This paper reports a study of 10 post-secondary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) instructors' beliefs about mathematical modelling and the role of mathematics in STEM coursework. The participants were selected from STEM disciplines that are atypical to the literature base (e.g. anthropology and geography), in order to extend…

Several concerted movements toward mathematical modeling have been seen in the last decade, reflecting the growing global relationship between the role of mathematics in the context of modern science, technology and real life. The literature has mainly covered the theoretical basis of research questions in mathematical modeling and the use of…

Should math educators care about what is happening in numeracy education research? Is the addition of a numeracy course something that mathematics departments should consider in their course offerings? Numeracy is often conflated with math-lite and dismissed as not useful to mathematicians and math educators. The term is used interchangeably with…

Background/purpose: This study aims to analyze students' ability to solve differential calculus problems in relation to their prior mathematical knowledge (PMK). Materials/methods: A qualitative research design method was employed. Participants in this study were 103 third-semester students at the university enrolled in the Differential Calculus…

An algebraic model uses a set of algebraic equations to describe a situation. Constructing such models is a fundamental skill, but many students still lack the skill, even after taking several algebra courses in high school and college. For such students, we developed instruction that taught students to decompose the to-be-modelled situation into…

The selection and application of learning strategies for college students is a hot topic in the field of education. However, there is no consensus on a universal learning strategy for most learners. The methods for discovering such a strategy are also unclear. This lack of agreement is largely due to the absence of unified measurement criteria and…

From the socio-critical perspective of mathematical modeling, reflexive discussions about the nature, criteria, and consequences of mathematical models are not a natural consequence of modeling in school. This report is part of a larger study focused on stimulating reflexive discussions in practice employing constructivist grounded theory as a…

Given the simultaneous rise in time-to-graduation and college GPA, it may be that students reduce their course load to improve their performance. Yet, evidence to date only shows increased course loads "increase" GPA. We provide a mathematical model showing many unobservable factors -- beyond student ability -- can generate a positive…

Word problems are a question type commonly seen in math tests and exams. Since word problems are an integral part in teaching and learning of mathematics in schools, understanding what factors that would affect students' ability to solve math word problems may help students understand where their weaknesses lie and help teachers adopt effective…

This article describes the results of an investigation based on a Models and Modeling Perspective [MMP]. We present the evolution of the models built by university students when solving a model development sequence designed to promote their learning of the exponential function. As a result, we observed that students' thinking was modified,…

A chemical engineering analysis course was modified to include analytics with advanced numerical methods. The course uses the MATLAB computational environment to develop student programming, modeling, analytics, and optimization skills. Case studies reinforce MATLAB, numerical methods, and advanced optimization skills. Students reported confidence…

The main aim of this paper is to present results of an experimental test focused on the validity and effectiveness of composed methodology aimed at increasing the student's attention in Virtual Learning Environment. Areas of presented methodology which were subject of our research is students behavior during learning. The behavioral part of…

Several studies related to mathematics understanding found that many undergraduate students lack some basic knowledge of algebra. They memorized only a few topics, formulas, and algorithms without understanding them conceptually, even though they could manipulate those limited number of points correctly or incorrectly. In comparison, most…

In this paper, we present an overview of a series of 1-credit applied problem solving courses. The goal of these courses was to help students develop their oral and written communication skills, ability to work as a team, and general problem solving skills through preparation and participation in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) and…

Worked examples support learning. However, if they introduce easy-to-confuse concepts or principles, specific ways of providing worked examples may influence their effectiveness. Multiple worked examples can be introduced blocked (i.e., several for the same principle) or interleaved (i.e., switching between principles), and can be sequentially or…