Posted on 10/07/2023 3:40:59 AM PDT by george76
After a year of remote algebra, Diego Fonseca struggled with advanced algebra. Despite a week at George Mason University's Math Boot Camp, the would-be computer science major failed the math placement test to qualify for calculus four times. He didn't know the basics.
Across the country, more students are placing into pre-college math, reports AP's Collin Binkley. "At many universities, engineering and biology majors are struggling to grasp fractions and exponents."
At George Mason in Northern Virginia, fewer would-be STEM majors are getting into calculus and more are failing, he writes.
“We’re talking about college-level pre-calculus and calculus classes, and students cannot even add one-half and one-third,” said Maria Emelianenko, chair of George Mason’s math department.
At Temple, the number of students placed into intermediate algebra, the equivalent of ninth-grade math, has nearly doubled, writes Binkley. It's the lowest option for STEM majors.
In a softball quiz at the start of last year's fall semester, students were asked to subtract eight from negative six, recalls Jessica Babcock. “I graded a whole bunch of papers in a row. No two papers had the same answer, and none of them were correct.”
“It’s not just that they’re unprepared, they’re almost damaged,” said Brian Rider, Temple’s math chair. “I hate to use that term, but they’re so behind.”
Professors tried "expanded office hours, a new tutoring center, pared-down lessons focused on the essentials," writes Binkley. "But students didn’t come for help, and they kept getting D’s and F’s."
This year, Babcock hopes redesigning the algebra class to focus on "active learning" will help. "Class will be more of a group discussion, with lots of problems worked in-class."
George Mason also is offering active learning, and the option to take a slower-paced math class that takes two terms instead of one.
Fonseca failed the placement test four times, again placing in pre-calculus. He'd need at least one extra semester to catch up on math. He decided to start at community college instead. Using what he'd learned in boot camp, he placed into calculus.
1980....Our professor said no calculators...and we used the slide rule. Said he wanted us to learn to anticipate what the answer should be +-
Well, then your college was a little behind technology, I guess. I had just completed 8 years in the AF (68-76) and was on a TDY team that optimized communications links all the way from Iceland down through Europe and onto Greece and Turkey.
We were using HP35s for the testing and at the end were given HP45s.
Concur
+1
hoping for a gold star
Logic, Language, Hierarchies, Cause and Effect, etc., are required for modern programming. Math is only for one subset of computer use.
No, it means what portion of X do you get if you add half of X to 1/3 of X.
X could be a pound of sugar or a ton of gravel; what the instructor wants to know is whether the student can add fractions with different denominators.
Just adding to what you wrote... I read that colleges added the calculus requirement for Computer Science in the 1980s when CSC became a popular major because colleges wanted to limit the number of CSC students. One of my kids earned a CSC degree, and he did very well in math, but he’s said that, so far, he’s never needed calculus in his job.
Was that a Yogi Berra quote?
And they can name all of the Kardashians!
Apparently the spelling too.....
I am sure not very many folks can do that now,.,
Exactly.
Bullsit. This is not possible.
It was not covid shutdown. It was the damaging math curriculum they have been taught for the past twenty years.
Even in Best of schools.
Grew up working in my Grandpa’s gas station. Besides counting change, learned to “face” the money so the bills were easy to differentiate. Drives me crazy even the banks don’t do that anymore.
4th grade math
Taught all my kids using g Saxon.
Son is only guy on the job who can figure out the umbers.
Have an accountant and a nurse in the mix
Counting change back dollars and change was easy...most people cannot do that anymore.............
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