how does the students’ “demo” effect a college-level calculus class hongli gao mentor: dr....
TRANSCRIPT
How Does the Students’ “Demo” Effect a College-Level Calculus
Class
Hongli Gao Mentor: Dr. Milos Savic Department of Mathematics
Outline Introduction
Background literatures Description of the “students’ demo” Research Objectives
Data collection & ResultsConclusions & Teaching Implication
Acknowledgement
Background Literatures
In Buchele (2005):
“All students are required to present homework problems to the class regularly, so getting students to volunteer for any given problem is typically not an issue…Much to the professor’s surprise, students’ response to the homework presentations … was overwhelmingly positive… they (students) liked having students present problems to the board in class.”
Page 70-72
In Bih-Jen Fwu & Hsiou-huai Wang (2006): “… … U.S. Teachers seldom call on students to
practice on the blackboard, because they fear if a student failed to answer correctly and his errors are witnessed by the whole class, this public display of failure might damage the student’s self-esteem and counter his self-enhancing tendency (Stevenson & Stigler, 1992).”
Page 373
Background Literatures
Ham, 1973 The lecture method in Mathematics: A student’s view,
Samtagata & Barbieri , 2005 Mathematics Teaching in Italy: A Cross-Cultural Video
Analysis,
Cohen, 1982 A Modified Moore Method For Teaching Undergraduate
Mathematics.
Background Literatures
Research Objectives
11To investigate how the “in-class demos” effect students’ participation in a calculus class
22To study if the “in-class demos” help improve students’ course performance
33To figure out whether students would voluntarily do the “demo” and how they response to the “demos”
What is students’ “demo”? At the beginning of each class1-2 questions are posted on the boardVolunteer students demonstrate their work on blackboard
Other students can ask questions or discuss
Finally, the teacher summarizes students’ work
Example of a “demo” Teacher posted a question on the board at
6:01pm
Student A came to the board at 6:03pm but he is stuck in the middle and not finished.
Student B corrected A’s mistakes out loud at the same time
Student C continued at 6:07pm and she wrote down the work , explained to others
Student A, D, E, F, G asked questions to C and C answered
Teacher summarized at the end at 6:15pm
MTH 132- Calculus I
698 students enrolled21 small sections30-35 students each sectionMWF, 50 min each or MW, 80 min each
Preliminary: MTH 114 or 116
Comparison of Two Sections
Control Group
Chinese TA
Same class notes
35 enrolled,16 consent
Class average ACT-math: 25.9 Overall GPA: 3.19 Other math grades: 2.91
MWF 10:00-10:50AM
No demo at all
Experimental Group
Chinese TA
Same class notes
33 enrolled, 18 consent
Class average ACT-math: 25 Overall GPA: 3.21
Other math grades: 2.82 MW 6:00-7:20PM
Demo in each class
Data Collection Background information from registrar
Major, department Pre-math grades, grades from other math courses, overall GPA
Observation notes of class from experimental section
2 surveys in experimental section February 13, March 20 26 students took Survey I, 20 students took survey II 18 students participated both
Grades of one question from their Exam 2 17 students from experimental group 16 students from control group
Why the “graphing” question is selected?
Question that encompasses many past concepts
Experimental Group Control Group
•Weight 36%
• Filling the blank, no partial credits
• Demoed by the students in the review
• Weight 35%
• Free response, partial credits applied
• Demonstrated by TA in the review
Control Group Experimental Group
Results (from observation notes in class)
Results (from Survey II, 20 students) “What do you think about the in-class demos?”
“What do you think about the in-class demos? ”
Results (from Survey II, 20 students)
“Do you want to give demo if you have not given one yet?” 11 responses
Results (from Survey I & II)
Results (from students’ performance in “graphing”)
Comparison in grades (I)
Comparison in “graphing’ question Students who get 3.0 in MTH 116 are selected from both sections
# of students
ACT-Math
Overall GPA
Experimental group
3 24.33 3.17
Control group 5 26.00 3.12
Comparison in grades (II)
Comparison in 4.0-3.5 group Comparison ≤ 2.5 group
Limitations Different teachers and one of the investigators was a teacher
Different test time
Different test questions
Sample size is very small
Conclusions Most (85%) students like the demo no matter
they have given the demo or not in class The demo may have helped with their
approach to the “graphing” question. No time-variant result is seen here Only 1/3 of the students gave the demo on
the board throughout the whole semester 5 students believe that the “demo” makes
them get more involved in a math class
Teaching ImplicationWe would like to figure out how to:Let more students get involved in the demo and discussion process
Implement more “demos” not only at the beginning, but also during the class
Try to guide students how to give an effective demo
Acknowledgements
Dr. Rique Campa and all the FAST committee members
Dr. Milos Savic, my best mentor!
QUESTIONS?
Thank you