Abstract

Engineering and science freshmen who enter our institution with algebra deficiencies have a very low probability of performing satisfactorily in the required college-level calculus course. Two years ago, a remedial one-semester program was conducted for 36 freshmen who were identified by an entrance examination as being weak in algebra. The course was based on the assumption that the students were "concrete" in the Piagetian sense. The main part of the course required a general physics laboratory that provided selected experiences to bridge the concrete-formal gap. After three semesters, 31% of the participants in the course were receiving grades of C or above in calculus courses, as compared to 16% of those students who did not take the remedial program. © 1977, American Association of Physics Teachers. All copy rights reserved.

Department(s)

Physics

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1943-2909; 0002-9505

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2023 The Authors, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 1977

Included in

Physics Commons

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