Mathematics, Computer Science and Career Inclinations - A Multi-Institutional Exploration.

Mathematics is at the heart of computer science as a discipline, yet not all students appreciate the relevance and importance of mathematics in a computing degree. Recent work presented a hypothesis that a student’s career inclinations may impact their view towards the value of learning mathematics, and thus their course selections. However, empirical support for this theory has previously been limited to a single institution in which students are required to include mathematics as part of their degree. In this work, we conduct a replication study in a different institutional context where mathematics is not a strict requirement for computer science students. We find robust support for the previously hypothesized relationship between career inclinations and perceptions of mathematics, and a strongly stated desire from students that the mathematics they learn should be more clearly connected and relevant to computer science.