The Effect Of High School Calculator Usage On First-Year College Calculus Grades
Creators: name: White, Tyreke
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Calculus
subject: Education
subject: Statistics
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Analysis

description: This paper investigates the impact of high school calculator usage on first-year college calculus grades, a relationship for which a dearth of material exists. Using the national FICSMath survey of students in college calculus, we perform a factor analysis on the calculator variables of interest to construct 2 composites signifying latent characteristics of calculator use in high school classrooms. A multiple linear regression analysis is carried out, controlling for standard confounding variables, such as race, gender, socioeconomics, etc. Lastly, interaction effects are examined, and we identify a statistically significant interaction between our two composites: ’zealotry’ and ’restricted’. We find that the more extensively students had used calculators in high school the lower their course grade in first-year college calculus. A high degree of restrictedness helps mitigate this effect.
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