Remedial-Math Workshop: Opening Doors to Graduation |
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| Authors: | Ewa Dabkowska |
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| Institution: | Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Queensborough Community College – CUNY, Bayside, New York, USA |
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| Abstract: | About half of students attending community colleges leave school before finishing their intended goals. To increase students’ retention and to prevent the multiple-repeater problem, Queensborough Community College (QCC) offered a short-term workshop for remedial-mathematics students. This was another chance to exit remediation instead of repeating a semester-long course. During the winter session of 2015 at QCC, 96% of the students enrolled in the remedial-mathematics workshop had successfully completed the remedial-mathematics requirement. The workshop consisted of group-centered activities that involved an intense problem solving approach. Students worked in small groups of multiple-repeater students (failed the remedial-mathematics course two or more times) and first-time-repeater students (failed once the remedial-mathematics course and scored at least 52 on the CUNY Elementary Algebra Final Examination) to master important algebraic concepts taught in the remedial-mathematics course. We will discuss the outcomes of the remedial-mathematics workshop pilot and evaluate the effectiveness of the workshop on student’s success and retention in remedial mathematics. |
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