PROCEEDINGS OF THE 20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2017
San Diego, California
STEM major mindset changes during their first undergraduate mathematics course
Page: 1542
One of the reasons for the exodus in STEM majors is students’ experiences in their first undergraduate mathematics course, usually introductory calculus. However, students with a growth mindset are more likely to persist past these initial courses. Although there is evidence that curricula like CLEAR calculus promoted gains in students’ growth mindset, it is unclear how this curriculum compares to traditionally. The purpose of this quasiexperimental study was to investigate to what extent students enroll in CLEAR calculus become more growth mindset orientated than those that are enrolled in traditionally taught courses. The Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scale was used to measure the mindset of students in pre-calculus, calculus I, and calculus II. The analysis of the pilot data indicated CLEAR calculus students experience a small positive shift towards a growth mindset, while students in traditionally taught courses have a significantly more fixed mindset by the end of the semester