The effect of an interdisciplinary algebra/science course on students' problem solving skills, critical thinking skills and attitudes towards mathematics

Abstract

This paper briefly describes a newly designed interdisciplinary course called ‘Algebra for the Sciences’ that is currently taught at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. The effects that the course had on students' critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and attitudes towards mathematics were studied. The traditional college algebra course was used as a control group. The first semester that the new course was taught, students were randomly placed into one of Algebra for the Sciences or College Algebra. The study lasted for two semesters and a total of eight course sections were used — four sections of the experimental course and four sections of the college algebra course. No significant difference was found in problem-solving skills between students in the interdisciplinary course and students in the college algebra course. Students in the interdisciplinary course had slightly larger gains in critical thinking and significantly more positive attitudes at the end of the course than the students in college algebra.