scholarly journals Lottery Strategy: An activity for new undergraduate students to introduce and reinforce introductory statistical concepts

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Salim Neil Khan
Keyword(s):  
Probability Theory ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Classroom Activity ◽  
Mathematics Courses ◽  
University Mathematics ◽  
Machine Analysis

Most university mathematics courses involve the students studying a statistics module in their first year. However, depending on which modules they took at A-level, they arrive at university with varying degrees of interest and ability in statistics. This article presents a classroom activity that introduces and reinforces introductory probability concepts to help prepare and engage the students for the statistics that they will encounter on their course. In the activity, the students consider and contrast two different strategies for selecting numbers for a lottery, in order to conclude which is best under which circumstances. It comprises a mixture of experimentation using a lottery machine, analysis using probability theory, and simulation using computers.

Using iPads in University Mathematics Classes

2015 ◽  
pp. 2049-2066
Author(s):  
Rim Gouia ◽  
Cindy Gunn ◽  
Diana Audi
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
First Year ◽  
University Mathematics ◽  
The Future ◽  
Educational Requirements

This chapter reports on two studies carried out with first-year undergraduate students in Mathematics classes. The first study investigates regular use of iPads over the course of one semester. Overall, the students reported positive impressions regarding the use of iPads in their Mathematics classes. However, only 47% stated that they would join an iPad class in future semesters. The second study is a qualitative follow-up to the first to find out why the majority said they would not join an iPad class in the future. The students in the two studies could see both the value and the drawbacks that the use of iPads in their Mathematics classes would provide. The findings suggest that as supplement to instruction the use of iPads has the potential to enhance the learning process, but classes delivered using iPads only would not meet the educational requirements or expectations of the study's participants.

Using iPads in University Mathematics Classes

2015 ◽  
pp. 60-77
Author(s):  
Rim Gouia ◽  
Cindy Gunn ◽  
Diana Audi
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
First Year ◽  
University Mathematics ◽  
The Future ◽  
Educational Requirements

This chapter reports on two studies carried out with first-year undergraduate students in Mathematics classes. The first study investigates regular use of iPads over the course of one semester. Overall, the students reported positive impressions regarding the use of iPads in their Mathematics classes. However, only 47% stated that they would join an iPad class in future semesters. The second study is a qualitative follow-up to the first to find out why the majority said they would not join an iPad class in the future. The students in the two studies could see both the value and the drawbacks that the use of iPads in their Mathematics classes would provide. The findings suggest that as supplement to instruction the use of iPads has the potential to enhance the learning process, but classes delivered using iPads only would not meet the educational requirements or expectations of the study's participants.

scholarly journals “Heart Shots”: a classroom activity to instigate active learning

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reem Rachel Abraham ◽  
Asha Vashe ◽  
Sharmila Torke
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Real Life ◽  
First Year ◽  
Classroom Activity ◽  
Undergraduate Medical Students ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Medical College ◽  
Maximum Duration ◽  
Teaching Unit ◽  
Facilitated Learning

The present study aimed to provide undergraduate medical students at Melaka Manipal Medical College (Manipal Campus), Manipal University, in Karnataka, India, an opportunity to apply their knowledge in cardiovascular concepts to real-life situations. A group activity named “Heart Shots” was implemented for a batch of first-year undergraduate students ( n = 105) at the end of a block (teaching unit). Students were divided into 10 groups each having 10–11 students. They were requested to make a video/PowerPoint presentation about the application of cardiovascular principles to real-life situations. The presentation was required to be of only pictures/photos and no text material, with a maximum duration of 7 min. More than 95% of students considered that the activity helped them to apply their knowledge in cardiovascular concepts to real-life situations and understand the relevance of physiology in medicine and to revise the topic. More than 90% of students agreed that the activity helped them to apply their creativity in improving their knowledge and to establish a link between concepts rather than learning them as isolated facts. Based on the feedback, we conclude that the activity was student centered and that it facilitated learning.

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.

Online Homework and Correlated Success in University Mathematics Courses

2014 ◽  
pp. 307-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Kuhn ◽  
Sandy W. Watson ◽  
Terry J. Walters
Keyword(s):  
First Year ◽  
Online Homework ◽  
University Of Kentucky ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Mathematics Courses ◽  
University Of Tennessee ◽  
University Mathematics ◽  
Course Grades ◽  
The University ◽  
The Web

The primary goals of this project at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) were to use a free, open-source online tool developed at the University of Kentucky (UK) called WHS (Web Homework System) for Web-based homework and quizzes in first year mathematics courses and to demonstrate that the use of this system by students would improve and correlate well with their success in these courses. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed across four years involving 832 students using this system and 753 not using the system in seven courses. The findings indicate that faculty and students found the Web-based homework assignments helpful for a variety of reasons, though some of each found it occasionally frustrating. Students with high (low) scores on the Web homework had a very high probability of having high (low) grades in the courses, but there were no statistically significant improvements in final course grades over traditional methods.

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