PROCEEDINGS OF THE 22ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2019
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Re-humanizing assessments in university calculus II courses
Page: 953
Answering the call of Francis Su (Su, 2017) that "math is for human flourishing" and a challenge by Rochelle Gutiérrez to rehumanize math (Gutiérrez, 2018), I changed assessments in two university calculus II courses. The traditional way to change assessments is to change the questions, either by type or by content. Instead, I focused on changing/rehumanizing the structure of exams to include small group discussions between students for part of the exams. This assessment change, along with a consistently enacted classroom mission statement, produced higher exam scores and improved student engagement. Through surveys, focus groups and interview data, students also reported feeling they had a deeper understanding of concepts, as well as a humane and positive math experience in a math class they thought was very difficult.