in teaching courses at the college level. Although there have been well over four hundred studies on educational uses of television in teaching, very few of these have related to the teaching of college mathematics.
Joe F. Wampler
Edited by Eugene D. Nichols
Most previous studies predicting success in college mathematics have used combinations of measures of intelligence and previous knowledge of mathematics as predictors of grades in mathematics courses. While the prediction formulas derived in these studies were useful for the purposes for which they were developed, in none of these studies was more than about 50 percent of the total variations in the criterion variables attributed to their relationship with the prediction variables.
M. C. Bergen
The writer had the pleasure, a few years ago, of conversing with the dean of liberal arts of a middle-western university. The dean made the statement that he, the writer, would discover in the course of time that future engineers make the poorest students of college mathematics. The statement seemed rather unfair to engineers considering the fact that so much has been said about the need for mathematics in the field of engineering, and that only students who have ability in mathematics ought to choose engineering for a profession. It was then and there decided that the writer would in the future keep a file of all students in his classes, such students to be classified as to the curriculums in which they were enrolled. A comparison could then be made of their achievement. Of course, a few more years of data collecting would result in a greater distribution for each curriculum, but the strong desire to see the comparisons has prompted the writer to publish the data now.
J. R. Mayor
The recent emphasis on evaluation is reaching college teachers and is beginning to have its effect on college teaching. Although the college or university curriculum allows considerable specialization, particularly in the last two years, an important objective of any college mathematics course could be to teach relational thinking.
Ina E. Holroyd
The subject assigned me was “Weaknesses of High-School Students Who Enter College Mathematics and a Suggested Remedy.” I should like to change this to read “A Few of the Weaknesses … and Suggested Remedies.” There are several remedies for the situation in which we find ourselves. One of the most important I shall venture to suggest before discussing the main topic.
Sandra L. Laursen, Marja-Liisa Hassi, Marina Kogan, and Timothy J. Weston
Slow faculty uptake of research-based, student-centered teaching and learning approaches limits the advancement of U.S. undergraduate mathematics education. A study of inquiry-based learning (IBL) as implemented in over 100 course sections at 4 universities provides an example of such multicourse, multi-institution uptake. The study suggests the real-world promise of broad uptake of student-centered teaching methods that improve learning outcomes and, ultimately, student retention in college mathematics.
