| dc.description.abstract |
Community colleges continue to provide resources for initiatives designed to help students successfully complete the traditional gateway courses, which, for mathematics, is often College Algebra. This study examined the effect of peer-led supplemental project-based instruction sessions on persistence, successful completion, conceptual understanding, and attitude toward mathematics for students enrolled in a College Algebra course at a community college. Participating instructors designed materials for supplemental sessions, which were coupled with traditional classroom instruction. Peer tutors facilitated the weekly supplemental sessions. The study employed a quasi-experimental approach to determine if students in an instructor‘s experimental class persisted longer, were more successful, had a deeper understanding of course concepts, or changed their attitude toward mathematics when compared to that same instructor‘s traditional class. The results of the study suggested that while the students found value in the sessions because of opportunities for them to feel more connected to tutors and to peers, there was no significant increase in persistence rates in the class, success rates, level of understanding of the major course concepts, or change in attitude for students in the class with the tutor-led supplemental sessions. |
en_US |