What if your students could access "any" resource during a test? How would they react? How would "you" react? This paper presents some results from a trial of allowing students access to notes, calculators, and any device connected to the internet, which occurred during a midterm in a second-year ordinary differential equations…

In the continual pursuit of classroom learning effectiveness, researchers and educators aim to develop strategies that improve student performance and learning. One such strategy is to create academically homogeneous environments where students are grouped into classes based on their preconceived academic ability. The research team tests this…

In 2011, Sonoma State University developed a STEM first-year experience (supported by NSF STEP grant 1068445) that combines general education requirements in mathematics, biology, and critical thinking. The mathematics content includes topics from precalculus and elementary statistics, with a particular focus on using functions and modeling with…

Ethnomathematics can empirically improve the cognitive abilities of students in elementary and secondary schools. However, in undergraduate study, there are still limited studies on integrating ethnomathematics in learning resources. This study aims to apply interpolation in modelling polynomial functions and integral volume on the shape of…

This article shows how the exciting new field of Machine Learning can be effectively introduced in a standard calculus sequence, once the students have been introduced to functions of several variables. This is an opportunity to engage students in a discussion of an application of calculus to an emerging field that the students encounter in their…

Past research has shown the benefit of cooperative learning in organizing instruction to promote students' engagement and achievement. However, it remains unclear whether students gain more from peers at relatively higher or similar levels of prior knowledge. Relatedly, it is important to distinguish collective performance from individual…

Community college students who are juggling busy lives may be drawn to enroll in self-paced online courses. Shorter, eight-week versions of online courses are an option for these students instead of taking full sixteen-week versions. However, because eight-week courses cover the same amount of material in half the time, student success may be…

In this paper, we describe the influence of the implementation of methodology for teaching and learning multiple integrals based on the constructivist approach and the interconnectedness of multiple representations (with an emphasis on dynamic representations) for different mathematical objects using GeoGebra's applications Graphing Calculator and…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the adult students' perceptions of Game-Based Learning's mitigation of math anxiety in a STEM math course at a mid-sized university in Southeast Texas. The participants in this study included 11 students who identified as adult learners with math anxiety taught by the researcher in a STEM…

We have observed that over 90% of our students, both undergraduate and graduate, know little about the existence and multiplicity of real roots of real numbers; for example the fifth root of -2. Most of those who may know the answers are unable to give a logical explanation of the validity of their answers.

Issues within college algebra are well-documented. Over the past two decades, reform has brought about significant modifications in the course, yet to date there has been no synthesis of the efficacy of these efforts. This paper situates college algebra within a historical context, and synthesizes research on reform. I argue that, notwithstanding…

In this study, it was aimed to experiment a new method to increase the quality of the history of mathematics course instruction in the primary mathematics education. The method composed by synthesizing project-based and collaborative learning methods was named "Newspaper Preparation Method," and the course was delivered using this…

In this paper, the authors discuss their experiences with ungrading at a small public university in the U.S. and a large public university in Germany. The courses described are Calculus 1 and a content course for pre-service secondary teachers of mathematics. The professors teach differently: one with lecture, the other with inquiry-based…

In 2003, the Texas State Legislature enacted the Texas Success Initiative (TSI). Upon entering a postsecondary institution, non-exempt students are tested using the TSI Assessment. A student's scores are used to assist Texas public institutions of higher education in determining if students are prepared for introductory college coursework in the…

Mastery-based testing is an assessment scheme that challenges students to provide complete solutions to problems derived from clear course concepts. Students are allowed multiple attempts to demonstrate mastery, which helps create a classroom environment where students value persistence toward thorough understanding. In this paper, we describe in…