Students’ learning difficulties in integral calculus based on critical thinking skills

Abstract

This study aimed to describe students’ learning difficulties in integral calculus based on critical thinking skills. This study used descriptive exploratory methods with instruments: test, interview, documentation, and observation. Data was taken from 20 undergraduate students from the study program of mathematics education at Universitas Negeri Semarang. The results showed that: (1) there were 24 types of student difficulties identified in calculus lectures; these difficulties consist of 20 types of difficulties related to calculus material (types of difficulties number 1 to 20) and four types of difficulties that were not related to material (types of difficulties number 21 to 24), and (2) these types of difficulties were graded according to the level of student critical thinking skills. A higher level of critical thinking skills had fewer types of difficulties; on the other hand, a lower level of critical thinking skills had more types of difficulties and more fundamental. The fundamental types of difficulties based on the critical thinking skills aspect include understanding integral concepts and drawing graphics.

Trend of critical thinking skill researches in mathematics education in Scopus database across Indonesia: From research design to data analysis

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Comparison of student performance between virtual and in-person modalities of introductory calculus-based physics

“…Another important question is the correlation of students' background knowledge of basic physics concepts and prior proficiency in calculus towards the performance on the assessments [19,20]. This question becomes one of the heated topics when setting the prerequisites for university-level introductory calculus-based physics courses.…”