Students’ abilities in solving non-routine problems in calculus

Abstract

Calculus is one of the branches of Mathematics in which the concepts are difficult to understand but the techniques are easy to apply. Students who have been taking an “applying algorithmic skills” approach before coming to the University thus have problems with University level Calculus where the approach is rather more abstract. This paper reports on a study conducted to find out if first year undergraduate students from the National Institute of Education, Singapore, were able to solve novel problems in Calculus by applying their understanding of Calculus concepts. Our study shows that students with good grades in traditional examinations need not be good in solving of novel problems. Conversely, students with lower grades can solve novel problem with correct understanding of the concepts.