Date Approved

5-31-1996

Embargo Period

9-4-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. in Mathematics Education

Department

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math Education

College

College of Education

Advisor

Sooy, John

Subject(s)

Gloucester County College--Curricula; Mathematics--Study and teaching (Higher)

Disciplines

Science and Mathematics Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a basic skills mathematics curriculum for adult learners, evaluate student progress, and survey the instructors' opinions.

Gagne's curriculum model was used to develop a new curriculum addressing the problems of the traditional curriculum. Research was cited to substantiate each curriculum change. The new curriculum successfully addressed each of the concepts gathered from the related literature.

Student progress was evaluated at Gloucester County College from January to March of 1996. All of the nine MAT-010 classes used the new curriculum. A dependent t-test was applied to pretest and posttest scores of the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Tests for fifty-eight students. The difference in scores was significant at the .01 level. Results indicated that the students' computational achievement was significantly improved after covering the first two units of the text, which did not include computational instruction. These results concur with the NCTM Standards that concluded that remediation is more effectively taught by methods which stress understanding and not computational drill.

All of the five MAT-010 instructors were surveyed. The results of the opinionnaire showed that the instructors' opinions towards the new curriculum were favorable. This was determined by the use of the Likert Method.

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