Education Commons^™

Making Mathematics Memorable, Meaningful, And Fun: Activities To Enhance Precalculus, Nat White

Theses and Dissertations

To master material, students need to make it their own. As teachers, we should structure their interactions with mathematics in ways that are memorable, meaningful, and fun. One way to do this is to provide activities that stretch beyond the textbook and lead students to think and talk to one another about mathematics. This thesis contains a set of activities designed to enhance a precalculus course, along with solutions and feedback on each activity.

Teacher Participation And Motivation Inprofessional Development, Krystal A. Hill

Theses and Dissertations

Although professional development is accepted as important for making educational improvements, some have been unsuccessful due to how the teachers choose to participate, and the lack of motivation in teachers to attend or implement the suggested changes. A case study of secondary mathematics teachers in a required professional development is used to look at teachers' motivation and participation during the professional development. This study compared mathematics teachers' motivation to attend with ways of participating in order to determine how these influence a teacher's intent to change. It was found that certain aspects of motivation and participation does influence a teacher's …

Mathematical Interactions Between Teachers And Students In The Finnish Mathematics Classroom, Paula Jeffery Prestwich

Theses and Dissertations

The Finnish school system has figured prominently in the PISA international assessments for over 10 years. Many reasons are given for Finnish success yet few of them focus on what is happening in the mathematics classroom. This study addresses the question of “What does mathematics instruction in the Finnish mathematics classroom look like?” Eight Finnish mathematics classes, from 6th – 9th grade were recorded, translated, and analyzed using the Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI) 2013 video coding protocol. Other aspects and observations of these classes also are discussed. Although the study is small, this study gives a view into the …

Academic And Peer Status In The Mathematical Life Stories Of Students, Carol Ann Wise

Theses and Dissertations

Mathematics students often define themselves by their grades, test scores, how they compare to other people, how comfortable they feel in mathematics class, and so on. These experiences are all part of a student's mathematical life story. Students assume positions with particular rights and duties for themselves and for the actors in the stories they tell. Those positions reflect certain types and levels of status. Those types and levels of status have been shown to either inhibit or open a student's access to learning mathematics. Thus, a student's status in mathematics education is an issue of equity. Mathematics educators and …

Student Evaluation Of Mathematical Explanations In Aninquiry-Based Mathematics Classroom, Ashley Burgess Hulet

Theses and Dissertations

Students do not always evaluate explanations based on the mathematics despite their teacher's effort to be the guide-on-the-side and delegate evaluation to the students. This case study examined how the use of three features of the Discourse—authority, sociomathematical norms, and classroom mathematical practices—impacted students' evaluation and contributed to students' failure to evaluate. By studying three pre-service elementary school students' evaluation methods, it was found that the students applied different types of each of the features of the Discourse and employed them at different times. The way that the features of the Discourse were used contributed to some of the difficulties …

Problems Faced By Reform Oriented Novice Mathematics Teachers Utilizing A Traditional Curriculum, Tyler Joseph Winiecke

Theses and Dissertations

Task-based instruction has been a promising method of instruction advocated by mathematics education researchers over the past twenty years. However traditional curricula constitute a majority of the curricula utilized in the United States. The purpose of this study is to identify the problems reform oriented novice teachers face when utilizing a traditional curriculum to plan task-based lessons. In order to identify these problems three novice teachers' interactions with curricula were observed and characterized using the frameworks of past researchers. Through analysis of teachers' textbook interaction practices it was found that teachers struggled to plan task-based lessons due to issues encountered …

Examining The Effects Of College Algebra On Students' Mathematical Dispositions, Kevin Lee Watson

Theses and Dissertations

As Mathematics Educators, we want to help our students not only develop a deep, conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts and processes, but also a positive disposition towards mathematics. Despite the importance of helping students develop a positive mathematical disposition, little research has been conducted examining how students' dispositions develop as they progress through their mathematical studies. In particular, the effects of college algebra on students' mathematical dispositions is not well understood. To examine the influence of college algebra on students' dispositions, students using two different college algebra curriculums were studied at Brigham Young University. Using a mathematical disposition survey, student …

Developing & Describing The Use & Learning Of Conceptual Models For Integer Addition And Subtraction Of Grade 5 Students, Nicole Marie Wessman-Enzinger

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reports the results of a teaching experiment, which explored student thinking about integer addition and subtraction. Through the lens of commognitive theory (Sfard, 2008), interpreting negative integers as secondary intuitions (Fischbein, 1987), and employing teaching experiment methodology (Steffe & Thompson, 2000), this study was a first step in developing more robust descriptions of students' conceptual models for integer addition and subtraction. I investigated: (a) the conceptual models that students exhibited, (b) the various ways that students utilized conceptual models while learning about the addition and subtraction of integers, and (c), the ways that students' conceptions evolved over the …

English Learners' Participation In Mathematical Discourse, Lindsay Marie Merrill

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the increasing diversity of mathematics classrooms today, teachers need guidance on how to support English Learners (ELs) in mathematics classes in a way that situates language learning within mathematical activity. Unfortunately, neither mathematics education research nor EL education research is sure how to navigate the complexity of teaching ELs mathematics while supporting both their language development and their mathematical development through their participation in mathematical activity. This study examined ELs' participation in mathematical Discourse, investigating both the mathematical purposes ELs accomplished by using multiple symbol systems, and the way ELs used non-English language (NEL) symbol systems to support …

Testing A Model Of The Relationship Of Demographic, Affective, And Fitness Variables To Academic Achievement Among Non-Science Majors At An Independent University, Andrew Martin Dutra

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of specific attributes of college students to their academic achievement at an independent university in central Florida. Academic achievement was measured as the numeric score on the final exam in a survey-of-science course (EDS 1032) required for nonscience majors. Attribute sets included personological, affective, and fitness variables. A hypothesized diagram of the direct and indirect effects among these attributes relative to academic achievement was developed and tested using data collected Spring 2014 from 168 students in four sections of EDS 1032 at Florida Institute of Technology. Multiple regression results revealed …

Effects Of Peer Instruction On State College Student Achievement In An Introductory Biology Unit In Genetics, Holly Nicole Mcknight

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Peer Instruction (PI) in a state college biology classroom. Students discussed biological concepts in the area of genetics among their peers during class time. Conceptual questions were delivered to the student in the form of ConcepTests, conceptual questions designed to uncover students’ misconceptions in the material. Students first answered a question projected from the computer to an overhead screen on their own. Depending on the percentage of students that answered correctly, students then discussed their answers with their peers (PI). These discussions allowed students to uncover their misunderstandings in …

How Does Youth Participatory Eco-Justice Action Research (Ypear) Affect The Development Of Environmental Literacy In Urban High School Students?, Joella L. Zocher

Theses and Dissertations

The field of environmental education (EE) has the aim of producing an environmentally literate citizenry that is not only aware of environmental problems, but motivated to work towards their solution (Stapp, 1969). However, much of the U.S. EE curricular focus has been on understanding the biophysical environment with rural populations, with little discussion about the environmental problems created by the dominant Western cultural norms (Kenis, & Mathijs, 2012; Malone, 2006; Prakash,1995). This study suggests in order to truly develop environmentally literate citizens who will work to change the oppressive habits of our dominant culture, people must be willing to enter …

Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Knowledge Of Generalization And Justification On Geometric-Numerical Patterning Tasks, James Vincent Kirwan

Theses and Dissertations

Generalization is essential to mathematical thinking (Kaput, 1999), and justification is its inseparable twin (Lannin, 2005). If students will be expected to generalize and justify, then it is important to develop an understanding of teachers' thinking about these concepts. This study examined secondary preservice teachers understanding of generalization, justification, and the interaction between these concepts.

Data were collected from three quadratic geometric-numerical patterning tasks administered during a single interview. Data reduction (Miles & Huberman, 1994) and constant comparative (Glaser & Straus, 1967) methodology was used to analyze written transcripts of the interviews.

The results of this analysis indicated that participants …

Parents And The Common Core State Standards For Mathematics, Rebecca Anne Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

As the majority of the nation has adopted Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM), studying parents' resistance to these standards becomes vital in improving parental involvement and support of school mathematics reforms. Using Schoenfeld's (2011) model for decision making as a framework, an online survey and six interviews were conducted. The results of the survey showed that parents' resources related to student experiences and the mathematical methods students are performing are affecting their resistance toward CCSSM. The survey results also showed that parents' orientations related to the difficulty of the standards and politics affects their resistance toward CCSSM. The …

Interdisciplinary Connections Between Science & Theatre, Jessica N. Dotson

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE & THEATRE

Jessica Nicole Dotson

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015.

Major Director: Dr. Noreen C. Barnes, Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Professor of Theatre

In the 1990s, astronomer Peter Usher was searching for new ways to teach his introductory astronomy class at Pennsylvania State University. He began to engage his students by searching for astronomical connections from other disciplines. His focus was turned to the arts, especially the works of William Shakespeare. Usher found, while …