Taking Math Students From “Blah” to “Aha”: What can we do?

Abstract

In many post-secondary, introductory mathematics courses failure and withdrawal rates are reaching as high as 50% and average GPA is steadily decreasing. This is a problem that has been witnessed across the globe. With widespread reforms taking place in K-12 mathematics education, many innovative teaching strategies have been created, implemented, and analyzed in an attempt to increase the conceptual knowledge of mathematics students at all levels. However, most of these strategies are not appropriate for large, lecture-style classrooms as are usually seen in large universities. This paper outlines some teaching and assessment strategies that have been modified to accommodate the needs and restrictions of such classrooms.

Keywords:

• Post-secondary
• mathematics education
• teaching strategies
• assessment strategies
• large classrooms

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my colleagues at the Department of Mathematics and Dr. Ralph T. Mason for their continued encouragement and support.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Darja Kalajdzievska

Darja Kalajdzievska has a BSc in Applied Mathematics and Management Sciences from the University of Manitoba, an MSc in Mathematical Biology from the University of Alberta, and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education at the University of Manitoba, where she also works as an Instructor in the Department of Mathematics. She became interested in mathematics education while seeing her students struggle through mathematics courses during her years of teaching. She is also involved in many outreach programs and activities, and is on the Board of Directors of the after-school mathematics enrichment program, Archimedes Math Schools.