PROCEEDINGS OF THE 23RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2020
Boston, Massachusetts
Content-specific confidence in entry-level college mathematics courses: Relationships and patterns
Page: 1123
Although mathematical confidence is known to relate to students’ level of mathematics, the relationship between a student’s content-specific confidence and the student’s familiarity with the content remains unexplored. Using a regression analysis of survey data from a single institution, this study examines this relationship for three common, lower-division, undergraduate mathematics courses. Students in the targeted courses reported high levels of content familiarity and confidence they could do the work for the class without instructor intervention. Familiarity was the biggest predictor of students’ content-specific confidence, but some orientations towards mathematics also mattered. When tested, students who reported they could do problems were not highly accurate in their assessment. Taken together, these findings suggest that there might be a benefit in helping students better assess their content knowledge early in their courses.