PROCEEDINGS OF THE 22ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2019
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Contextualized instruction as a motivational intervention in college calculus
Page: 1061
The purpose of this quasi-experimental study is to measure the impact of a contextualized-instruction intervention on student performance expectations, utility-value, and interest in college calculus courses. Six calculus sections were selected for this study, and three were randomly assigned to take the intervention. Students in the three intervention sections completed calculus tasks that were contextualized to various STEM disciplines, whereas students in the comparison sections did not. Three tasks, one from each in computer science, physics, and engineering were contextualized. The results indicated that the impact of the intervention on student motivation was not statistically significant. However, student motivation significantly changed over time.