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Evidence Is Mounting That Calculus Should Be Changed. Will Instructors Heed It?

ED Surge

Calculus is a critical on-ramp to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Good news: There's mounting evidence that changing calculus instruction works for the groups usually pushed out of STEM. That the traditional lecture method of teaching calculus isn’t as effective as active models.

Calculus 310
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The Math Revolution You Haven’t Heard About

ED Surge

Math professor Martin Weissman is rethinking how his university teaches calculus. Some educators place a share of the blame on calculus courses, which can push out otherwise interested students. Meanwhile, the calculus instruction has to be slowed down enough that it’s not as effective for math people as it could be. “I

Math 363
educators

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The Role of Mathematics in Education

Ask a Tech Teacher

Or perhaps, amidst a particularly challenging calculus problem, you’ve questioned how this abstract world of numbers and symbols could possibly influence your future career? College and Mathematics: Challenges The Complexity Cliff Remember the first time you looked at a calculus problem in college? Well, you’re not alone.

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Are Students’ Math Futures Being Unwittingly Set By Tracking?

ED Surge

Which students get to attempt intellectually stimulating courses like calculus may rely in part on where they attend high school rather than just their aptitude for math, according to a new study. For example, lots of principals say that their school offers algebra, a critical juncture in the race to calculus. That can work out.

Math 309
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In College Math, Faculty Is Key. But Will This Insight Actually Help Students?

ED Surge

A number of instructors in the math department at San Diego Mesa College, where she's a professor, had started exploring how to weave standards-based grading — an approach that evaluates students on how effectively they have mastered content — into the way they teach calculus.

Math 271
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If We’re Serious About Student Well-Being, We Must Change the Systems Students Learn In

ED Surge

Indeed, a meta-analysis of research on this issue found a correlation between homework and achievement. Does homework cause achievement or do high achievers do more homework? When students are intrinsically motivated to do their homework, they are more engaged in the work, which in turn is associated with academic achievement.

Learning 302
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Why Some Students Feel Like They Can’t Excel In Math

ED Surge

But in college, where she’s a business major, calculus is proving insurmountable. There’s slightly more evidence that poor achievement more often fuels math anxiety than the other way around, though there’s evidence going both ways, she adds. It’s given her severe anxiety. She doesn’t want to go to class at all. It feels pointless.

Math 336