The Effects of a Varied Method of Instruction on Student Achievement, Transfer, Situational Interest, and Course Retention Rates in Community College Developmental Mathematics PDF Download

Author: Kevin L. McCandless
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to compare the effects of a varied method of instruction on student achievement, knowledge transfer, situational interest, and course retention rates, relative to a non-varied method of instruction, in community college developmental mathematics. The varied method of instruction consisted of active learning teaching practices with foundations in social constructivism, whereas the non-varied method of instruction was founded in Cognitive Load Theory and consisted primarily of explicit instruction and individual practice. An initial sample of 139 students who enrolled in six sections of Beginning Algebra at an urban community college in Northern California participated in the study. Given the quasi-experimental nature of the study, considerable effort was taken to control for school, teacher, student, and curriculum implementation variables. As such, the six sections were divided equally among three instructors, with each instructor teaching one varied class and one non-varied class. Additionally, students were assessed on the following entry characteristics: preferences for working in groups, personal interest in mathematics, reasoning ability, verbal ability, and prior mathematics knowledge. The dependent variables were conceptual understanding, procedural application near transfer, far transfer, situational interest, and course retention rates. Conceptual understanding and procedural application were assessed three times throughout the study, whereas the remaining variables were measured after eight weeks of instruction. No statistically significant differences in conceptual understanding, procedural application, near transfer, far transfer, or course retention rates were obtained between the varied and non-varied classes while controlling for individual differences. There was a statistically significant difference of medium effect in situational interest; the students in the varied classes enjoyed their classes to a lesser extent than students in the non-varied classes. Overall, both methods of instruction were equally ineffective in teaching basic algebraic concepts and procedures. Therefore, it appears that manipulating methods of instruction is not an adequate solution to the high failure rates in developmental mathematics. Instead, developmental mathematics education may better benefit from other reforms, such as learning communities, contextualized curricula, and mandatory support services. Future studies may be conducted to investigate the effects of these reforms, both in isolation and in combination.

Author: Kristina Corey Legge
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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The number of students entering the community college in need of developmental math has not changed, remaining at a steady 60% over the past seven years. This study compared the success rate of Mandatory Supplemental Instruction (MSI) sessions within four sections of a developmental math course compared with the success rates of students enrolled in both the Traditional Classroom setting and the Individualized format at Suburban Community College (SCC) during the Fall 2009 semester. These MSI format courses were compared with both the Individualized format of MAT 060 and the Traditional Classroom format of the same course. The students included in these sections were a combination of students who were: 1) suggested by advisors to enroll in this developmental math course after receiving a low score on the college's Accuplacer placement test for algebra or continuing the progression of developmental math from the lower level arithmetic class; 2) mandated to attend MSI after successful completion of the Jump Start Math Program, or 3) self-selected into the MSI group anticipating the need for additional help in the course. The two primary data sets available for this study are student math final grades and student participation/attendance records. Secondary sets of data include informal focus group notes, final exam scores, student attendance records for both class lectures and MSI sessions, and Supplemental Instruction Leader anecdotal records. The findings of this study conclude that success rates of students enrolled in the MSI sections of developmental math do not differ significantly from those enrolled in the Traditional Classroom format of developmental math; however, both groups did differ significantly from the Individualized format of developmental math, in that the students enrolled in the Individualized format succeeded at a lesser rate and withdrew at a greater rate than their MSI or Traditional Classroom counterparts. This study also concluded that female, full-time students succeeded at a greater rate across the board, which is consistent with the literature. These findings were significant for a number of reasons. Although the difference between the treatment group and the Traditional Classroom group was not significant, there are a variety of reasons at the program level as to why this may have been so and there are many future constructs that SCC can put in place to strengthen and reassess the MSI program. Although this study was focused on the MSI treatment, the data revealed a greater issue existing in the Individualized format of developmental math at SCC. Future considerations can be made in this particular delivery method to improve success rates of students involved in this program. Future research on MSI in the form of persistence and retention rates, graduation rates, transfer rates, subsequent math course grades and success in other college-level classes can be explored to provide the MSI program with more data to determine if particular groups of students are benefiting from this format.

Author:
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Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of incorporating computerized instruction into developmental mathematics courses. The study examined achievement, retention, persistence, and success of students who began in Elementary Algebra, progressed into Intermediate Algebra and subsequently obtained their goal of completing an initial college-level mathematics course. The college-level courses consist of College Algebra, Introductory Statistics, or Contemporary Mathematics. Two groups of elementary algebra students from Chattanooga State Technical Community College were used in this study. One group was taught using a lecture based approach and one group was taught using a computerized instructional approach. The lecture group consisted of 175 students where the computer group consisted of 208 students. Achievement was studied using elementary algebra final exam grades and overall course grades from students who were enrolled in elementary algebra during the fall 2002 semester. Retention was studied using students who began in the fall 2002 semester in elementary algebra, tracking them, to see if they enrolled in a mathematics course during the spring 2003 semester. Persistence was studied using students who began elementary algebra in the fall 2002 semester, enrolled in a mathematics course during the spring 2003 semester and persisted with their mathematics by registering for a mathematics course in the summer 2003 semester or the fall 2003 semester. Student success was studied using students who began in the elementary algebra course in the fall 2002 semester and successfully completed a college mathematics course by the fall 2003 semester. Success was determined by the number of students who made a letter grade of an A, B or C in any college level mathematics course. When examining achievement, retention, persistence and success, the only area in this study that showed a significant difference was among the achievement rates. The lecture students' achievement rates were significantly higher than the students who received computerized instruction. Retention, persistence and success did not show any significant difference between the two groups.

Author: Betty Fortune
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ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Author: Elizabeth J. Meza
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Almost half of all college students in the U.S. attend community colleges; almost sixty percent of these students are referred to remedial English, reading or math through means of a standardized placement exam, with math being a the greatest area of need. While these courses, often as many as four in a sequence, are meant to be a boost for students unprepared for college-level coursework, they have low success rates and few students make it through the entire sequence to succeed in a first college-level math course, leaving them far short of graduation or a meaningful credential. While developmental (aka remedial) education, those courses or sequences of courses below the college-level, has received a lot of attention recently due to its high costs and low student success rates, current research has largely failed to document, examine, or classify programmatic approaches to developmental education. This lack of information that would facilitate analysis is due in part to the relatively recent recognition of the problem, but it is also because of the difficulty accessing reliable information about large numbers of programs and the range of definitions, student populations, and perceived quickly shifting innovations (some may go as far as to say educational fads) that developmental education programs encompass. Unfortunately, this lack of a comprehensive picture of developmental education programs has led to either the complete elimination of the programs as unnecessary and perhaps counterproductive for students, or to a focus on a number of disparate approaches with little underlying theory behind them or even agreement as to the problem. This research is centered in 28 Washington state community college campuses and examines a mixed methods approach to answer three main questions: 1) To what extent and in what ways do math developmental program elements vary across institutions? Developmental education may vary widely even within one relatively homogenous state system of community colleges, such as the system in Washington. Programs have differing resources devoted to them, as well as differing pedagogy, intervention strategies and approaches, student referral and advancement policies, etc., and this variation has not even been fully described in previous research. 2) To what extent do student outcomes, as measured by completion of the developmental sequence, completion of a first college-level math course, and highest education reached, vary across the different math developmental education programs, after controlling for student characteristics, among the 28 community colleges in Washington State? What proportion of overall variance is contributed by student characteristics vs. programmatic factors? Wide institutional variation has been found in previous outcomes studies of professional-technical programs leading to terminal associate degrees in Washington, suggesting that institutional or programmatic variables may be contributing significantly to student success or lack of it (Scott-Clayton & Weiss, 2011). 3) What program policies and practices seem to be associated with positive outcomes for developmental education students? Can developmental education programs be categorized in some meaningful way? Is there a "typology" or categorization of programs that identifies characteristics that seem to be associated with either positive or negative results? For example, do schools with better (or worse) results, net of student characteristics, share identifiable programmatic characteristics in terms of policy and practice variables that are positively or negatively associated with student outcomes? I find from this research that strategies such as reducing the total number of courses in developmental education pathways, implementing alternatives to placement in developmental math via standardized tests, and better preparing students for assessment, are associated with greater student success in completing the developmental math sequence and in completing a first college level course. I also find that colleges with these more innovative features are significantly more successful than their more traditional institutional peers in terms of student outcomes. However, I also find no variation between colleges in the outcome of highest education reached, after controlling for student background characteristics. It seems that, at least for this sample, college did not have a significant association with ultimate educational attainment. Diving deeper to examine colleges' policies, practices, and the perspectives of students, faculty, and administrators, I find wide variation in pathways, program structure, assessment policies, connection to advising, tutoring, and institutional research departments, and day-to-day concerns and operations. One commonality is the conviction that teaching that addresses student motivation and confidence in their ability to learn math and peaks their interest, factors not usually examined systematically in higher education policy research, is central to developmental education student success. This research informs strategies for increased college completion for underprepared students. College completion has emerged as of paramount importance in fostering U.S. economic development and global competitiveness, yet if half of college students are unprepared for college work and thus are unlikely to persist to degree completion despite their motivation to attend college, serious attention should be paid to what can be done to increase their odds of success.

Author: Stephanie Nicole Baker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 666

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One purpose of this study was to determine if students in a non-traditional developmental mathematics course improved on five developmental mathematics noncognitive factors—math equanimity, math mindset, math self-efficacy, math belongingness, and college belongingness—believed to be relevant to student success. I also examined if changes in these factors predicted course achievement. Another purpose was to explore whether or not Foundations students would transfer their knowledge to place value problems involving varied bases and contexts. A final purpose was to investigate the utility of then-surveys that retrospectively measure participants’ pre-intervention noncognitive factors. In response to policy pressures to increase completion rates, community colleges are experimenting with research-based strategies that create demand for learning, increase students’ competence valuation, and improve their productive persistence. The New Mathways Project’s Foundations of Mathematical Reasoning course is built around one such strategy. In this exploratory study (N = 597), I investigated the impact of using Foundations on the development of students’ noncognitive factors and on mathematical success. My student measures included: pre-post-then-surveys of noncognitive factors, math course grades, math final exam grades, percent attendance, a place value assessment of transfer, and one-on-one interviews. I used multilevel models to analyze my quantitative research questions and created evidence markers for qualitative analysis of the transfer assessment. I conducted interviews to provide additional insight. Students significantly improved their math equanimity, but had stable, mid-range scores on the other factors. Positive changes in math self-efficacy and low initial math equanimity were associated with higher grades. Pre-surveys of equanimity may be more accurate than then-surveys, but pre-surveys of math mindset, math self-efficacy, and math belongingness may be interchangeable with then-surveys. Contrary to popular findings, the then-surveys did not provide larger estimates of program effects than pre-surveys. Overall, students evidenced minimal transfer. Interviewees exhibited greater changes in noncognitive factors and evidenced more transfer than other students. This study provides valuable information for the potential users of the NMP materials. It contributes to, and points out complications with, transfer research. Lastly, it adds to research on retrospective measures, which are rarely used in mathematics education research.

Author:
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ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Author: Robert Allan Greene
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ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages :

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Students taking courses in developmental mathematics do so in one of three modalities - some take the classes face-to-face in a classroom with a professor who is physically present, others take the classes in what is known as a blended or hybrid mode in which the professor uses a combination of classroom and online time to teach the course, and another group takes the classes completely online. Increasingly, a growing number of students are taking these courses in a hybrid mode or completely online, and this phenomenon is causing educators to redesign their programs, offering more courses in these two modalities. However, some program leaders do so without any data about the achievement and course completion rates of students in the different modalities. This research 1) investigated the achievement rates of students taking an eight week developmental mathematics course, taught in three different modalities and 2) investigated the course completion rates of students taking an eight week developmental mathematics course, taught in three different modalities. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to examine the achievement and course completion rates of students enrolled in an eight week developmental mathematics course, Elementary Algebra, based on the delivery modality. The study was conducted at a large multi-campus institution located in the southeast United States as the research site. The theories used to frame the research were the Information Processing Theory and Cognitive Load Theory.

Author: Brenda Denise Teal
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ISBN:
Category : Community college students
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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The purpose of this study was to compare academic achievement based on the test scores of students receiving two different modes of instruction in developmental mathematics. The scores were compared between students who received computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and students who received a traditional lecture (TL) mode of instruction. The treatment group used CAI with the Educo Learning System software during class lectures, homework assignments and quizzes. The control group used the TL mode of instruction. A comparative analysis was used to determine if one mode of instruction led to higher mathematics scores in a pre-algebra course. The population in this study was students enrolled in developmental mathematics courses at a suburban community college in the mid-Atlantic region. This quasi-experimental study began with a pretest using ACCUPLACER(TM) Online, which determined that both groups were similar in their mathematical knowledge. Student scores in developmental mathematics were assessed using two posttests. Posttest 1 was given after 6 weeks of instruction and posttest 2 was given after 16 weeks of instruction in order to make a comparative analysis between the modes of instruction. Major findings from the study revealed there were no statistically significant differences between the mathematics scores of students taught with computer-assisted instruction and students taught with the traditional lecture mode of instruction. Based on an analysis of the findings, the t-test revealed a statistically significant difference in the students' computational skills scores based on the mode of instruction. Students receiving the traditional lecture mode of instruction had higher scores over students receiving the computer-assisted mode of instruction in developmental mathematics. One unanticipated finding from the study revealed that students who received the computer-assisted mode of instruction in the pre-algebra course had higher retention rates than students who received the traditional lecture mode of instruction. -- Abstract.

Author: Rebekah Agar
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Prior research has shown that adult learners who are non-traditional (NT) college students come to college with different needs, desires, and goals than traditional college students. The problem is that community college educators need to better understand the needs of the changing population of the student body to equitably and effectively serve them. One effect of the problem is that NT student retention and degree attainment rates are lower than those of traditional students. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the experiences of NT community college students taking self-paced computer-based developmental mathematics classes. The following research questions guided the study: (1) What does it mean to NT students to be placed into the developmental mathematics population of community college students? (2) What are NT students' perceptions of their engagement with the developmental mathematics course learning software? (3) What are the NT students' perceptions of their engagement with their community college developmental mathematics instructors? The researcher analyzed data from 66 student survey responses and 10 semi-structured interviews with students and identified three themes: (a) NT identity; (b) the need for human support; and (c) software as tool. The researcher concluded that: (a) NT students are negatively affected by their time spent away from high school and mathematics content; (b) NT students perceived that timely access to their instructor was important to their success; and (c) NT students liked using the computer software and found it to be user-friendly. The researcher offered recommendations for instructional design, for community college administrators, and for developmental mathematics instructors. Keywords: non-traditional students, adult education, developmental mathematics, community college, student success, computer-based learning Abstract (Spanish) Investigaciones anteriores han demostrado que los estudiantes adultos que son estudiantes universitarios no tradicionales (NT) llegan a la universidad con necesidades, deseos y objetivos diferentes a los de los estudiantes universitarios tradicionales. El problema es que los educadores de los colegios comunitarios necesitan comprender mejor las necesidades de la población cambiante del cuerpo estudiantil para atenderlos de manera equitativa y eficaz. Un efecto del problema es que las tasas de retención y obtención de títulos de los estudiantes NT son más bajas que las de los estudiantes tradicionales. El propósito de este estudio de métodos mixtos fue explorar las experiencias de los estudiantes de colegios comunitarios de NT que toman clases de matemáticas de desarrollo basadas en computadora a su propio ritmo. Las siguientes preguntas de investigación guiaron el estudio: (1) ¿Qué significa para los estudiantes del NT ser colocados en la población de desarrollo matemático de estudiantes de colegios comunitarios? (2) ¿Cuáles son las percepciones de los estudiantes de NT sobre su compromiso con el software de aprendizaje del curso de matemáticas de desarrollo? (3) ¿Cuáles son las percepciones de los estudiantes de NT sobre su compromiso con los instructores de matemáticas del desarrollo de sus colegios comunitarios? El investigador analizó datos de 66 respuestas a encuestas de estudiantes y 10 entrevistas semiestructuradas con estudiantes e identificó tres temas: (a) identidad NT; (b) la necesidad de apoyo humano; y (c) software como herramienta. El investigador concluyó que: (a) los estudiantes NT se ven afectados negativamente por el tiempo que pasan fuera de la escuela secundaria y del contenido de matemáticas; (b) los estudiantes de NT percibieron que el acceso oportuno a su instructor era importante para su éxito; y (c) a los estudiantes de NT les gustó usar el software de computadora y lo encontraron fácil de usar. El investigador ofreció recomendaciones para el diseño instruccional, para administradores de colegios comunitarios y para instructores de matemáticas del desarrollo. Palabras clave: estudiantes no tradicionales, educación de adultos, matemáticas del desarrollo, colegio comunitario, éxito de los estudiantes, aprendizaje basado en computadoras