Mathematics Education
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/10211.4_42
2024-03-29T11:16:12Z
2024-03-29T11:16:12Z
Challenges in creating and implementing a unit on proofs and quadrilaterals based on worked examples principles
Southam, Jonathan
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/214587
2020-01-03T00:03:50Z
2020-01-02T00:00:00Z
Challenges in creating and implementing a unit on proofs and quadrilaterals based on worked examples principles
Southam, Jonathan
The concept of a worked example is simple. It is an expert’s problem solving strategy that students use to study and learn. Previous research has repeatedly shown that using worked examples in the classroom can drive student learning in many content domains. Effective worked examples vary in structure depending on the learning goal. Some examples are created for students to study to learn about the process used in solving a problem, while others require students to complete missing steps or justifications in the problem solving process. This study explored the effectiveness of a unit based on the principles of worked examples to introduce and teach proofs to high school geometry students. In creating the unit, research was conducted into cognitive load theory and the principles of effective worked examples. Students’ posttest scores were used to determine if students learned better with the worked examples unit when compared to students who learned the same material through a traditional teaching method. Student surveys were used to determine if the worked example unit improved students’ self-confidence in math class. It was found that the unit did not improve student posttest scores or alter their self-confidence. While the unit was shown to be ineffective, this study gives insight into how a practicing teacher can apply the research on worked examples principles to make reasonable changes to their classroom materials and instruction methods with the aim of improving students’ understanding of geometric proofs.
2020-01-02T00:00:00Z
Understanding why high school math teachers leave: the perceptions of California educators in the Central Valley
Pittman, Heidi
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/158526
2019-10-11T22:11:14Z
2015-12-08T00:00:00Z
Understanding why high school math teachers leave: the perceptions of California educators in the Central Valley
Pittman, Heidi
The state of California has greater teacher shortages than other states. Beginning teachers have the highest departure rate and mathematics teachers at the high school level are leaving at a greater rate than other teaching areas. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the perceptions of high school educators on the issue of high school math teachers leaving the profession within the first five years of teaching. The objective of this study was to answer three questions: (a) Are high school educators in the Central Valley of California aware of the struggle to keep beginning high school math teachers in the profession, (b) What are their beliefs on why they leave the profession and (c) What are their ideas on how to keep them in the profession. There were two phases of the study. The first phase was an electronic survey addressing the questions given to the high school teachers and administrators in one school district, three high schools, in the Central Valley of California. The second phase of the study was to per- form interviews with selected educators identified by the researcher to gather data and more insight into beginning math teacher retention.
After examining the data from the surveys and interviews, information indicating possible reasons and solutions to the beginning math teacher retention issue in California were determined. Findings suggest the high school teachers and administrators agreed that there was a problem keeping beginning math teachers in the profession although the problem might be retaining beginning teachers across all subjects. Some possible reasons mentioned in the study consist of the lack of support from administration, classroom management issues, the classes assigned to new teachers, and low salary. Respondents’ thoughts on possible solutions included increased collaboration, a mentor or partner teacher, quality professional development, increased administrative support, and salary increases.
2015-12-08T00:00:00Z
The use of lived experience descriptions in a remedial mathematics classroom
Lloyd, Tierra T.
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/135887
2019-10-11T22:11:14Z
2015-03-09T00:00:00Z
The use of lived experience descriptions in a remedial mathematics classroom
Lloyd, Tierra T.
A large number of American college students are placed in remedial, or developmental, mathematics courses, and those same students then go on to abandon or fail those courses at a staggering rate. Research has produced cognitive, affective, socioeconomic, and pedagogical explanations for this phenomenon; several recent studies advocate for a more unified view, emphasizing the interplay between these aspects of experience.
In this study, students in a post-secondary remedial algebra class were taught to write lived experience descriptions: first–person, present-tense narratives which describe affective, cognitive, and other aspects of experience. Students were then asked to write about specific mathematical experiences several times throughout the semester.
These students’ test scores, test times, and attitudes toward mathematics were compared to those of students in a control group.
Over the course of the semester, the students who wrote lived experience descriptions showed a statistically significant improvement in test scores as compared to those in the control group. The students’ writing assignments appear to document the emergence of personal agency in relation to mathematics: as the semester progressed, the students spoke less of themselves and mathematics as separate, fixed entities, and instead described a relationship which they had the power to improve.
2015-03-09T00:00:00Z
Why middle-school students struggle with Accountable Talk©
Dittman, Beth Lynn
http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/128718
2019-10-11T22:11:14Z
2014-10-15T00:00:00Z
Why middle-school students struggle with Accountable Talk©
Dittman, Beth Lynn
The purpose of this study was to explore why students struggle with the
teaching practice called Accountable Talk©
(University of Pittsburgh, 2010). The
researcher implemented Accountable Talk©
practices in four pre-algebra classes. The
objective of this study was to answer the questions
: Who are the students who struggle
with academic discourse and in what manner do these
students struggle? This study
took place over an entire school year. There were two phases of this study. The first
phase of the study was a survey given to students to measure students’ attitudes
towards Accountable Talk©
practices. After student surveys were given, the researcher identified the students who struggled the most with the teaching strategy Accountable
Talk©. The second phase of the study was to conduct interviews with those students identified during the first phase who struggled with Accountable Talk©
2014-10-15T00:00:00Z