Effects of Inquiry Based Learning on an Undergraduate Precalculus Class Jessica Wilson

A Class in Crisis Low pass rates in Precaluclus courses are a problem not just at UNO but nationally as well UNO classes have had a 40.8% DFW rate for the last 20 years Students that do pass are not adequately prepared for Calculus

The Benefits of Inquiry Based Learning Student-centered approaches involve peer-to-peer collaboration, writing, and communication Students are exposed to carefully chosen problems with real world applications The purpose is to created an environment in which students feel comfortable failing The instructor is a facilitator of learning

Why I’m interested UNO currently offers IBL Calculus I and II classes, taught by Dr. Rech and Dr. Hodge. I took an IBL Calculus II class and enjoyed the experience I will be teaching high school mathematics next year and this experience as a learning assistant was a great opportunity.

Research Questions Will students in an IBL Precalculus class learn more than those in a lecture style class? Will the DFW rate be lower in an IBL Precalculus course?

The Class MATH 1340 taught Monday-Friday from 8:00-8:50 a.m. by Dr. Matthews I was a learning assistant for the course Instead of a textbook students purchased course packet created by UNL’s Department of Mathematics On the first day students took a Class Readiness Activity (CRA) which consisted of algebra skills they needed to be successful in Precalculus

The Class Minimal time was spent lecturing, only enough to discuss key concepts Students spent much of the time working on problems from their course packet in groups of four Students presented problems to the class while their peers critiqued their solutions Students were required to present three times

Sample Problem

The Class Students’ learning was assessed regularly throughout the semester 15 homework assignments on WeBWork 8 team quizzes Three tests and a final exam

Results Both classes were given a pretest during the first week of class and a posttest during the last week Null hypothesis There will not be a difference in the scores for the two classes

Results

Results Our course had a DFW rate of 28.2% The mean DFW rate for course from 1995-2016 is 40.8% The z-score for our course is - 0.89146 The lower rate for our course is not enough to be significant, but still promising

Looking forward At this point we cannot say if either style of teaching is better or worse, but IBL classes do seem to be effective Dr. Matthews is teaching an IBL Precalculus course again this semester with a new learning assistant They gave a pretest to both sections of the course and will also give a posttest

Acknowledgements Thank you to the Office of Research and Creative Activity for funding my research through the FUSE grant Thank you to Dr. Matthews for allowing me to work with him on this precalculus course