Education Commons^™

Integrating Mathematical Modeling For Undergraduate Pre-Service Science Education Learning And Instruction In The Middle School Classroom, William H. Robertson, David Carrejo

William H. Robertson

El Paso is a bicultural, bilingual community with a 76.6% Hispanic population. Combining El Paso’s population with that of its sister city, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, our community is the largest metropolitan area on any international border in the world. Students at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) are mostly female, and 50% of the total student population is made up of first-generation college students. These demographics are accompanied by low socioeconomic and educational factors: 23.6% of local families live below the poverty level, compared to 12.5% nationally; 32.9% of 25-year-olds have not graduated from high school; 19% of …

Collaborative Partnerships To Achieve Equity, Jeremy Winters, Craig Rice, Cindy Cliche

NALS Journal

The collaborative partnership between most campus laboratory schools and their university or college department of education differs from campus to campus. The dual purpose of this partnership is to provide an education to school aged children as well as to provide college education majors an opportunity to observe and teach in a laboratory environment. The focus on inclusion and providing a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment for students with disabilities is an additional benefit for all of the students. In order for the partnership to be most effective, conversations must occur between general and special education …

The Impact Of Singapore Math On Student Knowledge And Enjoyment In Mathematics, Jenny Taliaferro Blalock

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the Singapore Math curriculum and approach to teaching on enjoyment and knowledge in mathematics in one rural school district in north Louisiana. The quantitative data used were collected from a Math Enjoyment Inventory and a mixed skills pre and posttest. Additional supplemental data were collected from a Teacher Response Form. All data were gathered in the 2010–2011 school year, and an intact population was utilized. Participants were categorized into two groups, the Singapore Math group and the traditional math group. The participating district implemented Singapore Math in the fall …

Does The Use Of A Graphing Calculator Tutorial Affect The Attitudes, Achievement, And Calculator Ability Of Non-Mathematics Majors In A Calculus Course?, Kari Michelle Everett

Dissertations

The use of graphing calculators in a mathematics classroom is becoming more common place. Teaching with technology has allowed for advancements in the rapidity with which students learn and the degree to which they retain the material taught. As a result, teachers have time to delve more deeply into mathematical topics that might otherwise have merely been touched upon.

This study shows the effects of a graphing calculator tutorial for non-mathematics major students taking calculus as a required course. Qualitative methods were used in order to provide information about the types of students taking a calculus course for nonmathematic students. …

Parts Of The Whole: An Algebra Lesson, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This column draws on research of Eon Harper to demonstrate how an understanding of his proposed stages of algebra acquisition would inform a systemic overhaul of algebra education. Harper's stages also explain why students may pass a series of algebra courses yet still be unable to make sense of calculus, as well as offering insight on what aspects of algebra support quantitative literacy.

Reducing Math Anxiety: Findings From Incorporating Service Learning Into A Quantitative Reasoning Course At Seattle University, Allison Henrich, Kristi Lee

Numeracy

How might one teach mathematics to math-anxious students and at the same time reduce their math anxiety? This paper describes what we found when we incorporated a service learning component into a quantitative reasoning course at Seattle University in Fall 2010 (20 students) and Spring 2011 (28 students). The course is taken primarily by humanities majors, many of whom would not take a course in math if they didn’t need to satisfy the university’s core requirement. For the service learning component, each student met with and tutored children at local schools for 1-2 hours per week (total about 15 service …

Quantitative Literacy At Michigan State University, 2: Connection To Financial Literacy, Dennis Gilliland, Vince Melfi, Alla Sikorskii, Edward Corcoran, Eleanor Melfi

Numeracy

The lack of capability of making financial decisions has been recently described for the adult United States population. A concerted effort to increase awareness of this crisis, to improve education in quantitative and financial literacy, and to simplify financial decision-making processes is critical to the solution. This paper describes a study that was undertaken to explore the relationship between quantitative literacy and financial literacy for entering college freshmen. In summer 2010, incoming freshmen to Michigan State University were assessed. Well-tested financial literacy items and validated quantitative literacy assessment instruments were administered to 531 subjects. Logistic regression models were used to …

Quantitative Literacy At Michigan State University, 1: Development And Initial Evaluation Of The Assessment, Alla Sikorskii, Vince Melfi, Dennis Gilliland, Jennifer Kaplan, Suzie Ahn

Numeracy

Development, psychometric testing, and the results of the administration of a quantitative literacy (QL) assessment to undergraduate students are described. Three forms were developed covering a wide range of skills, contexts, and quantitative information presentation formats. Following item generation and revision based on preliminary testing and cognitive interviewing, a total of 3,701 consented undergraduate students at Michigan State University completed one of the three forms. Two of the forms contained 14 multiple-choice items, and one form contained 17 multiple-choice items. All forms were completed by students in less than 30 minutes. Evidence of validity and reliability were obtained for the …

A Leap Forward For Quantitative Literacy, H. L. Vacher

Numeracy

The Association of American College and Universities’ Learning Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative has identified quantitative literacy (QL) as one of its Essential Learning Outcomes and classified it amongst five other Intellectual and Practical Skills such as inquiry and analysis, critical and creative thinking, and written and oral communication. This brings to mind a spreadsheet in which these transdisciplinary intellectual and practical skills are rows and academic disciplines are columns. With the view that the learning outcome QL is a row crossing mathematics and other disciplinary columns, this editorial considers how the papers in this and previous issues of …

The Effects Of A Remedial Math Intervention On Standardized Test Scores In Georgia Middle Schools, Chastity London Adams

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Schools are looking for interventions to improve academic achievement and increase test scores due to the requirements of No Child Left Behind. One such intervention in middle schools is remedial math. This causal comparative study examined the differences in the standardized test scores for at-risk students who receive remedial math instruction and at-risk students who do not receive this intervention. In addition, this study examined gender differences for the remedial math students. The Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test of 293 at-risk seventh-grade students was used in this study. Using the previous year's standardized math test scores as a control variable, there …

The Predictive Validity Of High School Grades To College Remedial Mathematics Performance, John Dozier

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

The concerns for remedial education are not new – as remedial education has a long history. Yet, the issues are gaining prominence in our discourse about improving the outcomes associated with post-secondary education. Any discussion of improvement is often accompanied by a discussion regarding the challenge posed to post-secondary institutions in meeting the growing remedial needs of the students that they receive. The purpose of this research is to evaluate community college placement of students into remedial coursework through an examination of whether a student’s high school mathematics preparation and mathematics grade average are a significant determinant of their completion …

In Students' Words: The Development Of Student Attitudes Toward Mathematics - A Social Perspective, Dianne Kathryn Kelly

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Student interest in pursuing advanced studies and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) has garnered much attention lately from government, business, and education leaders due to inadequate flow in the United States' STEM pipeline. Existing research points to mathematical self-efficacy and to mathematical self-concept beliefs as integral to the likelihood that a student will pursue a career in a STEM field. Students' identities, such as the "good-math-student" identity need to be verified in order for students to enact them. Both identity verification and attitude are influenced by self-efficacy and self-concept. Existing research also points to teachers, parents, and …

Factors Related To Math Performance And Potential Benefits Of One-On-One Instruction, Amanda Zagame

Honors Projects in Mathematics

This fall 2010 study of Bryant University students enrolled in freshman-level math courses considered factors related to college-level math performance, including gender, math self-efficacy, math anxiety, and utilization of professors’ office hours and/or tutoring center services. Female students at Bryant reported lower levels of math self-efficacy and higher levels of math anxiety, both of which research has shown to be negatively correlated with test scores. The use of one-on-one instruction was expected to provide a potential counterweight to this equation. Results from the 287 initial and 229 final surveys administered in this study did not support this hypothesis. This phenomenon …

Teaching Statistics To Elementary Children: Using A Problem-Solving Approach To Enhance Learning, Kayla Lee Botelho

Honors Projects

When teaching statistics (or data analysis) to elementary children, it is beneficial to use a problem-solving approach that incorporates meaningful tasks to enhance the students' learning. This was determined through a careful review of literature, observations of elementary teachers, and the creation and instruction of data analysis unit. The unit required the students to collect data on heights, organize the data in charts, and display the data in line plots. In addition, the students analyzed the data to recalculate the average and other measures of central tendency and to answer questions that arose through the implementation of the lessons. In …

An Analysis Of Mathematics Interventions: Increased Time-On-Task Compared With Computer-Assisted Mathematics Instruction, James M. Calhoun Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Student achievement is not progressing on mathematics as measured by state, national, and international assessments. Much of the research points to mathematics curriculum and instruction as the root cause of student failure to achieve at levels comparable to other nations. Since mathematics is regarded as a gate keeper to many educational opportunities as well as, eventually, potential job prospects, critics are asking schools to fix the problem.

This research project is a comparison of two different interventions used to improve student performance as tested on the Colorado State Assessment Program (CSAP). The first intervention, increased time-on-task, was used at Freedom …

Using Technology To Increase Interest In The Learning Of Mathematics, Teresa May Anderson

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop unit openers in the form of PowerPoint presentations to introduce students to upcoming topics. Within the PowerPoint presentations, relevant visual images are used to pique the interest of the students. Also, within the presentations are opportunities for students to use a hand-held Student Response System to respond to questions. The questions the students answer are related to the upcoming material. After responses are entered, a visual display will show the responses and discussion will follow between the students and the teacher. The project will be used in geometry mathematics classrooms at the …

Strategies To Improve Math Fact Fluency In Elementary School Students, Jennifer Whealy

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project is to develop a guide that contains strategies to improve math fact fluency in elementary school students. The guide is developed to be used by elementary school teachers in Washington State to show them how to incorporate strategies for math fact fluency into their math curriculum. The math fact fluency strategies ca:n be used to help teachers support students in their understanding of their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. This guide will contain research based strategies to improve math fact fluency for kindergarten through fifth grade students. The guide will include research based …

The Effects Of Learning Groups On Student Achievement And Attitude In A Sixth Grade Mathematics Class, Jay Randall Mcguffin

All Graduate Projects

A handbook for implementing "Student Team Learning" as an alternative teaching strategy for middle level math teachers was developed after conducting extensive action research project within a sixth grade math classroom. A literature review on barriers to learning mathematics in middle schools and Student Team Learning as a teaching strategy was conducted. An action research project was conducted and from the pre to post-test data and best practices implementation regarding student team learning methods the handbook project was constructed. The handbook includes an introduction to Student Team Learning; guidelines for implementation; a student attitude survey; lesson practice questions, review sheets, …

The Impact Of Bilingual Treatment On The Math Skills Of Hispanic High School Algebra Students, Robert Kirk

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to measure the impact of instructional techniques in the Foundations of Algebra classroom to bridge linguistic barriers between Hispanic students and the language of teaching. Two consecutive years of failing to meet anticipated yearly growth among Hispanic students in Algebra I, as determined by the North Carolina End of Course exams, indicated a cognitive gap among these students when it comes to learning mathematics.

The writer developed an experiment to be delivered among 9 sections of Algebra in a North Carolina high school. The control group used Microsoft PowerPoint slides created for every lesson plan determined …

Secondary Mathematics' Teachers Perceptions Of Their Integration Of Instructional Technologies, Jessica Taylor Ivy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study explored the beliefs and practices regarding integrations of instructional technologies by seven secondary mathematics teachers. The researcher conducted an initial interview, a classroom observation, and a follow-up interview with each participant. Participants also submitted sample lessons and completed a TPACK Development Model Self-Report Survey. The interviews and observations were analyzed using deductive analysis, using the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) Development Model to assess technology-related practices. Through responses to the TPACK Development Model Self-Report Survey, the participants revealed their perceptions of their practices and beliefs regarding technology integration. These perceptions were compared to the researcher's analysis …

An Examination Of Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Tpack Development Through Participation In A Technology-Based Lesson Study, Julie Whitten Riales

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study used a layered case study (Patton, 2002) to examine the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) of a group of inservice secondary mathematics teachers as they participated in a technology-based lesson study. Using the TPACK Development Model (Niess, 2009) as a lens, this dissertation examines interactions of the group members during lesson study meetings as well as individual case studies of four of the six participants. Data were gathered from initial surveys, initial and post-interviews, initial and post-classroom observations, writing prompts, and transcriptions of lesson study group meetings. Data were analyzed to determine the TPACK development …

Calculus, Biology And Medicine: A Case Study In Quantitative Literacy For Science Students, Kim Rheinlander, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This paper describes a course designed to enhance the numeracy of biology and pre-medical students. The course introduces students with the background of one semester of calculus to systems of nonlinear ordinary differential equations as they appear in the mathematical biology literature. Evaluation of the course showed increased enjoyment and confidence in doing mathematics, and an increased appreciation of the utility of mathematics to science. Students who complete this course are better able to read the research literature in mathematical biology and carry out research problems of their own.

Spreadsheets Across The Curriculum, 3: Finding A List Of Mathematical Skills For Quantitative Literacy Empirically, H L. Vacher, Emily Lardner

Numeracy

What mathematical topics do educators committed to teaching mathematics in context choose for their students when given the opportunity to develop an educational resource explicitly to teach mathematics in context? This paper examines the choices made for the 55 modules by 40 authors in the General Collection of the Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum (SSAC) library. About half of the modules were made by authors from natural science, and about 60% of the other modules were by authors from mathematics. The modules are tagged with terms of a search vocabulary developed for the browse page of the collection. The four terms …

Personal And Professional Numeracy: A Unit For Pre-Service Teachers At The University Of Tasmania, Jane M. Watson

Numeracy

This paper addresses issues associated with the development of a unit preparing pre-service teachers to be quantitatively literate in three respects. These issues surround (i) the need to be aware of numeracy demands across the curriculum, (ii) the need to model numerate behavior in all interactions of teachers, and (iii) the need to be able to interpret and use system data provided from local and national testing programs. The context for the unit described is Australia, where a national testing program for literacy and numeracy requires teachers to analyze extensive data on their students, a national curriculum requires teachers of …

Reflections On The Tenth Anniversary Of Mathematics And Democracy, Lynn Arthur Steen, Bernard L. Madison

Numeracy

Two independent reflections by early proponents of quantitative literacy connect today's numeracy initiative with its origin in concern about school tests, its impact on students today, and the challenges of democracy. Even as interest in QL grows in many places, evidence of need also grows. Moreover, well-meaning programs with other goals—especially at the K-12 level—often channel education in directions that fail to advance numeracy. Examples show that both students and teachers are enthusiastic when offered QL opportunities, but that individual beliefs and public decisions often belie the goals of QL.

Go Figure: Calculus Students' Use Of Figures And Graphs In Technical Report Writing, Thomas J. Pfaff, Michael Rogers, Ali Erkan, Jason G. Hamilton

Numeracy

Understanding how to read and use graphs to communicate scientific and mathematical information is critical for STEM majors, as well as an important part of quantitative literacy. Our study suggests that first-semester calculus students do not know how to use graphs in a technical report without explicit instruction. Although not a surprising result, it leaves us wondering about when such skills are developed, and if calculus I is a place to start. Our work is now exploring the potential benefit on students' use of graphs by having them formally evaluate other students' reports.

Four Popular Books On Consumer Debt: A Context For Quantitative Literacy, Andrew J. Miller

Numeracy

The topics of credit cards, mortgages, subprime lending, and fringe banking are rich sources of problems and discussions for classes focused on quantitative literacy. In this theme book review, we look at four recent books on the consumer debt industry: Credit Card Nation, by Robert Manning; Maxed Out, by James Scurlock; Collateral Damaged, by Charles Geisst; and Broke, USA, by Gary Rivlin. Credit Card Nation takes a scholarly look at the history of credit in America with a focus on the genesis and growth of the credit card industry up to the turn of the 20th century. Maxed Out also …

Review Of Sex, Drugs And Body Counts: The Politics Of Numbers In Global Crime And Conflict, Edited By Peter Andreas And Kelly M. Greenhill, Aaron G. Montgomery

Numeracy

Andreas, Peter, and Greenhill, Kelly M. (Eds.). Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts: The Politics of Numbers in Global Crime and Conflict, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010). 287 pp. ISBN 978-0-8014-4861-4 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-8014-7618-1 (pbk).

The ten scholarly papers in Sex, Drugs and Body Counts explore the generation and propagation of numbers that drive policy decisions in the U.S. government regarding human trafficking, drug trade, and armed conflict (including the war on terror). Each of these papers, written by different authors, provides an illuminating insight into how some of the numbers we hear or read in the news are derived. …

Parts Of The Whole : Cognition, Schemas, And Quantitative Reasoning, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

Based loosely on ideas of Jean Piaget and Richard Skemp, this Parts of the Whole column considers the construction of knowledge in mathematics and quantitative reasoning. Examples are chosen that illustrate an important cognitive difference between quantitative numeracy and classical mathematics, and which illuminate the particular choices instructors must make in order to teach either or both of these.

Fifth Grade Children's Use Of Reciprocal Teaching To Solve Word Problems In Mathematics, Mary Helen Collen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Reciprocal teaching, a social constructivist instruction method, was explored in this study on the mathematical word problem solving skills of fifth grade students in two elementary schools within a suburban school district in upstate New York. Eighty-five students in four intact classes participated in this mixed methods study.