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Entrance level competencies needed for beginning mathematics courses at Montana State University
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Whitesitt, John Dail |
| Copyright Year | 1980 |
| Abstract | The problem of this study was: (1) to identify entrance level competencies that were important for success in beginning mathematics courses at Montana State University during fall quarter of the 1978-1979 academic year; and (2) to evaluate the effectiveness of the remedial mathematics courses at Montana State University in developing the competencies identified as important for success in subsequent courses. Students enrolled in Math 100, an intermediate algebra course; Math 115, a trigonometry course; Math 117, a one quarter survey calculus course; and Math 121, a regular beginning calculus course were tested at the beginning of fall quarter to identify entrance level competencies. At the end of the quarter these students were classified as successful or not successful based on course grades. The independence of success and entrance level competencies in various areas was tested using a Chi Square Test of Independence. The effectiveness of the remedial courses was considered by estimating the proportion of successful students in Math 001, a beginning algebra course; Math 100; and Math 115 who demonstrated competence in the areas identified as important for success in subsequent courses. All hypotheses were tested at the .01 level of significance and the proportions were estimated using 95 percent confidence intervals. Three of the nine competency areas tested in Math 100 were found to be significantly related to success. One of the ten areas tested in Math 115 and Math 117 was found to be significantly related to success, and seven of the thirteen areas tested in Math 121 were found to be significantly related to success. All of the remedial mathematics courses at Montana State University were ineffective in developing competency in most areas identified as important for success in subsequent courses. More emphasis needs to be placed on developing competence in algebra for college bound students and less needs to be placed on trigonometry. Many competency areas in algebra were found to be significantly related to success in beginning mathematics courses, but only one trigonometry area was significantly related to success. All high school students should be encouraged to take at least two years of algebra before they graduate because of the ineffectiveness of college remedial courses. ENTRANCE LEVEL COMPETENCIES NEEDED FOR BEGINNING MATHEMATICS COURSES AT MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY by John Dail Whitesitt A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degrde of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION Chairperson, Graduate Committee |
| Starting Page | 1 |
| Ending Page | 147 |
| Page Count | 147 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/4667/31762100116837.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
