Conclusions of Assessment Data Analysis for Fall 2009
Presented: Wed, Feb 10, 2010 Math Dept. Meeting
In MA010 students did poorly in sections (2.1, 2.2, 2.3) (Learning Outcomes: Students
will be able to translate contextual situations into mathematical functions, equations or
expressions). The next worst performance was in sections (9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4) (Learning
Outcome: Students will be able to represent a mathematical problem in the form of a
graph, diagram or sketch.)
In MA013 students scored 10% higher than MA010 students.
The MA-010 and MA-013 students did best in computing the slope of a line.
In MA120 students did poorly in sections(4.1, 4.2, 4.3) (Learning Outcome: Students
will be able to (1) simplify a compound inequality given in symbolic form; (2) write the
simplified form in interval notation and (3) represent the simplified symbolic inequality
in the form of a graph, diagram or sketch). The next worst performance was in section
(9.1) (Learning Outcome: Students will be able to apply the given mathematical model to
correctly solve the problem). Students did not do very well on sections (8.1, 8.2)
(Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to (1) translate contextual problems into
mathematical functions, equations and /or expressions; (2) select from several methods to
correctly solve a quadratic equation).
Most of the MA-120 students were able to solve a linear system.
In MA440 students did poorly in sections (2.2-2.7) (RATIONAL FUNCTIONS)
(Learning Outcome: Students will be able to apply the profile of a function to graph the
function: asymptotes, domain, range, intercepts). Next, students performance was only
about 10% higher in sections (6.1, 6.2) (Learning Outcome: Students will be able to
apply the law of cosines). Also students didn't do very well in sections (10.1-10.5)
(Learning Outcome: Students will be able to expand series). Students’ performance was
overall poor.
The MA-440 students did best in expanding series, though many had difficulty in
simplifying the resulting expression. In Section 2, the MA-440 students had the most
difficulty in determining the range of a rational function, while they did best in finding
the asymptotes.