Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Investigating Further Preservice Teachers’ Conceptions Of Multidigit Whole Numbers: Refining A Framework, Eva Thanheiser

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study was designed to investigate preservice elementary school teachers’ (PSTs’) responses to written standard place-value-operation tasks (addition and subtraction). Previous research established that PSTs can often perform but not explain algorithms and provided a four-category framework for PSTs’ conceptions, two correct and two incorrect. Previous findings are replicated for PSTs toward the end of their college careers, and two conceptions are further analyzed to yield three categories of incorrect views of regrouped digits: (a) consistently as 1 value (all as 1 or all as 10), (b) consistently within but not across contexts (i.e., all as 10 in addition but …

Utilization Of Revoicing Based On Learners‘ Thinking In An Inquiry-Oriented Differential Equations Class, Oh Kwon Nam, Mi Kyung Ju, Chris Rasmussen, Karen A. Marrongelle, Jae Hee Park, Kyoung Hee Cho, Jung Sook Park, Jee Hyun Park

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Researchers of mathematics education are increasingly interested in a teacher's discursive moves, which refer to deliberate actions taken by a teacher to participate in or influence debate and discussion in the mathematics classroom. This study explored one teacher's discursive moves in an undergraduate inquiry-oriented mathematics class. The data for this study come from four class sessions in which students investigated initial value problems as represented by the phase portrait of a system of differential equations. Through the analysis and a review of the literature, we identified four categories of a teacher's discursive moves: revoicing, questioning/requesting, telling, and managing. This report …

Assessing The Quality And Quantity Of Student Discourse In Mathematics Classrooms, Dave Weaver, Tom Dick, Nicole R. Rigelman

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper will discuss the study design, observation protocol, efforts to increase inter-rater reliability, challenges to data collection, and findings from baseline data collection efforts. The paper will also summarize the types of analyses that will be performed with the data and will present other research questions that can be addressed through these analyses.

Mathematics, Meaning, And Identity: A Study Of The Practice Of Mathematics Education In A Rural High School, Rick Anderson

Dissertations and Theses

The purposes of this study were (1) to explore the relationship between mathematics education and the rural context and (2) to determine the usefulness of a social theory of learning (Wenger, 1998) to account for students' participation in advanced high school mathematics courses. Qualitative methods were used to gather data in a small, rural high school in the Pacific Northwest. Data gathered included a student survey, interviews with students and mathematics teachers, observations in mathematics classes, and documents related to the curriculum, the school, and the community.

The findings suggest that high school mathematics education is related to the rural …

Mutual Benefits Of Teacher/Scientist Partnerships, Marion Dresner, Erin Starvel

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

University ecologists, science educators and natural resource agency scientists have been working with science teachers in a partnership called "Teachers in the Woods". Teachers work with field scientists to implement a variety of ecological research and monitoring projects on federal agency land. Scientists and teachers were interviewed to obtain insights into the benefits of this partnership. These partnerships generated greater teacher knowledge of local ecological communities and processes and fostered a mutual respect for the work of both classroom teachers and scientists.

Authentic Field Ecology Experiences For Teachers, Marion Dresner, Andrew Moldenke

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper will focus on one teacher field research experience situated in the Pacific Northwest

Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving In The Context Of Oregon's Educational Reform, Nicole R. Rigelman

Dissertations and Theses

Implementation of Oregon’s Educational Reform Act (HB 3565 and HB 2991) provides the context for this inquiry as its emphasis on problem solving has impacted mathematics teaching and learning throughout the state. Even though all Oregon teachers are responding to the same policy, their goals in teaching problem solving vary. These goals and these practices are influenced by the way teachers view the role of problem solving in the curriculum. Further, their practice is influenced by their knowledge and beliefs about mathematics content, teaching, learning, and the reform policy. The questions addressed in this study are: (1) What do exemplary …

Sym Bowl Update: Encouraging And Recognizing Student Proficiency In System Dynamics Modeling, Wayne W. Wakeland

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

The judging criteria and modeling process guidelines for the SyM Bowl modeling competition are briefly reviewed. Prize-winning student models from previous SyM Bowls are then discussed in order to show how the students and their teachers appear to have interpreted the criteria and process guidelines. The strengths and limitations of the selected student models, especially the basic model structure & logic, and the process they used to build the model, as evidenced in the reports they submitted, are then presented.

The paper then considers how the criteria and process guidelines may or may not have influenced the students, followed by …

“The Way Of The Scientist Deepens Beauty By Increasing Understanding”: Teaching Physics As An Aesthetic Form, Claudine Indigo Kavanagh

Dissertations and Theses

Educators have struggled to find an appropriate and efficacious method to engage students of science in their classrooms and lecture halls, This investigation presents a theoretical foundation for the use of aesthetic criteria when teaching physics in high school or undergraduate settings and suggests that this may be an effective learning tool. The relationship between science aesthetics and science literacy is pursued here. Included in this study are discussions of the applications of aesthetic judgement by theoretical physicists in the 20th century and and methods for bringing a dialogue concerning natural philosophy and beauty in the science classroom. While many …

Comment On "Dynamically Maintained Steady-State Pressure Gradients", Todd L. Duncan

Center for Science Education Publications and Presentations

Sheehan [Phys. Rev. E 57, 6660 (1998)] recently discussed the possibility of establishing a dynamically maintained, steady-state pressure gradient in a gas filling a cavity. In this Comment it is pointed out that the pressure gradients in such a system, if attainable in the laboratory, could be used to violate the second law of thermodynamics.

The Judging Process For Sym Bowl: A High School System Dynamics Modeling Competition, Wayne W. Wakeland

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

This “paper” describes the judging process used to determine the winners in SymBowl, a high school system dynamics modeling competition held in Portland, Oregon the past three years. SymBowl was created by Ed Gallaher, a medical researcher at the Portland VA Hospital and Associate Professor at Oregon Health Sciences University.

The judging criteria and judging process were developed by Wakeland, who has served as the judging coordinating for past three years, overseeing the process, compiling results, etc. Wakeland is an Adjunct Professor of System Science at Portland State University where he teaches graduate-level modeling and simulation classes.

When Mathematicians And Mathematics Teachers Come Together, Ronald B. Narode

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

In accordance with recommendations from educators and educational researchers [Wilcox, et a!, 1991; Schwab, 1976], recent attempts to integrate the communities of professional mathematicians and high school mathematics teachers in the U.S A. have resulted in several summer institutes which bring these groups together for up to four weeks. Through living, working, and studying together, the two normally disparate groups are expected to develop a dialogue for the mutual benefit of the participants and for their students. The present study of one such institute was conducted with the use of interviews of the participants, examination of some of the teachers' …

A Numerical Solution For The Ultimate Strength Of Tubular Beam-Columns, Arnold L. Wagner

Dissertations and Theses

To provide a basis for the development of interaction curves for tubular beam-columns of annular cross section, a general purpose beam-column computer program is developed, and used to determine ultimate load capacities. The paper presents the analytical model and the computer method. The analytical results are compared with published test data as well as experimental data obtained as part of this project.

Construction And Implementation Of An Individualized Math Program For Sixth Graders, Lynda Sylvia Hatch

Dissertations and Theses

The sixth grade teachers at Mooberry School in Hillsboro, Oregon were not pleased with the way they were teaching math. The students, grouped by ability, had a poor self-concept about math and felt "locked into" one class.

During the summer of 1973, these teachers considered ways to change their math instruction. Reading was done to determine the most promising practice in math education in the United States. A successful approach to learning appeared to be individualized instruction, as is discussed in this paper. Many different individualized programs were studied, grouped into eleven general categories, and described in detail. The Mooberry …