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Full-Text Articles in Science and Mathematics Education

The Effects Improving Student Discourse Has On Learning Mathematics, Lindsey Thompson Jul 2007

The Effects Improving Student Discourse Has On Learning Mathematics, Lindsey Thompson

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my 8th grade mathematics classroom, I investigated how improving student discourse affects learning mathematics. I conducted this study because I wanted to give students more opportunities to develop and share their ideas with their peers as well as with me. My idea was to create a learning environment that encouraged students to voice their opinions. In order to do so, I needed to reassure and model with my students that they were in a classroom where it was safe to take risks, and they should feel comfortable sharing their ideas. By facilitating activities for …

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Improving Students’ Story Problem Solving Abilities, Josh Severin Jul 2007

Improving Students’ Story Problem Solving Abilities, Josh Severin

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 8th grade mathematics students, I investigated if learning different problem solving strategies helped students successfully solve problems. I also investigated if students’ knowledge of the topics involved in story problems had an impact on students’ success rates. I discovered that students were more successful after learning different problem solving strategies and when given problems with which they have experience. I also discovered that students put forth a greater effort when they approach the story problem like a game, instead of just being another math problem that they have to solve. An …

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Understanding The Mathematical Language, Carmen Melliger Jul 2007

Understanding The Mathematical Language, Carmen Melliger

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my calculus classroom consisting of only 12th grade students, I investigated activities that would affect a student’s understanding of mathematical language. The goal in examining these activities in a systematic way was to see if a student’s deeper understanding of math terms and symbols resulted in a better understanding of the mathematical concepts being taught. I discovered that some students will rise to the challenge of understanding mathematics more deeply, and some will not. In the process of expecting more from students, the frustration level of both the students and the teacher increased. As …

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“Let’S Review.” A Look At The Effects Of Re-Teaching Basic Mathematic Skills, Thomas J. Harrington Jul 2007

“Let’S Review.” A Look At The Effects Of Re-Teaching Basic Mathematic Skills, Thomas J. Harrington

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 8th grade mathematics, I investigated the effect of reviewing basic fraction and decimal skills on student achievement and student readiness for freshman Algebra. I also investigated the effect on the quality of student work, with regards to legibility by having students grade each other’s work anonymously. I discovered that students need basic skill review with fractions and decimals, and by the end of the research their scores improved. However, their handwriting had not. At the end of the research, a majority of the students felt the review was important, and they …

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Generating Interest In Mathematics Using Discussion In The Middle School Classroom, Jessica Fricke Jul 2007

Generating Interest In Mathematics Using Discussion In The Middle School Classroom, Jessica Fricke

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 8th grade algebra, I investigated students’ discussion of mathematics and how it relates to interest in the subject. Discussion is a powerful tool in the classroom. By relying too heavily on drill and practice, a teacher may lose any individual student insight into the learning process. However, in order for the discussion to be effective, students must be provided with structure and purpose. It is unrealistic to expect middle school age students to provide their own structure and purpose; a packet was constructed that would allow the students to both show …

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Cooperative Learning As An Effective Way To Interact, Gary Eisenhauer Jul 2007

Cooperative Learning As An Effective Way To Interact, Gary Eisenhauer

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 8th grade mathematics, I investigated the effects of students’ interactions while cooperatively learning in groups. I discovered that in order to be cooperative, a lesson must be well-defined, open for discussion, and have positive face-toface interaction. The cooperative learning groups should be teacher generated rather than student-selected. When done correctly, cooperative learning tends to promote student relationships, more positive attitudes toward mathematics and the teacher, and greater self-confidence in a student’s mathematics abilities. As a result of this research, I plan to better incorporate cooperative learning into the classroom. Students will …

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The Importance Of Teaching Students How To Read To Comprehend Mathematical Language, Tricia Buchanan Jul 2007

The Importance Of Teaching Students How To Read To Comprehend Mathematical Language, Tricia Buchanan

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 8th and 9th grade Algebra I students, I investigated if there are any benefits for the students in my class to learn how to read, translate, use, and understand the mathematical language found daily in their math lessons. I discovered that daily use and practice of the mathematical language in both written and verbal form, by not only me but by my students as well, improved their understanding of the textbook instructions, increased their vocabulary and also increased their understanding of their math lessons. I also found that my students remembered …

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Pre-Reading Mathematics Empowers Students, Stacey Aldag Jul 2007

Pre-Reading Mathematics Empowers Students, Stacey Aldag

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my 8th grade mathematics classroom, I investigated the improvement of mathematical communication via assigning pre-reading material and requiring students to take notes prior to class discussions. I discovered that students became more active participants during classroom discussions and were able to produce work which illustrated their mathematical understanding. Teacher observations and improved quiz scores provide quantitative evidence, and student survey responses validate student communication. As a result of this research, I plan to assign pre-reading tasks and require students to take notes prior to class discussions with the goal to change classroom presentation from …

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Improving The Effectiveness Of Independent Practice With Corrective Feedback, Greg Vanderbeek Jul 2007

Improving The Effectiveness Of Independent Practice With Corrective Feedback, Greg Vanderbeek

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my 8th grade Algebra class, I investigated the effects of teacher-to-student written corrective feedback on student performance and attitude toward mathematics. The corrective feedback was given on solutions for selected independent practice problems assigned as homework. Each problem being assessed was given a score based on a 3- point rubric and additional comments were written. I discovered that providing teacher-to-student written corrective feedback for independent practice problems was beneficial for both students and teachers. The feedback positively affected the attitudes of students and teacher toward independent practice work resulting in an improved quality of …

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Increasing Teacher Involvement With Other Teachers Through Reflective Interaction, Tina Thompson Jul 2007

Increasing Teacher Involvement With Other Teachers Through Reflective Interaction, Tina Thompson

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of a district’s mathematics teachers, the researcher investigated how teachers interact with other teachers in their building and throughout the district. The researcher wanted to know how deeply teachers thought about teaching mathematics, and if they use other teachers in the district as a resource to help with unknown math problems. The researcher discovered that some teachers are willing to interact with others, but would like to have time supplied to them during the school year’s staff development meetings. The teachers involved were able to observe each other teaching and take valuable strategies back to …

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Why Are We Writing? This Is Math Class!, Shana Streeks Jul 2007

Why Are We Writing? This Is Math Class!, Shana Streeks

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 8th grade mathematics, I investigated writing in the content area. I have realized how important it is for students to be able to communicate mathematical thoughts to help gain a deeper understanding of the content. As a result of this research, I plan to enforce the use of writing thoughts and ideas regarding math problems. Writers develop skills and generate new thoughts and ideas every time they sit down to write. Writing evolves and grows with ongoing practice, and that means thinking skills mature along with it. Writing is a classroom …

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Effects Of Self-Assessment On Math Homework, Diane Swartzlander Jul 2007

Effects Of Self-Assessment On Math Homework, Diane Swartzlander

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my eighth grade differentiated Algebra students, I investigated the effects of students using self-assessment on their homework. Students in my class were unmotivated and failed test objectives consistently. I wanted students to see that they controlled their learning and could be motivated to succeed. Formative assessment tells students how they need to improve. Learning needs to happen before they can be assessed. Self-assessment is one tool that helps students know if they are learning. A rubric scoring guide, daily documentation sheet and feedback on homework and test correlations were used to help students monitor …

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Do Students Progress If They Self-Assess? A Study In Small-Group Work, Cindy Steinkruger Jul 2007

Do Students Progress If They Self-Assess? A Study In Small-Group Work, Cindy Steinkruger

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 8th grade mathematics, I investigated the effects of self-assessment on student group work. Data was collected to see how self-assessment affected small-group work, usage of precise mathematical vocabulary, and student attitudes toward mathematics. Self-assessment allowed the students to periodically evaluate their own learning and their involvement in math class. I discovered that the vast majority of students enjoy working in small-groups, and they feel they are good group members. Evidence in regard to use of precise mathematical vocabulary showed an increased awareness in the importance of its usage. Student attitudes toward …

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Improving Student Engagement And Verbal Behavior Through Cooperative Learning, Daniel Schaben Jul 2007

Improving Student Engagement And Verbal Behavior Through Cooperative Learning, Daniel Schaben

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 10th grade Algebra II students, I investigated three related areas. First, I looked at how heterogeneous cooperative groups, where students in the group are responsible to present material, increase the number of students on task and the time on task when compared to individual practice. I noticed that their time on task might have been about the same, but they were communicating with each other mathematically. The second area I examined was the effect heterogeneous cooperative groups had on the teacher’s and the students’ verbal and nonverbal problem solving skills and …

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Improving Student Engagement And Verbal Behavior Through Cooperative Learning, Daniel Schaben Jul 2007

Improving Student Engagement And Verbal Behavior Through Cooperative Learning, Daniel Schaben

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 10th grade Algebra II students, I investigated three related areas. First, I looked at how heterogeneous cooperative groups, where students in the group are responsible to present material, increase the number of students on task and the time on task when compared to individual practice. I noticed that their time on task might have been about the same, but they were communicating with each other mathematically. The second area I examined was the effect heterogeneous cooperative groups had on the teacher’s and the students’ verbal and nonverbal problem solving skills and …

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Writing For Understanding In Math Class, Linda Moore Jul 2007

Writing For Understanding In Math Class, Linda Moore

Action Research Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 10th grade geometry students, I investigated how students learn to communicate mathematics in a written form. The purpose of the study is to encourage students to express their mathematical thinking clearly by developing their communication skills.

I discovered that although students struggled with the writing assignments, they were more comfortable with making comments, writing questions and offering suggestions through their journal rather than vocally in class. I have utilized teaching strategies for English Language Learners, but I had never asked the students if these strategies actually improved their learning. I have …

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Testing Naval Artillery And Other Things, Tricia Buchanan Jul 2007

Testing Naval Artillery And Other Things, Tricia Buchanan

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

In WWII a tremendous amount of artillery shells were made to support the war efforts. There were problems with the artillery shells sent to the battlefield; the main problem was their lack of ability to blow things up. In other words, they were duds! While one may think that dud shells were the proverbial rare case, in my paper I hope to show you that instead it unfortunately seemed more the norm. The reasons behind this are varied but in this paper I will focus on the testing practices of the artillery shells and some of the issues that occurred …

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Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, Gary Eisenhauer Jul 2007

Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, Gary Eisenhauer

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier was born in Auxerre, France on March 21, 1768. He was the ninth of twelve children from his father’s second marriage. When he was nine, his mother died. The following year, his father, a tailor, also passed.

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Extending A Finite Sequence, Jessica Fricke Jul 2007

Extending A Finite Sequence, Jessica Fricke

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

One of the most common mistakes in school mathematics is to list a few terms of a sequence and ask “What term comes next?” For example, a teacher may write: 1 2 4 … and ask what term comes next? The best answer is “almost anything could be the next term.” But people often find that answer unsatisfying. It helps, instead, to give an example. Perhaps, one might respond by saying: “The next number might be 8, but then again, it might be 7.” This answer might, of course, result in an angry teacher, so you need to be prepared …

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Ethnomathematics, Chad Larson Jul 2007

Ethnomathematics, Chad Larson

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

When asked to think about a foreign country the first thing that comes to my mind is the language barrier and the customs that accompany that specific country. The culture of the citizens and how it differs from my culture are also things which peak my interest. Things which I view as “normal” may seem very odd to someone who lives thousands of miles away, and likewise, traditions that have been past down from generations of people from distant lands may seem peculiar to me. These customs and cultures of which I speak are also the things that make this …

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Experimentation With Two Formulas By Ramanujan, Daniel Schaben Jul 2007

Experimentation With Two Formulas By Ramanujan, Daniel Schaben

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

Srinivasa Ramanujan was a brilliant mathematician, considered by George Hardy to be in the same class as Euler, Gauss, and Jacobi. His short life, marred by illness and tragic educational events, was unique in the history of mathematics. Mathematical discoveries are still being gleaned from his personal notebooks. Paper was a hard commodity to come by so his notebooks were a cluttered mix of pen over pencil mathematical hieroglyphics. The following highlights Ramanujan’s life in connection with Hardy, his work with ellipses, and his work with the partition function.

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Simple Statements, Large Numbers, Shana Streeks Jul 2007

Simple Statements, Large Numbers, Shana Streeks

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

Large numbers are numbers that are significantly larger than those ordinarily used in everyday life, as defined by Wikipedia (2007). Large numbers typically refer to large positive integers, or more generally, large positive real numbers, but may also be used in other contexts. Very large numbers often occur in fields such as mathematics, cosmology, and cryptography. Sometimes people refer to numbers as being “astronomically large”. However, it is easy to mathematically define numbers that are much larger than those even in astronomy. We are familiar with the large magnitudes, such as million or billion. In mathematics, we may know a …

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The Four Numbers Game, Tina Thompson Jul 2007

The Four Numbers Game, Tina Thompson

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

The Four Numbers Game is a fun way to work with subtraction and ordering of numbers. While trying to find an end to a game that is played with whole numbers, there are several items that will be investigated along the way. First, we offer an introduction to how the game is played. Second, rotations and reflections of a square will be presented which will create a generalized form. Third, we explain how even and odd number combinations will always end in even numbers within four subtraction rounds. Fourth, we argue that the length of the game does not change …

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Distance, Rate, Time And Beyond, Janet Timoney Jul 2007

Distance, Rate, Time And Beyond, Janet Timoney

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

In middle school mathematics, students learn to use the formula “distance equals rate times time,” usually expressed as d = r × t. Why not consider the formula distance = velocity × time? Does the term velocity mean something different than the term rate? We could also consider the variations of these formulas: distance ÷ time = rate, or distance ÷ rate = time. We can examine the definitions of these words and words which are very similar. After looking at the definitions of these words, maybe we will have a better understanding of how to use the formulas and …

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Order Of Operations And Rpn, Greg Vanderbeek Jul 2007

Order Of Operations And Rpn, Greg Vanderbeek

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

There is not a wealth of information regarding the history of the notations and procedures associated with what is now called the “order of operations”. There is evidence that some agreed upon order existed from the beginning of mathematical study. The grammar used in the earliest mathematical writings, before mathematical notation existed, supports the notion of computational order (Peterson, 2000). It is clear that one person did not invent the rules but rather current practices have grown gradually over several centuries and are still evolving.

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The Use Of Think-Aloud Strategies To Solve Word Problems, Lisa M. Henjes Jul 2007

The Use Of Think-Aloud Strategies To Solve Word Problems, Lisa M. Henjes

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Master of Arts in Teaching, Summative Projects

In this action research study of my sixth grade mathematics class, I investigated how students’ use of think-aloud strategies impacts their success in solving word problems. My research reveals that the use of think-aloud strategies can play an important role in the students’ abilities to understand and solve word problems. Direct instruction and modeling of think-aloud strategies increased my students’ confidence levels and the likelihood that they would use the strategies on their own. Providing students with a template to use as they solve a word problem helps students to better focus in on the think-aloud strategies I had been …

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Writing In The Mathematics Classroom: Does It Have An Effect On Students’ Mathematical Reasoning?, Rachel Bunnett Jul 2007

Writing In The Mathematics Classroom: Does It Have An Effect On Students’ Mathematical Reasoning?, Rachel Bunnett

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Master of Arts in Teaching, Summative Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 5th grade mathematics, I investigate how to improve students’ written explanations to and reasoning of math problems. For this, I look at journal writing, dialogue, and collaborative grouping and its effects on students’ conceptual understanding of the mathematics. In particular, I look at its effects on students’ written explanations to various math problems throughout the semester. Throughout the study students worked on math problems in cooperative groups and then shared their solutions with classmates. Along with this I focus on the dialogue that occurred during these interactions and whether and how …

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It Is Not Just The Solution Anymore, Carol Brown Jul 2007

It Is Not Just The Solution Anymore, Carol Brown

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Master of Arts in Teaching, Summative Projects

In this action research study of a fifth grade enrichment mathematics class, I investigate how problem solving strategies and group work opportunities influence the students’ use of strategies and graphic representations. Though there are no large gains in the students’ use of strategies, some students show minor gains in their use of representations. I also investigate the influence of group work upon usage of representations. At the beginning of the study most students indicate that working in groups is helpful in finding solutions. Toward the end, 52.9 percent of the students indicate that while group work is beneficial for “reasoning” …

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A Study Of Written Communication: Showing Your Steps, Megan Kelly Jul 2007

A Study Of Written Communication: Showing Your Steps, Megan Kelly

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Master of Arts in Teaching, Summative Projects

In this action research study of my teaching of sixth grade mathematics, I investigated the importance of showing work on daily assignments. I wanted to find out what happens when I ask students to show their work, specifically, whether it would improve students’ grades or not and whether I could help the students to understand the importance of showing their work. I discovered that students need to be shown the proper way to show their work, how to look at a problem and then how to show all of their steps to get to the answer. They need to be …

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Building Math Esteem In Fifth Grade Students, Karen Schur Jul 2007

Building Math Esteem In Fifth Grade Students, Karen Schur

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Master of Arts in Teaching, Summative Projects

In this action research study of my classroom of 5th grade mathematics, I investigate the levels of math esteem in each student and as a classroom. The definition of esteem on which I am basing my research is the judgment or estimation of the self-assurance of a student in math. I discovered that several of the students entered my classroom with a middle to low level of esteem in math, and about a third of the class already exhibited a positive, high esteem in math. After implementation of the research, and interpreting the data, I believe almost all the students …

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