PROCEEDINGS OF THE 21ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2018
San Diego, California
Informal Content and Student Note-Taking in Undergraduate Calculus Classes
Page: 589
This study investigates four hypotheses about calculus instruction: (i) that lectures include informal content (ways of thinking and reasoning that are not captured by the formal symbolic statements), (ii) that informal content is usually presented orally but not written on the blackboard, and (iii) that students do not record the informal content that is only stated orally but do if it is written on the blackboard, and (iv) that professors often most want students to learn the content they state informally. Via interviews, we also explored why professors chose to write on the board, or not, content. We recorded 5 calculus mathematics lectures and photographed the notes of 78 students. We found that informal content was common, although most informal content was presented in a written form. Typically students recorded formal content while not recording informal content.