PROCEEDINGS OF THE 21ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2018
San Diego, California
Support for Active Learning in Introductory Calculus: Exploring the Relationship between Mathematics Identity and Pedagogical Approaches
Page: 1635
Calculus I is a main gatekeeper course for STEM majors, so increasing student success in this course is imperative to retaining more students in STEM fields. Since students’ mathematics identity is a strong predictor of pursing a STEM career, more information is needed about how students are developing these identities in introductory mathematics courses. This study reports a piece of a larger mixed methods approach to gain more insight into how instructional approaches in introductory calculus are related to students’ mathematics identity development. Interviews were conducted to explore students’ perceptions of the pedagogy used in their introductory calculus class. Students’ descriptions of their mathematics identity, which includes the constructs of interest, recognition, and performance/competence beliefs are discussed and compared between an active learning environment and a traditional lecture classroom.