The impact of prerequisites for undergraduate calculus I performance

Zachariah Benton Hurdle; Wiktor Mogilski

doi:10.29333/iejme/12146

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Zachariah Benton Hurdle ¹ ^* , Wiktor Mogilski ¹

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¹ Utah Valley University, Orem, UT, USA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

We conducted a quantitative analysis to determine how the prerequisite path of students taking calculus I impacts their grade performance. We began by investigating the performance of students that took college algebra and trigonometry versus those that took pre-calculus ahead of their credit-bearing calculus I attempt. We concluded that there was a significant difference between the two prerequisite routes. We then performed regression analysis to view the number of credit prerequisite credit hours, including multiple attempts, as a predictor of calculus I GPA and A-proportion. We found a strong negative correlation between these variables. We hope this study can be replicated at other institutions and in other fields to help university policymakers with decision-making regarding course listings.

Keywords

calculus
prerequisite
college mathematics
mathematics performance

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

INT ELECT J MATH ED, 2022, Volume 17, Issue 3, Article No: em0696

https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/12146

Publication date: 05 Jun 2022

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Article Downloads: 397

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Disclosure

Declaration of Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest is declared by author(s).

Data sharing statement: Data supporting the findings and conclusions are available upon request from the corresponding author(s).

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How to cite this article

APA

Hurdle, Z. B., & Mogilski, W. (2022). The impact of prerequisites for undergraduate calculus I performance. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 17(3), em0696. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/12146

Vancouver

Hurdle ZB, Mogilski W. The impact of prerequisites for undergraduate calculus I performance. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2022;17(3):em0696. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/12146

AMA

Hurdle ZB, Mogilski W. The impact of prerequisites for undergraduate calculus I performance. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2022;17(3), em0696. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/12146

Chicago

Hurdle, Zachariah Benton, and Wiktor Mogilski. "The impact of prerequisites for undergraduate calculus I performance". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education 2022 17 no. 3 (2022): em0696. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/12146

Harvard

Hurdle, Z. B., and Mogilski, W. (2022). The impact of prerequisites for undergraduate calculus I performance. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 17(3), em0696. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/12146

MLA

Hurdle, Zachariah Benton et al. "The impact of prerequisites for undergraduate calculus I performance". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, vol. 17, no. 3, 2022, em0696. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/12146