ASSESSMENT PLAN
MATH 460, Advanced Calculus I, is required of all majors. Knowledge of logic, sets,
functions, calculus concepts and proofs, as well as effective written communication, is
required and assessed for each student. Based on the initial pre-test and the semester
long observations of student performance in Math 460, the faculty assigned to teach this
course will fill out a brief questionnaire in which they will give their assessment of how
well students are prepared in the above identified prerequisite knowledge areas. On this
questionnaire, the faculty will also be asked to identify any areas of knowledge, either
from the above list or otherwise, where students seem to be particularly deficient.
thinking about our capstone course and the assessment of the 18 hours of course work
leading up to it. |
1999-2000 ASSESSMENT
- Students are weak at the beginning of the
course in the area of knowledge transfer from the calc sequence. This is expected and is
consistent with psychological and educational research in this area. The teaching of MATH
460 is adjusted to compensate for the knowledge transfer problem.
- Student writing skills are at least
adequate, and some students are "very good at organizing their thoughts in a precise
and logical manner." This finding is strong evidence that we are having good success
with many of our goals in MATH 350 WI, Abstract Algebra. This is a strong indication that
the courses leading up to the capstone course are accomplishing what we expect. In
particular, this means that the 21 hour block of courses consisting of MATH 115, MATH 202,
MATH 260, MATH 250 and MATH 360 are accomplishing their intended goals for our majors.
- Student transfer of knowledge is not a
particularly effective predictor of success in MATH 460. The best indicator of student
success is the amount of time and energy the student is willing to devote to the course
(time spent on out-of-class homework and willingness to seek help).
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