The Road Not Taken: A Comparison of Precalculus Pathways

Video Presentation

Authors:

• Ander Erickson, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Tacoma
• Zaher Kmail, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Tacoma
• Bonnie Becker, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Tacoma

Abstract:

Precalculus can operate as a gatekeeper for STEM majors, a phenomenon that is particularly pronounced for minoritized and first-generation students. Currently, UW Tacoma, an institution with a high proportion of first-generation and minoritized students, offers a two-quarter precalculus sequence and a compressed one-quarter sequence and it is important for us to know whether the two different sequences are supporting student success for students of different backgrounds. This multimethod study uses causal structure analysis to compare the performance of the two precalculus pathways in order to study which pathway leads to greater student success and under which conditions. This is complemented by a series of semi-structured interviews with students who choose to leave the calculus sequence in order to better understand the factors that lead to such decisions. We address the following pair of research questions: (a) Does a student’s choice of precalculus pathway and/or other student characteristics (e.g., first-generation status, high school or transfer school of origin, ethnicity/race, placement scores) predict their performance in calculus? (b) What motivates students to choose different pathways and what subsequently leads some students to leave the calculus pathway entirely? We use ANOVA and multiple comparison t-tests to analyze the student performance in calculus and to determine if there is a significant difference in the performance of calculus students based on the aforementioned student characteristics. We also use a two-sample proportion z-test to determine whether or not the proportion of the two pathways are equal. The results of this study suggest that the two-quarter calculus sequence is a crucial alternative to the one-quarter sequence and provides insight into factors that lead students to leave the calculus sequence. These results can inform the work of our academic advisors and precalculus instructors.

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Comments

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