I have been using ConcepTests since the fall of 2000 in a variety of mathematics classes. I use ConcepTests to engage students, provoke discussion, and help lead the class through challenging material. In this paper, I will discuss how I use these questions in my college algebra class. I will start with background on my course and the mechanics of using ConcepTests, move to different uses of ConcepTests with examples, and then finally raise some challenges for ConcepTests in college algebra.

Background

At Centenary, college algebra is one of three mathematics courses offered primarily for “core” — that is, students take the course to satisfy the mathematics requirement for the college. While a few students will take the course in preparation for precalculus, the vast majority takes the course as their last college mathematics course. Accordingly, our version of the course focuses less on symbolic manipulation and more on modeling and data analysis. For at least the last seven years, the department has used the Kime/Clark text [46], which is close in spirit to the Harvard calculus series. The text emphasizes different modes of thinking about functions (graphical, tabular, etc..) and places the study of linear and exponential functions in a modeling context. In addition, the course covers some basic descriptive statistics along with a section on regression.

Class sizes tend to be around 30 students with most of the students at sophomore level or higher.