Measuring the Impact of a Computational Linear Algebra Course on Students' Exam Performance in a Subsequent Numerical Methods Course

Abstract

A new computational linear algebra course was developed and offered at a large public university in the Midwest. This new course traded off some of the lecture time in the pre-existing traditional linear algebra course for applied computational materials taught in a flipped-classroom lab setting. We compare exam performance in a subsequent numerical methods course from students having taken either the new computational or traditional course, while controlling for student performance in prerequisite computer science and mathematics courses. We find that for students with less mathematics background (i.e., those who needed to take Calculus 2 at the university), taking the new computational linear algebra course has significant positive impact on their average exam performance in the subsequent course. The performance of students with more initial mathematics background (i.e., those who already had credit for Calculus 2) is not significantly affected by the computational vs. traditional course backgrounds.