PROCEEDINGS OF THE 21ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2018
San Diego, California
A Case of Community, Investment, and Doing in an Active-Learning Business Calculus Course
Page: 517
Presented here is a case study of Christina and her goals in an active-learning business calculus course. The larger project, from which this report emanates, involved an instructional redesign of a business calculus course intended to address two main student concerns: (seemingly) irrelevant content and a lack of opportunities to be active in class. Class size mediated Christina’s access to community, which she perceived to be a necessary condition for her learning. Additionally, Christina drew a distinction between authentically situated mathematics and pseudo-situated problems that fail to invest her in the problem-solving process. She valued opportunities to do mathematics during class and receive feedback from her instructor and peers. This project has implications for the mathematics education of business students, active-learning in post-secondary mathematics, and situated mathematics problems.