Interactive Software to Improve Student Success in Developmental Mathematics

许多学生在发展性数学课程中表现不佳。造成这种不成功的因素有：1)学生认为数学就是记忆公式和重复程序；2)学生不熟悉有效的学习技巧和有用的学习资源。该项目正在开发解决这两个问题的材料。为了促进概念理解，正在开发一套数学软件，供课堂使用或学生个人使用。每一幅交互式计算机插图都聚焦于发展算术、测量或公制几何中的一个主题。为了解决第二个问题，发展数学课程将与一个学分的课程“学生成功的策略”挂钩，该课程的课程包括专门与数学学习有关的学习策略。除了上面提到的软件工具，这个项目正在制作一份配套的教师资源指南和一系列的“数学成功”模块。这些材料正在经过四个学期的开发、测试和完善。目标受众是两年制院校的发展性数学学生。这个项目是邦克山社区学院和马萨诸塞州艺术学院的合作项目，马萨诸塞州艺术学院的胡霍恩和邦克山社区学院数学系的乔安妮·曼维尔设计和开发了软件。

Many students are unsuccessful in developmental mathematics courses. Among the factors contributing to this lack of success are 1) student belief that mathematics is memorization of formulas and replication of procedures and 2) student unfamiliarity with effective study techniques and helpful learning resources. This project is developing materials to address both of these problems. To facilitate conceptual understanding, a collection of mathematics software is being developed for classroom use or individual student use. Each interactive computer illustration focuses on a single topic from developmental arithmetic, measurement, or metric geometry. To address the second problem, the developmental mathematics course will be linked to a one-credit course "Strategies for Student Success" whose curriculum includes study strategies specifically related to mathematics learning. In addition to the software tools mentioned above, this project is producing a companion instructors' resource guide and a series of "Success in Mathematics" modules.The materials are being developed, tested, and refined over four semesters. The target audience is developmental mathematics students at two-year institutions. This project is a collaboration between Bunker Hill Community College and the Massachusetts College of Art with Hu Hohn of the Massachusetts College of Art and Joanne Manville of the Bunker Hill Community College Mathematics Department designing and developing the software.