RUME 26
2024
Omaha, Nebraska
Bridging the Mathematical and Social Dimensions of Undergraduate Calculus: Students’ Perspectives on a Program of Weekly Guided Collaborative Problems Solving
Page: 116
This study explores undergraduate Calculus students’ perspectives on the Course Assistants (CA) program at a southern US university, where upper-class undergraduates guide weekly Math Lab sessions of collaborative problem-solving. Using sociocultural theories and qualitative methods the research investigates what aspects of Math Lab students and CAs found useful or not. Students' interviews and CAs’ weekly reflections indicate that, on the one hand, students by and large appreciate the experiences of collaborating over the weekly problems with their peers and the CAs, the social networking it provided, and the mathematical confidence it helped build. In our own words, students appreciated how the academic and social dimensions of math learning came together. However, many students and CAs are skeptical about the connections between the weekly tasks and success in the course exams. Relatedly, students often complained about Math Lab being another structured hour in an already time-consuming course and about varying student engagement.