THE TRANSITION FROM ADVANCED PLACEMENT CALCULUS
IN HIGH SCHOOL TO REFORM AND TRADITIONAL CALCULUS II
IN COLLEGE


The purpose of this research was to determine if there were any difficulties in the transition from Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus in high school to a reform or traditional Calculus II course in college. Students who participated in the study had passed the 1998 AP Calculus AB exam, which was the first to fully reflect changes parallel to the calculus reform movement. In particular, the researcher examined if any characteristics of reform calculus, such as use of technology, extent of teacher lecture, use of group or long-term projects, etc, had an affect on the transition into either type of college calculus course. The researcher also examined if different learning styles were related to a successful transition, which was defined as a transition between courses where the student earned the same grade or better.

While students in reform Calculus II had slightly higher grades, there was no significant difference in grade in Calculus II depending on whether the student was in a reform or traditional calculus course. The distribution of grades was also not different depending on the course the student completed. There was a significant difference in grades for students in Calculus I, with those who completed a reform Calculus I course earning higher grades than those who completed a traditional Calculus I course. Students were more likely to have a successful transition if they entered a reform Calculus I or Calculus II course than if they entered a traditional Calculus I or Calculus II course. Furthermore, some individual characteristics of reform did have a statistically significant effect of increasing grades depending on the extent used. Learning styles had no effect on the success of the transition for the students.

In general, the majority of students who entered Calculus II felt well prepared, although those that did not feel well prepared had significantly lower grades on average. There were also a large number in the study who had repeated Calculus I, even though they had passed the AP exam. The reason noted most often for not directly entering Calculus II was that students did not feel confident.

-Jennifer Bready