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Full-Text Articles in Education
Mathematics As Thinking. A Response To “Democracy And School Math”, Kasi C. Allen
Mathematics As Thinking. A Response To “Democracy And School Math”, Kasi C. Allen
Democracy and Education
Math education in the United States remains resistant to systemic change, and our country pays the price. Stemhagen's article "Democracy and School Math" further confirms this trend. Despite repeated calls for reform, decades of research on how people learn, millions of dollars invested in teacher professional development, and years of politicized debate, the math wars rage on—between those who believe students have the capacity to construct their own mathematical ideas and others who insist mastery of the traditional canon must come first. Meanwhile, algebra failure among secondary students remains rampant and elementary education majors report the greatest rates of math …
Parts Of The Whole: An Algebra Lesson, Dorothy Wallace
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
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 Reasoning In The Contemporary World, 3: Assessing Student Learning, Stuart Boersma, Caren Diefenderfer, Shannon W. Dingman, Bernard L. Madison
Quantitative Reasoning In The Contemporary World, 3: Assessing Student Learning, Stuart Boersma, Caren Diefenderfer, Shannon W. Dingman, Bernard L. Madison
Numeracy
In this third paper in a series describing the Quantitative Reasoning in the Contemporary World course, the authors provide an adaptation of the Association of American Colleges and Universities quantitative literacy VALUE rubric. Describing achievement levels in six core competencies (interpretation, representation, calculation, analysis/synthesis, and communication), the resulting Quantitative Literacy Assessment Rubric (QLAR) is applicable to grading student work and has exhibited a high degree of reliability in two separate scoring tests (97% and 88% respectively). The distribution of the six core competencies across the 24 case studies in the authors’ quantitative reasoning casebook shows that interpretation, calculation, and analysis/synthesis …
Constructivist And Behaviorist Approaches: Development And Initial Evaluation Of A Teaching Practice Scale For Introductory Statistics At The College Level, Rossi A. Hassad
Numeracy
This study examined the teaching practices of 227 college instructors of introductory statistics from the health and behavioral sciences. Using primarily multidimensional scaling (MDS) techniques, a two-dimensional, 10-item teaching-practice scale, TISS (Teaching of Introductory Statistics Scale), was developed. The two dimensions (subscales) are characterized as constructivist and behaviorist; they are orthogonal. Criterion validity of the TISS was established in relation to instructors’ attitude toward teaching, and acceptable levels of reliability were obtained. A significantly higher level of behaviorist practice (less reform-oriented) was reported by instructors from the U.S., as well as instructors with academic degrees in mathematics and engineering, whereas …
Calculus, Biology And Medicine: A Case Study In Quantitative Literacy For Science Students, Kim Rheinlander, Dorothy Wallace
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.
Parts Of The Whole : Cognition, Schemas, And Quantitative Reasoning, Dorothy Wallace
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.