Just a couple of interesting things we have looked at recently. See if you
can (by looking at transcripts from the past) figure the probability that a
student who begins in say pre-algebra will eventually emerge from the
developmental sequence ready, with a reasonable probability of success, to
take a College Algebra course. Consider that most developmental courses
have a success (C or better) of 40-60% and that a student who gets an A in
pre-algebra will probably get a B in Beginning Algebra and so forth. You
may not want to share the numbers you get and, if you are like me, you may
not even want to know those figures but if you are courageous, the
information could be very useful to all of those who are trying to improve
math education.
Also you may want to consider what was recently reported in the AMATYC
Review about the overlap of content in the developmental sequence. There
are many topics that are hastily and shallowly(is that a word?) covered in
every course in the sequence. This may not be working.
The reason I looked at the first idea here and was very interested to read
the second was that we recently were put under a little pressure in the
math department here to have separate Beginning and Intermediate algebra
courses instead of the combined one we currently have. When we looked at
success rates in two courses compared to one course we were not encouraged
to separate them. In fact we are now aiming towards having a college
algebra course that has the flexibility to allow students who need some or
all parts of the developmental sequence to get them without having to
struggle thru and pay for a separate course which they are just as likely
to fail as college algebra. This makes good sense to me (it was my idea)
and I would like for some of my colleagues to be devil's advocates and tell
me what is wrong with it or you could prove it unnecessary by showing that
a student who needs a strong review of pre-college algebra math has a
reasonable chance of getting it by starting in pre-algebra or arithmetic
courses. I most humbly beg your pardon for the length of this missive and
promise not to do it again.
wayne
Wayne F. Mackey
Director, Math Resource Center
University of Arkansas
P.O. Box 2441
Fayetteville, AR 72702
(501) 575-7661
(501) 582-3764
wmackey@comp.uark.edu
http://comp.uark.edu/~wmackey
****************************************************************************
* To post to the list: email mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu *
* To unsubscribe, send mail to: majordomo@archives.math.utk.edu *
* In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: unsubscribe mathedcc *
* Words in the Subject: line are NOT processed! *
* Archives at http://archives.math.utk.edu/hypermail/mathedcc/ *
****************************************************************************