scholarly journals Students’ ability to correctly apply differentiation rules to structurally different functions

2018 ◽  
Vol 114 (11/12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aneshkumar Maharaj ◽  
Mthobisi Ntuli
Keyword(s):  
Chain Rule ◽  
First Year ◽  
Symbolic Form ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Mathematics ◽  
Online Quizzes ◽  
And Function ◽  
Derivatives Of ◽  
Derivative Concept ◽  
Function Structures

The derivative concept is studied in first-year university mathematics. In this study, we focused on students’ ability to correctly apply the rules for derivatives of functions with the different structures that they encounter in their university studies. This was done by investigating the online responses of first-year students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal to online quizzes that contributed to their assessment. Based on this investigation, we then interviewed eight students to gain an insight into the thinking behind their responses. We report on the analysis of students’ responses to five items on the online quizzes based on the derivative concept. The categories in which those items were based are: condition for existence of derivative at a point; rules for derivatives of standard functions; application of chain rule to different function structures; the application of multiple rules; and application of derivatives to optimise a function. Our findings indicate that students had difficulty in detecting that multiple rules for derivatives were required to differentiate certain types of functions represented in symbolic form. Furthermore, students had difficulty in finding the derivative of a function when more than one application of the chain rule was required. However, there were students who had the ability to apply the rules for derivatives of functions without difficulty. In particular, most of the students were able to correctly recall the differentiation rules for functions with standard structures f(x)=xn, h(x)=ekx and y=[g(x)]n, n 0 and k is a non-zero constant. Students were also able to correctly apply the chain rule to an exponential function with base e, raised to 4x. The majority of students were able to correctly apply the chain rule together with differentiation rules for logarithmic and exponential (with bases a >1) function structures, and function structures that required the application of the product rule together with the chain rule. Most of the students were able to apply derivatives to optimise a function. Significance: A significant percentage of students who took online quizzes experienced difficulties with applying multiple differentiation rules in the context of a single function. The difficulties stemmed from their inability to detect from the structure of the function which rules should be applied and also the order in which those relevant rules should be applied.

scholarly journals Harder things will stretch you further: helping first-year undergraduate students meaningfully engage with recent research papers in probability and statistics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Grindle ◽  
Elinor Jones ◽  
Paul Northrop
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
First Year ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Mathematics ◽  
General Readership ◽  
Probability And Statistics

Abstract Undergraduate research increasingly features in university mathematics degrees. Despite this, research papers are used infrequently in mathematics teaching, and this is especially the case for first-year undergraduates. Mathematical subjects are more likely than other STEM disciplines to pinpoint cognitive difficulty as the principal reason for not exposing undergraduate students to research papers. In this paper, we test whether first-year students can engage effectively with research papers. We describe an intervention that exposes first-year, first term undergraduate students to current research in probability and statistics by asking them to read a research paper and summarize it for a general readership following an interview with the paper’s author. Our findings show that the activity introduced students to new fields of knowledge and helped to develop a clearer understanding of scientific process, leading to a heightened sense of personal satisfaction at engaging closely with current research. We argue that structured reading of research papers can lead to productive and rewarding engagement with difficult content, recent and current research and with research processes and that this should make us reconsider the role of research papers in the undergraduate mathematics curriculum.

scholarly journals Preparing personnel for a successful perception and assembly of the course of mathematics at the technical university

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (33) ◽  
pp. e16275
Author(s):  
Lubov K. Ilyashenko ◽  
Dmitriy A. Belov
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Mathematics ◽  
Qualified Personnel ◽  
Mathematics Program ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The University

Scientific and technological progress, digitalization of the economy, as well as all other spheres of human life, require qualified personnel. Technology, however, simplifies everyday life and gives students plenty of opportunities to enroll in college and not study at all. This study's main purpose is to investigate this paradox, instill in student's love, positive motivation to study mathematics, and encourage them to complete their learning tasks. The research method is a survey of first-year students of the fields of study "Oil and Gas Business" and "Technosphere Safety" of Tyumen Industrial University to identify the motivation for their study of the university mathematics program. It was found that at the moment, it is easier for students to find a calculating job than to do it themselves, that the perception of mathematics as a subject in the first year affects not only further academic performance in the university but also the entire professional life of a person. To solve the problem of motivating first-year students to study mathematics, as we have found out, it is possible if: use the "first type" of motivation, which consists in the fact that is influencing the student, cause certain internal motives prompting to study mathematics; take into account the age and individual characteristics of students and each new stream in general.  

Feeding and Function Pleasure in the First Year of Life

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Brody ◽  
Sidney Axelrad
Keyword(s):  
First Year ◽  
And Function ◽  
First Year Of Life

AN ANALYSIS ON STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY THROUGH STORYTELLING FOR GRADE X SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khairani Nur Adha And Rahmad Husein
Keyword(s):  
Research Finding ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
First Grade ◽  
First Year ◽  
English Teacher ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Oral Test ◽  
Fluency And Comprehension ◽  
Low Ability

The aim of this research was to find out the ability of the first year students in speaking by using storytelling at MAS. Al-Jam’iyatul Wasliyah. The design of this research was descriptive research. The population of this research was 20 students of XC class in the first grade at MAS. Al-Jam’iyatul Wasliyah. In selecting the sample the writer used random sampling technique. The total number of the sample was 12 students. The data was collected by using oral test. The researcher only measured the ability of students’ speaking in storytelling by considering five components of speaking: (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, fluency, and comprehension). And their speaking had been recorded by using phone recorder. From the result of analyzing the data, the researcher found that the students’ speaking ability by using storytelling was moderate. It proved by the fact that 4 students (33.33%) classified as high ability, 4 students (33.33%) classified as moderate ability, and 4 students (33.33%) classified as low ability. Based on the data, the students’ score were bigger in the high and moderate level than in the low ability level. Based on the research finding, the English teacher is suggested to consider the five components in scoring speaking ability (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, fluency, and comprehension). The students are suggested to do more practice in pronunciation and fluency, because they dominantly speak incorrect pronunciation and have pauses in the sentences. Students are also suggested to enrich their vocabulary by using storytelling.

THE EFFECT OF USING NOTING INTERACTING SUMMARIZING AND PRIORITIZING STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN READING COMPREHENSION

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maruh Sianturi And Berlin Sibarani
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
Null Hypothesis ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Control Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
Teaching Reading ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Level Of Significance ◽  
Experimental Group

This study was aimed at finding out the effect of using Noting, Interacting, Summarizing, and Prioritizing Strategy on Students’ Achievement in Reading Comprehension. This study was designed with the experimental design. The population of this study was the first year students at academic 2013/2012 of SMA swasta YP St. Paulus Martubung, Medan. There were fourty students taken as the sample of the research. The sample was divided into two groups: the first group (20 students) as the experimental group and the second group (20 students) as the control group. The experimental group was taught by Using Noting, Interacting, Summarizing, and Prioritizing Strategy, while the control group was taught by using conventional method. The instrument for collecting the data was multiple choices which consisted of 40 items. To obtain the reliability of the test, the researcher used Kuder -Richardson (KR-21) formula. The calculation showed that the reliability of the test was 0.75. The data were calculated by using t-test formula. The result of the analysis shows that t-observed (4.98) was higher than t-table (2.025) at the level of significance (α) 0.05 and the degree of freedom (df) 38. Therefore, the null hypothesis (H0) was rejected and alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. It meant that teaching reading comprehension by using Noting, Interacting, Summarizing, and Prioritizing Strategy significantly affects reading comprehension.

REVERSE ENGINEERING: TENSION RATCHET DISSECTION PROJECT

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremiah Vanderlaan ◽  
Josh Richert ◽  
James Morrison ◽  
Thomas Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Reverse Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
First Year ◽  
Stepping Stones ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Final Project ◽  
Undergraduate Study ◽  
Solid Edge ◽  
Part Modeling

We are a group of engineering students, in our first year of undergraduate study. We have been selected from one thousand first year students and have competed and won the PACE competition. All engineers share a common general first year, but we have been accepted into Civil and Mechanical engineering. This project was assigned as the final project in the Design and Graphics course. The project we are tasked with, called the Cornerstone Design Project, is to first dissect a product, discover how it works, dimension each part and create a fully assembled model using CAD software (Solid Edge V20 in our case). As part of discovering how it works we must benchmark it so the device can be compared with competing products. The goal of the project is to develop a full understanding of part modeling and assembly in Solid Edge, learn proper measurement techniques, and learn the process of reverse engineering and product dissection. All of these tasks were stepping stones to help us fully understand how the device, and all its components, work.

Refining Contrapuntal Pedagogy: Reflections on Teaching Warsan Shire’s “Home” and W.H. Auden’s “Refugee Blues” to First-Year Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Grogan
Keyword(s):  
Racial Identity ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Poetic Voice ◽  
Teaching Poetry ◽  
Approach To Teaching ◽  
The University ◽  
The Way

This article reports on and discusses the experience of a contrapuntal approach to teaching poetry, explored during 2016 and 2017 in a series of introductory poetry lectures in the English 1 course at the University of Johannesburg. Drawing together two poems—Warsan Shire’s “Home” and W.H. Auden’s “Refugee Blues”—in a week of teaching in each year provided an opportunity for a comparison that encouraged students’ observations on poetic voice, racial identity, transhistorical and transcultural human experience, trauma and empathy. It also provided an opportunity to reflect on teaching practice within the context of decoloniality and to acknowledge the need for ongoing change and review in relation to it. In describing the contrapuntal teaching and study of these poems, and the different methods employed in the respective years of teaching them, I tentatively suggest that canonical Western and contemporary postcolonial poems may reflect on each other in unique and transformative ways. I further posit that poets and poems that engage students may open the way into initially “less relevant” yet ultimately rewarding poems, while remaining important objects of study in themselves.

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