Enhancing Students’ Understanding in Calculus Trough Writing

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using writing activities on students’ understanding and achievement in Calculus. The design of this study was quasi-experimental. The subjects of this study consisted of two secondary schools in one of the states in Malaysia. Each school was assigned one intact class of Form Four to be the experimental group and another one intact class as the control. The experimental group learned mathematics by using the writing activities for five weeks, while the control group learned mathematics by using traditional whole-class instruction. A 20-item Calculus Achievement test was designed with reliability .87. The findings showed that the experimental group exhibited significantly greater improvement on calculus achievement. The students showed positive reaction towards the use of writing. Findings of this study provide information to schools to take advantage of writing activities to promote understanding.