1. Oral Reviews: Formative Assessment that Results in Improved Grades, Understanding and Retention
Mary Nelson
Harnam Arnega
George Mason University
Supported by NSF TUES II, IUSE and Noyce grants
Mathfest August 2016

2. Impetus for Project
-40% of all College students have taken at least one Calculus course by the time they graduate
40% of all students who take Calculus I fail it the first time
More than half the patents awarded here last year were given to companies from outside the United States.
The United States ranks 27th of 29 wealthy nations in the proportion of college students receiving undergraduate degrees in science or engineering.
Too often, science curriculums are grinding and unimaginative, which may help explain why more than half of all college science majors quit the discipline before they earn their degrees.

3. Research Questions:
In what ways does the peer-mentoring Learning Assistant network provide opportunities for meaningful articulation of student learning across the STEM disciplines?
How does the use of oral reviews allow the faculty to develop student understanding in their respective STEM disciplines?
Do student performance, attitude changes towards STEM, and student learning enhanced through the proposed activities create a successful pathway for retention in STEM majors?

4. Tools and Methods used in Calculus I
Four essential ingredients:
1) an entrance exam;
2) an extended two-semester course;
3) oral reviews and
4) Learning Assistants.  

5. Entrance Exam
Created by Associate Chair of the Department at CU Boulder
Has 30 questions taken from Algebra I and II and Trigonometry
Predicts over 50% of the variance in student grades
Best predictor of course grade considering over 20 variables
Students who score below 18 (out of 30) on the entrance exam have a less than 10% chance of passing
Exam allows us to accurately place students
How do we help these students?

6. Option 1: Two-semester Calculus I Course
Designed for students predicted to fail Calculus I
Includes in-time teaching of Pre-calculus concepts
Large percentage of first generation college students and minorities
Consistently changes passing rates from less than 10% to over 80%
These students go on to pass Calculus II at rates similar to other one-semester Calculus I students
One important ingredient in the success of the two-semester course was oral reviews

7. Oral reviews
One hour with 5-6 students in small room with lots of white boards
Voluntary and ungraded
Begin by writing their first names on the board
Students are asked scripted conceptual questions
- not “find this derivative”, but “if the derivative is -7 at x =2, what does that tell you?
- not linearize this functions”, but “if you linearize a function, what are you doing? Why? Can you draw a graph and explain how it works?

8. Results of Two-semester Course
Over 85% of the students in the two-semester course passed Calculus I, whereas only 16% of the at-risk students who remained in the regular course passed.
We followed the at-risk control and treatment students for three years and found that 56% of the two-semester students enrolled in Calculus II compared to only 20% of the one-semester at-risk.
Of those who took Calculus II, the pass rates for treatment students were slightly higher: 89% of treatment students and 80% of the control passed Calculus II.

9. Orals in Large Classes Logistical challenge
Results have been striking (next two slides)
Improves students’ grades at all ability levels
Reduced failure rates from 9 year average of 31% to five year average of 22%
Improves students confidence in their ability level
Convinces students that their instructors, TAs and LAs care
Data shows improved attendance, increase in homework, improved grades and IMPROVED RETENTION RATES in STEM majors

10. Benefits of Oral Reviews
Students negotiate meaning and make mathematical connections
Students learn to be far more metacognitive about their own learning
Students feel more confident in their mathematical ability
Students display more expert views on the nature of mathematics.

11. Success rates by Preparation Level

12. Do Only Motivated Students Benefit?
Compare to workshop students
Compare to review sessions
End result is higher pass rates/ better understanding/ more satisfied students/improved retention

13. Tool 4: Learning Assistants
Undergraduate teaching assistants
Work 10 hours/week for 15 weeks/semester
Work in flipped classrooms, peer tutoring, lab assistants
Boot camps, science fairs, poster or paper presentations
Learn with other students
Gain confidence in their major coursework
Retain at higher levels

14. Reduction in Failure Rates for Calculus I

15. Thank yous to NSF for their support of our efforts Questions
Thank yous to NSF for their support of our efforts Questions?

16. Personal Stories of Learning Assistants
Student G graduated in Math in 2009 and now teaches mathematics at a Colorado High School. This will be her sixth year teaching mathematics.
Student M, born in Mexico and a native Spanish speaker, graduated in Applied Math in She now teaches mathematics in a high school in Denver, CO.
Student R graduated in Mathematics in 2009, and did graduate study in Education at the University of Denver, on a Boettcher Scholarship.
Student Z graduated in Applied Math. in 2010, and is now completing graduate study at Columbia Teachers College, New York, on a Math for America Master Teacher Fellowship.
Student S graduated in Applied Mathematics in 2012 and received the Knowles Teaching Fellowship.
Student E graduated in 2014 from GMU. She was a Noyce scholar and a finalist for the Math for America program in New York. She begins her graduate study in Education at Columbia in the fall.
Student N is a single mother of two who is Noyce scholar planning to student teach in the spring of She was the subject of a CNN feature story in June 2014.