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