Digital Commons Network^™

Predictive Relationships Of Teacher Efficacy, Geometry Knowledge For Teaching, And The Cognitive Levels Of Teacher Practice On Student Achievement., Paul Klein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the predictive relationships of teacher efficacy, teacher knowledge, and teacher practices with student achievement. More specifically, secondary mathematics teachers' efficacy beliefs, geometry knowledge for teaching, and the cognitive complexity of the teachers' classroom practices were examined for 72 teachers in both urban and rural districts across Kentucky, along with the student achievement data of their students. Teacher and student data were obtained from the NSF-funded Geometry Assessment for Secondary Teachers (GAST) project, which administered geometry teacher knowledge assessments at the beginning and end of the school year, and collected cognitive complexity data from lessons through three classroom …

Algebra Ii: Gatekeeper Course An Examination Of Cst Proficiency Levels In California And The Bay Area, Laurie Allyn Hailer-O'Keefe

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

This paper examines the Algebra II course and California Star Test (CST) proficiency levels in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the State of California. CST proficiency levels are examined by grade level for the State and nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area region. Algebra II is shown to be one of the more complicated courses in the CSU and UC A-G eligibility courses for students in high school. This paper attempts to highlight the achievement gap of gender and socio-economic and race/ethnicity gaps in completion of the course. This paper examines completion rates by grade and …

A Professional Experience Learning Community For Pre-Service Secondary Mathematics Teachers, Michael S. Cavanagh, Thomas Garvey

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports the development and implementation of a collaborative professional experience learning community for a group of nine pre-service secondary mathematics teachers. The pre-service teachers and their methods lecturer made 12 school visits over one academic year to a local secondary school. The pre-service teachers observed and co-taught problem-solving lessons in two Year 8 classes. They discussed the lessons with the teacher and the university lecturer, and later posted reflective comments to an online forum. Data from questionnaires, interviews, and reflections indicate that participation in the learning community helped pre-service teachers make stronger links between theory and practice, learn …

Southern Educator, Georgia Southern University

Southern Educator

• Sen. Jack Hill Congratulates Young Artists at COE's Art Extravaganza
• Faculty News
• Around COE

Southern Educator, Georgia Southern University

College of Education: News & Publications (2003-2023)

• Sen. Jack Hill Congratulates Young Artists at COE's Art Extravaganza
• Faculty News
• Around COE

Enhancing Effective Depth-Of-Field By Multi-Focus Image Fusion Using Morphological Techniques., Ishita De Ghosh Dr.

Doctoral Theses

A scene to be photographed, usually includes objects at varying distances from the camera. Depth-of-field of a digital camera is the range of distance, all objects within which appear to be sharp in the image. Due to the low depth-of-field of the camera, images acquired by them often suffer from degradation called out-of-foc us blur. One way to enhance the effective depth-of-field is to acquire se veral images of a scene with focus on different parts of it and then combine these images into a single image in such a way that all regions of the scene are in focus. …

Designing International Institutions For Global Security, Rupayan Gupta

Fall 2012 Faculty Showcase

This talk focuses on the challenges inherent in designing international institutions for global security. The area of inquiry is interdisciplinary in nature, incorporating insights from economics, international relations, and mathematics (game theory). It is argued that this line of research would benefit from greater incorporation of techniques from bargaining theory and mechanism design. An agenda is proposed for interdisciplinary collaboration and some interesting results are presented from author’s published and ongoing research.

Operator Monotone Functions And Löwner Functions Of Several Variables, Jim Agler, John E. Mccarthy, N J. Young

Mathematics Faculty Research

We prove generalizations of Loewner's results on matrix monotone functions to several variables. We give a characterization of when a function of d variables is locally monotone on d-tuples of commuting self-adjoint n-by-n matrices. We prove a generalization to several variables of Nevanlinna's theorem describing analytic functions that map the upper half-plane to itself and satisfy a growth condition. We use this to characterize all rational functions of two variables that are operator monotone.

Problem Solving Abilities And Perceptions In Alternative Certification Mathematics Teachers, Brian R. Evans

NERA Conference Proceedings 2012

The purpose of this study was to understand alternative certification middle and high school teachers’ mathematical problem solving abilities and perceptions. Participants were given a problem solving examination and required to reflect upon their students’ and their own problem solving. Findings revealed there was a significant improvement in problem solving abilities for the teachers over the course of the semester, and there was a direct correlation between content knowledge and problem solving ability. Teachers perceived their students’ problem solving abilities as generally weak due to not understanding how to start a problem, lack of persistence, and poor literacy skills.

Tilings With T And Skew Tetrominoes, Cynthia Lester

Quercus: Linfield Journal of Undergraduate Research

We consider tiling problems in the integer lattice. Specifically, we look at a set of four T-tetrominoes and four skew tetrominoes and determine when this set can tile rectangles and modified rectangles. Local considerations and coloring arguments are the main methods used to prove the untileability of regions.

Blewett, Benjamin Turner, 1820-1911 (Sc 747), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 747. Letter, 18 April 1857, from Benjamin Turner Blewett, president of Bethel College, Russellville, Kentucky, to mathematics professor D. W. Hoyt, Brighton, Massachusetts, recruiting him for that position and describing the school and the town. Includes an illustrated school brochure.

Project Title : Mathematical Modeling Of Heat Shock Protein Synthesis Of Barley Aleurone Cells In Response To Temperature Changes, Hoa Nguyen, Mark Brodl

Information Literacy Resources for Curriculum Development

No abstract provided.

Instructor Use Of Tablet Pcs In A College Pre-Calculus Course: Implementation & Assessment, Julianna Connelly Stockton, Peter Gregory

Mathematics Faculty Publications

A group of six math instructors used tablet PCs to teach their individual sections of a high enrollment gateway Pre-Calculus course in a diverse urban four-year college. Student performance in the experimental sections were compared to those in 31 other sections in terms of student retention, pass rates, and score on the department-wide standardized final exam. Student performance was higher in Tablet PC sections across all three measures, although in some cases the improvement was not substantial enough to improve students’ overall course grades. Surveys of students and faculty in classes using a Tablet PC reflected overall positive impressions of …

Number Sense Mediated By Mathematics Self-Concept In Impacting Middle School Mathematics Achievement, Lara K. Geronime

Dissertations (1934 -)

The purpose of the current study was to extend the research on number sense to the middle school level and to simultaneously consider socioemotional elements related to the construct at this developmental stage. Its genesis was initially rooted in an ongoing and dramatic emphasis by U.S. policymakers, researchers, and educators on improving mathematics achievement in order to compete globally in technology and innovation. Despite debates about optimal curriculum and instruction, tremendous support exists for the construct of number sense. However, middle school research examining the phenomena has been limited to intervention protocols targeting specific skillsets and better measurement of its …

Integer Compositions, Gray Code, And The Fibonacci Sequence, Linus Lindroos

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis I show the relation of binary and Gray Code to integer compositions and the Fibonacci sequence through the use of analytic combinatorics, Zeckendorf's Theorem, and generating functions.

Global Domination Stable Graphs, Elizabeth Marie Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A set of vertices S in a graph G is a global dominating set (GDS) of G if S is a dominating set for both G and its complement G. The minimum cardinality of a global dominating set of G is the global domination number of G. We explore the effects of graph modifications on the global domination number. In particular, we explore edge removal, edge addition, and vertex removal.

Integer Flows And Modulo Orientations, Yezhou Wu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Tutte's 3-flow conjecture (1970's) states that every 4-edge-connected graph admits a nowhere-zero 3-flow. A graph G admits a nowhere-zero 3-flow if and only if G has an orientation such that the out-degree equals the in-degree modulo 3 for every vertex. In the 1980ies Jaeger suggested some related conjectures. The generalized conjecture to modulo k-orientations, called circular flow conjecture, says that, for every odd natural number k, every (2k-2)-edge-connected graph has an orientation such that the out-degree equals the in-degree modulo k for every vertex. And the weaker conjecture he made, known as the weak 3-flow conjecture where he suggests that …

Group Connectivity Of Graphs, Senmei Yao

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Tutte introduced the theory of nowhere-zero flows and showed that a plane graph G has a face k-coloring if and only if G has a nowhere-zero A-flow, for any Abelian group A with |A| ≥ k. In 1992 Jaeger et al. [16] extended nowhere-zero flows to group connectivity of graphs: given an orientation D of a graph G, if for any b: V (G) A with sumv∈ V(G ) b(v) = 0, there always exists a map ƒ: E(G) A - {lcub}0{rcub}, such that at each v ∈ V(G), e=vw isdirectedfrom vtow fe- e=uvi sdirectedfrom utov fe=b v in A, …

Perfect Matching And Circuit Cover Of Graphs, Dong Ye

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The research of my dissertation is motivated by the Circuit Double Cover Conjecture due to Szekeres and independently Seymour, that every bridgeless graph G has a family of circuits which covers every edge of G twice. By Fleischner's Splitting Lemma, it suffices to verify the circuit double cover conjecture for bridgeless cubic graphs.;It is well known that every edge-3-colorable cubic graph has a circuit double cover. The structures of edge-3-colorable cubic graphs have strong connections with the circuit double cover conjecture. In chapter two, we consider the structure properties of a special class of edge-3-colorable cubic graphs, which has an …

Optimal Portfolio And Consumption With Transaction Costs, Zheng Zhang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In Chapter 1, we study optimal portfolio and consumption with both fixed and proportional transaction costs. For a power utility function we find an explicit solution to the HJB equation governing the no-transaction region. Based on the explicit solution, we formulate a combined stochastic and impulse control problem as a quasi-variational inequality and find the transaction regions, the no-transaction region, and the boundary curves separating them. We show that the explicit solution we find satisfies the verification theorem and it is also a viscosity solution for the quasi-variational inequality. We present numerical results where we compare the various cases of …

Joanne Growney's Poetry-With-Mathematics Blog -- An Appreciation, Gregory E. Coxson

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Now is a good time to work on the boundaries of practice and theory, of art and science. We are seeing a rising tide of interest in these boundaries. Witness the growing Bridges movement, which has been exploring the connections between mathematics and the arts. Similarly, JoAnne Growney's blog, Intersections -- Poetry with Mathematics, explores the connections between mathematics and poetry. Through this review, I aim to give readers a taste of what can be found in Intersections as a way of encouraging others, be they mathematicians, poets, or neither, to visit the blog.

Relations Among Brief Measures Of Mathematics, Reading, And Processing Speed: A Construct Validity Study, Jennifer Leigh Maynard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Emphasis on regular mathematics skill assessment, intervention, and progress monitoring under the RTImodel has created a need for the development of assessment instruments that are psychometrically sound, reliable, universal, and brief. Important factors to consider when developing or selecting assessments for the school environment include what skills are assessed; mathematics curriculums typically include computation and applications as separate skills taught in sequence. It is also important to consider what additional factors may potentially influence performance on such tests due to the nature of test administration and characteristics of the test items. The current study investigated the construct validity of established, …

Effects Of Departmental And Institutional Policies On Developmental Mathematics Students, Garth B. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Arkansas Department of Higher Education data show that approximately 75% of Arkansas community college students are required to take at least one developmental education class (Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2012, p. 7.2). This is significantly higher than the approximately 30% average (Provasnik & Planty, 2008, p. 11) of community college students across the US. Developmental mathematics is the most commonly needed subject within Arkansas, with over 40% of community college students enrolling in at least one developmental mathematics course (Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2012, p. 7.3). Despite being common, few institutions that teach Developmental Education perform and then …

Investigating The Status Of Early Numeracy Skills In Bilingual Dual Language Learner Latino Children Attending Head Start And The Association With Parent Demographic Characteristics, Chavely Lissette Iglesias

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research on mathematics achievement has become increasingly important with today's technological advances and demand for specialized knowledge. Though there is much literature regarding mathematics achievement in monolingual speakers, little is known regarding the mathematical abilities of Dual Language Learner (DLL) Latino children. This study examined the early numeracy skills in English and Spanish of 132 DLL Latino children attending Head Start programs in five counties across Florida. Relationships and differences among their performance in both languages were examined, along with the contribution of specific parent demographic variables to math achievement. Findings indicated that DLL Latino Head Start children's performance on …

Assessment Of Numeracy Levels Of Mine Workers In South African Chrome Mines, Antonie Christoffel Smit, Andile Mji

Numeracy

The aim of this paper is to assess and report the numeracy levels of unskilled and semi-skilled workers in three South African chrome mines in order to inform adult education practitioners of the need for greater efforts to educate mine workers. The target population consisted of 1,053 workers; the final sample was 873 participants who voluntarily agreed to partake in the study. The results presented here highlight three main findings: (1) that only 12 individuals (1.4%) were found to be numerate, (2) that female participants scored better than their male counterparts, and (3) that the numeracy level of participants older …

The Relationship Between Multiplication Fact Speed-Recall And Fluency And Higher Level Mathematics Learning With Eighth Grade Middle School Students, Steven James Curry

Dissertations

This quantitative study investigated relationships between higher level mathematics learning and multiplication fact fluency, multiplication fact speed-recall, and reading grade equivalency of eighth grade students in Algebra I and Pre-Algebra. Higher level mathematics learning was indicated by an average score of 80% or higher on first and second semester mathematics assessments and proficient or advanced descriptor on the mathematics Missouri Assessment Program tests. Timed multiplication fact quizzes were administered to eighth grade students. Speed-recall scores were measured by the number of accurate answers in a 45-second time frame. Fluency was obtained by a student score of 35 accurate answers in …

Employment Of An Informal Educational Mathematical Facility To Lower Math Anxiety And Improve Teacher And Student Attitudes Towards Understanding Mathematics, Vicki Adams

Dissertations

Students do not pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) because of a lack of ability, but rather a lack of positive experiences with mathematics. Research has concluded that attitudes in math directly influence success in mathematics. As many as 75% of high school graduates in the United States suffer from mild to severe forms of math anxiety. The improvement of student achievement in mathematics in the United States lags behind that of many other nations in the world. Efforts to improve student achievement in mathematics have focused on developing effective teachers and teaching practices, creating state and …

Converting And Ordering Rational Numbers [6th Grade], Danielle Kunetz, Melanie Webb

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

The goal of this unit is for students to understand that numbers have equivalencies in many representations and in order to compare rational numbers, they must be expressed using the same representation.

Throughout the unit, students compare and order rational numbers first within the same representation, and then learn to convert between representations to compare numbers between different forms.

The unit culminates with the students using what they have learned to analyze statistics of a basketball team in order to form a starting line-up with what they perceive to be the best players on the team.

Some supplementary materials were …

This Graph Is Speaking To Me; How Do I Listen? [8th Grade], Matthew Patty

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is written to address the 8th Grade Mathematics TEKS focused around statistics. Students will begin with an exploratory lesson in which they develop the requirements of a valid survey. They will then research and design three separate surveys that could be used to make claims about a population in their area. Next, students will pair up and carry out a survey at a local location. After the surveys, the students will bring their data back to the classroom and create presentations using at least four different types of graphical representations. Accompanying each graphical representation must be at least …

Comparing The Success And Experiences Of Developmental Algebra I Students, Christy Lowery-Carter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Students enrolled during the spring 2011 and summer 2011 semesters taking developmental Algebra I were invited to participate in a study. Students were required to complete a researcher-made pretest prior to instruction, complete the course over the semester, and complete an identical posttest at the end of the course. The online students voluntarily completed a researcher-made survey. An ANCOVA analysis, using the pretest scores as a covariate, showed a significant difference between the online and seated students, as the online students scored significantly higher. The survey showed online students tended to utilize the captured lectures, with a larger percentage of …