Adaptive Individual Differences in Math Courses

Maura A. E. Pilotti, Hanadi Abdelsalam, Farheen Anjum, Imad Muhi, Sumiya Nasir, Ibtisam Daqqa, Gunner D. Gunderson and Raja Latif
Additional contact information
Maura A. E. Pilotti: College of Sciences and Human Studies, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, P.O. Box 1664, Al Khobar 31952, Saudi Arabia
Hanadi Abdelsalam: College of Sciences and Human Studies, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, P.O. Box 1664, Al Khobar 31952, Saudi Arabia
Farheen Anjum: College of Sciences and Human Studies, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, P.O. Box 1664, Al Khobar 31952, Saudi Arabia
Imad Muhi: College of Sciences and Human Studies, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, P.O. Box 1664, Al Khobar 31952, Saudi Arabia
Sumiya Nasir: College of Sciences and Human Studies, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, P.O. Box 1664, Al Khobar 31952, Saudi Arabia
Ibtisam Daqqa: College of Sciences and Human Studies, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, P.O. Box 1664, Al Khobar 31952, Saudi Arabia
Gunner D. Gunderson: College of Sciences and Human Studies, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, P.O. Box 1664, Al Khobar 31952, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-14

Abstract: A higher education that can be defined as sustainable ensures the acquisition of competencies that are necessary to address the current and future needs of the society in which it exists. Because math competencies are an essential component of college students’ academic and professional success, poor performance outcomes are particularly problematic in the context of an education that aims to be sustainable. This research sought to identify dispositions that are predictive of math performance in the post-pandemic world to develop an early detection system for at-risk students of an understudied population (college students of Middle Eastern descent from Saudi Arabia). It specifically targeted female and male students in STEM or non-STEM majors who were enrolled in a math course of the general education curriculum. During the second semester of a return to entirely face-to-face instruction, their self-efficacy, math learning anxiety, math evaluation anxiety, and preference for morning or evening study activities were surveyed. In the post-pandemic world of this understudied population, the math performance of STEM male and female students was hurt by concerns about learning math. The math performance of non-STEM male students benefited from self-efficacy, whereas that of non-STEM female students was unaffected by any of the dispositions surveyed in the present investigation. These findings suggest that individual difference measures can inform early interventions intended to address performance deficiencies in selected groups of students with the overreaching goal of ensuring a sustainable education for all.

Keywords: math learning; STEM; sex; Middle East; Saudi Arabia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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