The Tuskegee Partnership for Personal Authenticity in College Mathematics

每年都有大量的学生在大学里学习微积分预科，其中许多人很难看到内容的相关性。为了使数学学习更有动力和个人意义的学生，这个项目将从事本科生直接连接前微积分到他们的个人生活，通过他们选择检查的主题。项目实施和研究活动将在塔斯基吉大学，南联盟州立社区学院和查特胡奇谷社区学院教授的微积分预科课程中进行，由教育研究人员，数学家，数学教师和大学统计教师组成的多学科团队领导。所有三个机构的微积分前部分将作为实施和比较组。在实施部分的学生将使用技术来调查复杂的，现实的数据，并专注于关键的数学思想，这些数据的连接。 项目小组将研究实施活动，以使学生更充分地沉浸在数学中，加强数学与他们生活的相关性，并改善他们的数学观，数学理解和成就。本研究采用准实验设计，通过前后评估，探讨以下研究问题：（1）与使用教师选择的情境单元和不使用单元项目的学生相比，使用个人真实情境中的数学任务的学生是否表现出更积极的数学态度和信念？如果是，程度如何？(2)学生使用的数学任务位于个人真实的情况下表现出更大的内在动机学习数学比学生使用教师选择的上下文单元和那些不使用单元项目？如果是，程度如何？(3)学生使用的数学任务位于个人真实的情况下，表现更好的标准化课程期末考试比学生使用教师选择的上下文单元和那些不使用单元项目？如果是，程度如何？这些课程的通过率（完成课程并获得A、B或C的学生百分比）是否更高？如果是，程度如何？(4)学生使用的数学任务位于个人真实的背景下的项目工作是否表现出更大的数学理解的形式之间的有效连接的数学和现实世界的表征相比，学生使用教师选择的上下文单元的项目工作？如果是，程度如何？这项研究将有助于知识库的方法，以提高学生的理解和欣赏内容的数学内，跨学科的连接，并在正规学校教育以外的生活。

Each year, a large number of students take pre-calculus in college, many of whom struggle to see the relevance of the content. Toward making mathematics learning more motivating and personally meaningful to students, this project will engage undergraduates in directly connecting pre-calculus to their personal lives through topics that they choose to examine. Project implementation and research activities will take place in sections of pre-calculus taught at Tuskegee University, Southern Union State Community College, and Chattahoochee Valley Community College, under the leadership of a multi-disciplinary team comprised of an education researcher, mathematicians, mathematics instructors, and a college statistics faculty member. Sections of pre-calculus at all three institutions will serve as implementation and comparison groups. Students in the implementation sections will use technology to investigate complex, realistic data and focus on the connection of key mathematical ideas to those data. The project team will study the implementation activities as a way to immerse students more fully in the mathematics, to strengthen the relevance of the mathematics to their lives, and to improve their views of mathematics, their mathematical understanding, and their achievement. Using a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-assessments, the project will address the following research questions: (1) Do students using mathematics tasks situated in personally authentic contexts exhibit more positive attitudes towards and beliefs about mathematics than students using teacher-selected contextual units and those not using unit projects? If so, to what extent? (2) Do students using mathematics tasks situated in personally authentic contexts exhibit greater intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics than students using teacher-selected contextual units and those not using unit projects? If so, to what extent? (3) Do students using mathematics tasks situated in personally authentic contexts perform better on standardized course final exams than students using teacher-selected contextual units and those not using unit projects? If so, to what extent? Are the course pass rates (% of students who complete the course that achieve an A, B, or C) in those courses higher? If so, to what extent? (4) Does the project work of students using mathematics tasks situated in personally authentic contexts show greater mathematical understanding in the form of valid connections made between mathematical and real-world representations compared to the project work of students using teacher-selected contextual units? If so, to what extent? This study will contribute to the knowledge base about ways to enhance students' understanding and appreciation of content connections within mathematics, across disciplines, and to life outside of formal schooling.