In this article, we report from a group (N=98) of students from two campuses of one Finnish university, on their study habits, and to what extent they use different kinds of learning materials in university mathematics courses. Our results show that the older students are more communicative with their teachers, whereas the younger students ask for…

Improving STEM retention is a major focus of universities and studies have shown calculus to be a barrier for STEM intending students. Prior to this study, local data indicated students did not pursue STEM fields because they were not passing calculus. The goal of this study is to report on factors related to student success in first-semester…

In many university mathematics courses, homework accounts for the majority of students' interaction with mathematics content. However, we know little about students' activity as they complete homework. This paper presents an empirically-based model of students' activity as they complete an online homework assignment. I developed the model based on…

To prevent difficulties in learning mathematics, effective and innovative teaching methodologies should be used. The present study presents the results of a relational and comparative study between the application of the open number-based algorithm (ABN) and the closed number-based algorithm (CNB) method. The research was of a descriptive…

Math courses graded on homework, tests, and a final examination can result in students putting together enough partial credit to pass the class without gaining a reasonable mastery of the course content. Mastery-based testing can help to address this by allowing the instructor to align course grades with mastery of the learning objectives for the…

In response to the well-documented challenges associated with the 'mathematics problem' in UK higher education, many institutions have implemented a programme of mathematics support. Previous surveys within the UK, undertaken in 2001, 2004 and, most recently, 2012, have shown growth in the number of institutions offering such support and indicate…

An intelligent tutoring system for learning basic statistics, called Stat-Knowlab, is presented and analyzed. The algorithms implemented in the system are based on the competence-based knowledge space theory, a mathematical theory developed for the formative assessment of knowledge and learning. The system's architecture consists of the two…

Our field has generally reached a consensus that active-learning approaches improve student success; however, there is a need to explore the ways that particular instructional approaches affect various student groups. We examined the relationship between gender and student learning outcomes in one context: inquiry-oriented abstract algebra. Using…

This article describes an inquiry-oriented real analysis classroom in which students were guided to discover mathematics for themselves. To support student inquiry, the framework of "five practices" from K-12 education was used. To illustrate this framework, two case examples are given from actual discussions that took place in this…

This paper offers instructional interventions designed to support undergraduate math students' understanding of two forms of representations of Calculus concepts, mathematical language and graphs. We first discuss issues in students' understanding of mathematical language and graphs related to Calculus concepts. Then, we describe tasks, which are…

Mathematics educators view the equals sign as a bidirectional relation symbol, but the authors have observed that students might not have such flexibility in their understanding of the equals sign. The authors have observed that students have a hard time viewing mathematical properties (for example, log (MN) = log (M) log (N)) with bidirectional…

Supporting student success in introductory mathematics courses is a growing national imperative in order to both diversify and increase the number of well-prepared Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduates. Efforts to diversify STEM fields have focused on broadening participation, addressing equitable outcomes, and…

This dissertation investigates gender differences in (1) retrospective (i.e., measured after task completion) item-specific confidence judgments, and whether these judgments were warranted. Of particular interest was whether gender interacts with problem difficulty to explain confidence, calibration (speaks to the accuracy of confidence…

Various instructor qualities have been shown to have variable influences student outcomes in online courses. In this study, the impact of faculty quality on student performance was examined by comparing student performance when taught by excellent faculty and average faculty (determined through administrative evaluations). We examined 328 student…

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.