Education Commons^™

Using Logistic Regression To Examine The Relationship Between Early Alert Systems And Success In Mathematics, Jennifer-Anne Tekawitha Hill

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Early alert systems are an intervention at community colleges that aim to identify and informally intervene with students who are struggling in their courses. This study examined the relationship between early alert systems and student success in developmental and gateway math courses. This study also examined if the impact of early alert referrals differed by class modality, as students in online classes were often unaware of resources available to them. Method: The sample was taken from one large primarily midwestern community college. Data was sourced from the institutional research department. Individual student transcript records were used, early alert referral information, …

Women Leaders In Mathematics Education: An Analysis Of Gender In Leadership Roles In Professional Organizations, Brianna Kurtz, Farshid Safi

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Professional organizations within mathematics education have been a source of development, connection, pedagogical direction, and policy for decades. With gender and equity discussions reaching the forefront of the mathematics education conversation, one must consider the gender representation of those leading the organizations upon which we rely. The authors analyzed historical presidential data from four major mathematics education professional organizations in the United States. Women were found to be in presidential roles at a statistically significantly less proportion (p<0.001) in three of the four organizations. When the organizations were considered aggregately since the enactment of Title IX, a trend to a plateau at 40% female leadership was seen. Future analysis beyond the presidential role and breakdowns by other factors are advisable.

Assessing U.S. High School Mathematics Students' Dependency On Calculators For Basic Arithmetic Operations Involving Integers From Single-Digit Fact Families, John Jeremy Sneed

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study was designed to investigate the extent to which high school students use calculators to perform basic operations, and how well they actually perform those same operations without using calculators. The investigation involved the testing of math classes of students--male and female, mixed ethnicities--in grades nine through twelve. Students were asked to perform all four basic math operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide) involving integers based on single-digit addition and multiplication fact families with and without calculators. The testing was in two environments--timed and untimed, with students recording their completion times--in order to investigate discrepancies in students' calculator use in …

Parts Of The Whole: The Educational Sieve, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This essay argues that the structure of course prerequisites affects retention of students in a course of study. The same argument suggests that the structure of degree requirements, including quantitative reasoning courses, affects retention in college. In particular, the same set of courses required in a rigid sequence will cause more students to exit the program early than if the same courses were offered in a flexible order.

Parts Of The Whole: When Variation Is The Goal, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

The goals of higher education are a population of extreme variability in expertise, a diffusion of specialized knowledge across disciplinary boundaries, and production of strong K-12 teachers. Promoting these three goals has implications at all granularities, from the pedagogy of an individual college professor to the incentives and policies that shape systemic change.

Teaching Mathematics For Social Justice: Conversations With Educators – A Symposium, David W. Stinson, Anita A. Wager

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

Using Marilyn Frankenstein’s germinal 1983 article “Critical Mathematics Education: An Application of Paulo Freire’s Epistemology” and Ole Skovsmose’s 1985 germinal article “Mathematics Education Versus Critical Education” as credible “start points”, critical mathematics or more broadly, social justice mathematics, is marking three decades of empowering yet uncertain possibilities. Nonetheless, there are two recurring questions: What is it? and What does it “look like”? Drawing on the collective stories (and wisdom) of critical mathematics educators, this symposium aims to offer some open, non-definitive answers to these two questions.

Conversations About Privilege And Oppression In Mathematics Education, David W. Stinson, Joi A. Spencer

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this editorial, the authors frame the purpose and outline the contents of the JUME special issue “Privilege and Oppression in the Mathematics Preparation of Teacher Educators” (the title of a 3-day conference held in Battle Creek, Michigan). As part of the “thoughtful action” called for throughout the conference, the intention of the special issue is to invite all mathematics educators (and others) into conversations about systems of privilege and oppression.

Navigating The Challenges Of Helping Teachers Use Data To Inform Educational Decisions, Kelli Thomas, Douglas Huffman

Administrative Issues Journal

In this paper we present a model of collaborative evaluation that has been used to engage teachers in data-based decision making for improving teaching and learning in mathematics and science. We examine three external challenges that threaten the process of continuous school improvement; namely, making sense of data, policy changes, and curriculum changes. In addition, we describe how the collaborative evaluation model facilitated progress beyond these challenges.

Teachers Reflecting Differently: Deconstructing The Discursive Teacher/Student Binary, David W. Stinson, Ginny C. Powell

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

This session explores the ways that practicing teachers came to reflect differently regarding the discursive teacher/student binary during a graduate-level course entitled “Mathematics Education within the Postmodern.” Using Dewey’s concept of reflective thinking, as well as Foucault’s discourse and Derrida’s deconstruction, we show how the course provided new suggestions for the students as they continued their journey of becoming teachers. Through interweaving comments written by the students with concepts borrowed from postmodern philosophers and theorists, we illustrate how the teachers began to understand that teachers and students might indeed be described differently in the postmodern.

Becoming Critical Mathematics Pedagogues: A Journey, David W. Stinson, Carla R. Bidwell, Ginny C. Powell, Mary M. Thurman

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

This session will report the findings of a study that explored the beginning transformations in the pedagogical philosophies and practices of three mathematics teachers (middle, high school, and 2-year college) who completed a graduate-level mathematics education course that focused on critical theory and teaching for social justice, and how these transformations are compatible (or not) with reform mathematics education as suggested by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and in turn, the new Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). The study employed Freirian participatory research methodology; in fact, the participants were not only coresearchers, but also co-authors of the study. …

Critical Mathematics Pedagogy: Transforming Teachers’ Practices, David W. Stinson, Carla R. Bidwell, Christopher C. Jett, Ginny C. Powell, Mary M. Thurman

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

This study reports the effects of a graduate-level mathematics education course that focused on critical theory and teaching for social justice on the pedagogical philosophies and practices of three mathematics teachers (middle, high school, and 2-year college). The study employed Freirian participatory research methodology; in fact, the participants were not only co-researchers, but also co-authors of the study. Data collection included reflective essays, journals, and “storytelling”; data analysis was a combination of textual analysis and autoethnography. The findings report that the teachers believed that the course provided not only a new language but also a legitimization to transform their pedagogical …

What Is Mathematics?: Teachers Exploring The Philosophy Of Mathematics, Kimberly White-Fredette, David W. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mathematics As “Gate-Keeper” (?): Three Theoretical Perspectives That Aim Toward Empowering All Children With A Key To The Gate, David W. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this article, the author’s intent is to begin a conversation centered on the question: How might mathematics educators ensure that gatekeeping mathematics becomes an inclusive instrument for empowerment rather than an exclusive instrument for stratification? In the first part of the discussion, the author provides a historical perspective of the concept of “gatekeeper” in mathematics education. After substantiating mathematics as a gatekeeper, the author proceeds to provide a definition of empowering mathematics within a Freirian frame, and describes three theoretical perspectives of mathematics education that aim toward empowering all children with a key to the gate: the situated perspective, …

The Implementation Of Radical Constructivism Within The Urban Mathematics Classroom, Randy Lattimore

Trotter Review

One of the most serious problems in mathematics education continues to be the dismal statewide mathematics proficiency test performance of African-American students in urban schools. It has been argued that one of the best ways to improve performance is by connecting the pedagogy of mathematics to the lives and experiences of these students. Although many theories have been implemented in the urban mathematics classroom to assist African-American students in developing and increasing conceptual understanding, members of the urban mathematics education community should take a closer, more serious look at the implementation of radical constructivism within urban mathematics classrooms.

A number …

Can Games Help Develop Mathematical Thinking?, Dilshad Ashraf, Habib Hussain, Abdul Ghafoor, Dulshon Shamatov

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.