ABSTRACT

Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning (SEMINAL) is a nationally funded program working to better understand the utilization of active learning techniques in introductory undergraduate mathematics courses. This research done this summer investigated how different groups of majors experienced their mathematics courses from Precalculus to Calculus 2 at nine universities across the United States.

This was done by analyzing the survey responses (n=16,523) from the X-PIPS-M Survey Suite within Microsoft Excel in pivot tables and graphs to illustrate relationships. A text entry question about declared/intended major was recoded, matching the responses by the students with shortened major groups for easier analysis. One-way ANOVAs were run to assess the significance of the relationships, with p-values of less than 0.05 indicating significant results. Math and statistic majors had the most positive math identity, while psychology majors had the least positive math identity. Undeclared students felt the least included in their math courses showing the potential significance of declaring a major in your perception of belonging within your classes. Results of this study have implications of how calculus courses can be taught to better include students of all majors.