A study of college students' estimation skills with mathematical computations.

Abstract

This research examines students’ capability to perform computational estimations as well as strategies used in doing so. There were a total of 59 participants and each was given an assessment and a survey to collect data to answer the questions: “How familiar are non-mathematics major college students with computational estimation?” and “What strategies are often implemented in performing these estimations?” Results showed that these participants were not proficient at estimating the answers of the problems in the study, implying that there is a need to further develop students’ skills of estimation in earlier stages of their education.