Statement of Research Interests​

I have two articles currently in press for 2012. The first is an entry in the Encyclopedia of Special Education entitled, “Developmental Mathematics at the College Level” (Cox, 2012a), and the second is an article for the Journal of Adventist Education entitled, “The Teaching Implications of Gender Inequality” (Cox, 2012b). Both articles spotlight my research interests. I enjoy finding ways of taking the mystery out of mathematics for the remedial student as well as uncovering differences in learning styles.​

Educational literature demonstrates that the reasons for large quantities of underprepared college students are not clearly understood nor are the most appropriate teaching methods in dealing with them. I have addressed this issue by investigating different teaching and assessment methods and how they interact (Cox, 2011). Quite often, the cause of college remediation is considered as straightforward as a mismatch between what high schools teach and what universities measure for placement purposes. The reality of the situation, however, is that numerous other variables such as demographic and/or generational differences exacerbate the situation.

I presently teach mathematics to both math majors and future teachers of mathematics. Beyond conveying content to students, I attempt to change the culture of the future classroom by focusing on demonstrating quality teaching methods, especially for the education students planning on working in K-12 classrooms. I have a burden to see the language of mathematics used properly and for educational technology not to be abused. I believe both language and technology are part of the reason for increasingly large numbers of students arriving on post-secondary campuses with the inability to succeed at college-level mathematics. Experiments that measure mathematical vocabulary and ability are future directions with a certain appeal.

My greatest research interest to date is in discovering how to effectively work with the modern college student regardless of their past experiences. At the college level students are seeking a quality education, not necessarily an a priori explanation as to why they are the way they are. Students that arrive for their freshman year of mathematics must find success in their first year in order to find success in their overall collegiate career. Teaching methods, followed with fidelity, along with creating an increase in student motivation, are fruitful areas of research for providing students with a thriving college career.

Studies indicate that remedial mathematics students are more likely than non-remedial students to drop out and that success in remedial mathematics is a good predictor of retention and college grade-point average. Therefore, colleges profit when they offer a clearly defined method of assistance for students in need, provided these students are properly identified. My research and experience includes both the areas of unambiguously defining student assistance and clearly identifying at-risk students. I designed two aptitude tests for Southwestern; one for the Chemistry department, the other was used to help identify nursing school candidates in need of mathematical remediation. Data recovered from the aptitude tests indicated proper placement is just one of many variables that determine success. Others include student attitude, teaching method, self-efficacy, and assessment method. I also oversee the tutoring program in the mathematics department and qualitative data (surveys) has revealed that tutoring plays a strong role in the feelings of student self-efficacy.

For the 2012-2013 school year I redesigned the curriculum in remedial mathematics and college algebra for Southwestern University. Math topics were selected to create a sequence and rate of progression more suitable for non-math majors while maintaining an accurate bulletin course description. The topics were realigned to reduce class-to-class overlap (topic redundancy) and remediation was changed from a two semester progression to a single semester class. After April/May, 2013 I will have the complete data needed to analyze the effect of the curriculum change.

Future research interests include collaboration between mathematics departments and education departments in finding effective teaching methods for the ever changing student population. Experiments that combine pedagogy with a solid mathematical foundation are of potential interest. I am interested in designing upcoming experiments that account for teaching methods, instructor knowledge, assessment method, student satisfaction, and their interaction.  

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References
Cox, M. W. (2012a, in press). Developmental Mathematics at the College Level. In C. R. Reynolds, K. J. Vannest, & E. Fletcher
          Janzen (Eds.), Encyclopedia of special education: A reference for the education of children, adolescents, and adults with
          disabilities and other exceptional individuals (4th ed., pp. TBD). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

Cox, M. W. (2012b, in press). The teaching implications of gender inequality. Journal of Adventist Education, x, xx-xx.

Cox, M. W. (2011). Instruction in college-level remedial mathematics: Teaching remedial mathematics. Saarbrucken, Germany:
          Lambert Academic Publishing.