Delayed Start for a Shortened Remedial Mathematics Course

Much research has demonstrated an inverse relationship between appointment delay and one-shot appointment-keeping behavior. In the present study, we investigated whether such relationship is observed with recurrent behavior, such as class attendance and retention within a college course. When a 4-week remedial arithmetic course at an urban community college started at three different times in a semester, the within-course retention rate of the group that started the latest, hence had the longest delay, was the lowest. The aforementioned inverse relationship was observed, while there was no significant difference among the groups in terms of students’ final exam scores. A few suggestions for possible future studies, along with implications for practice, are made. We recommend the use of various forms of reminders to offset the negative impact of delayed start of a course.

Discovery of Patterns in the Difference of Two Squares

Many mathematical discoveries are made by the really talented mathematics students. They enjoy making discoveries, and it is a pleasure to help them. No one is especially surprised when the really bright students make discoveries. But sometimes students with limited background and ability in mathematics make discoveries which are interesting and exciting. Evidence that students of limited ability can make exciting discoveries came to the writer recently while he was teaching a noncredit, remedial arithmetic class at the college freshman level.

Children's concept of scale and the subtraction of fractions

The analysis of the computational errors made by individual children or groups of children is highly regarded as a diagnostic tool. Programs of remedial arithmetic instruction are commonly based upon an instructor's analysis of the specific errors made by each student in his written work. In recent years, however, little attention has been given the possible use of error analyses as tools for devising new instructional approaches or for determining the relative effectiveness of existing approaches.

Have you read?

Bernstein, Allen, “A Study of Remedial Arithmetic Conducted With Ninth Grade Students,” School Science and mathematics, January 1056, pp. 25-31 and June 1956, pp. 429-437.

What Constitutes Remedial Work in Arithmetic

The concept of remedial arithmetic should undergo changes similar to those of remedial programs in other fields. In the medical field, the practice in former years was to treat the patient in order to give relief, hoping to effect a permanent cure. An abdominal pain was treated as a pain to be stopped as soon as possible, often with tragic results if the pain happened to be a symptom of an infected appendix. More and more doctors are relying upon clinical diagnosis to determine the real difficulty and to suggest the treatment. Only those temporary measures are used which are absolutely safe. As some one has said, “Before they dose, they diagnose.” In the social field, juvenile delinquency was treated as a crime, and punishment meted out. Now we are asking: Why did he do this? What is the underlying cause? So, in remedial arithmetic work we can no longer merely treat the symptom, but must look carefully for the cause and take measures to bring about a permanent cure.