Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Teaching Mathematics To All Learners By Tapping Into Indigenous Legends: A Pathway Towards Inclusive Education, Nahid Golafshani

Journal of Global Education and Research

This study explored the use of Indigenous storytelling in the planning and teaching of mathematical content. In collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators, a culturally inclusive mathematical lesson was developed, implemented, and reviewed in an elementary school in Northern Ontario. This study used a culturally authentic approach to address the current educational issue of diversity within the Ontario curriculum and education system. The results of this study suggested that utilizing Indigenous storytelling for teaching mathematical curricular expectations could benefit both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Storytelling can allow students to relate abstract mathematical concepts to their own lived experiences, to be …

Evolution Of Novice Teachers’ Instructional Visions To Teach Elementary Mathematics: A Longitudinal Collective Case Study, Amber Nicole Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This longitudinal collective case study is about the transformational experiences of three novice elementary teachers, Tammy, Katie, and Michelle, as they moved from an elementary teacher preparation program, at a large research university in the southeast United States, through their first two years of teaching in different elementary school contexts. Situated within literature pertaining to instructional vision and visions of high-quality mathematics instruction (VHQMI), these cases were used to explore the teachers’ perceptions of their visions of high-quality mathematics instruction and how these perceptions evolve over time. The study design prioritizes novice teacher voices as predominant data sources to elevate …

Teaching Science For Social Justice: Curriculum, Pedagogy, And Critical Science Agency In Independent School Classrooms, Selene Y. Willis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research on social justice continues to be conducted in urban, diverse schools, while independent schools are traditionally overlooked and absent from research in many disciplines, including science education. This embedded case study uses a critical pedagogical lens to examine this gap in the research literature by examining and describing what it looks like to teach science for social justice within a suburban independent school in the southeastern United States.Research on social justice continues to be conducted in urban, diverse schools. In contrast, independent schools are traditionally overlooked and absent from research in many disciplines, including science education. This embedded case …

Approach To Problem Solving And Use Of Intuition By Engineering Technology Students, Meher R. Taleyarkhan, Anne M. Lucietto, Natalie L. F. Hobson, Therese M. Azevedo

Journal of Global Education and Research

Engineering technology students often forgo a methodical approach of solving or answering questions on assignments or exams in favor of an intuition-based approach, emphasizing educated guessing (Broberg et al., 2008). Faculty observations have noted these student solutions often provide explanations, usually sans calculations, to support answers the students believe to be reasonable when in reality deviated from the correct answer. An extensive study was developed to assess several distinctions between student intuition and use of cognition in problem solving, as related to a generalized student population. The study was comprised of a survey and interview. The survey utilized two instruments, …

Artificial Intelligence, Basic Skills, And Quantitative Literacy, Gizem Karaali

Numeracy

The introduction in November 2022 of ChatGPT, a freely available language-based artificial intelligence, has led to concerns among some educators about the feasibility and benefits of teaching basic writing and critical thinking skills to students in the context of easily accessed, AI-based cheating mechanisms. As of now, ChatGPT can write pretty convincing student-level prose, but it is still not very good at answering quantitatively rich questions. Therefore, for the time being, the preceding concerns may not be shared by a large portion of the numeracy education community. However, as Google and WolframAlpha are definitely capable of answering standard and some …

Intermediate Algebra Students’ Perspectives Towards Learning Mathematics, And Technology, Caree J. S. Pinder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research states that many remedial mathematics learners possess low mathematics academic self-concept, negative attitudes, and high anxiety levels. These aspects can manifest in a lack of confidence, apprehension, reduced engagement, or academic failure (2007; Klinger, 2008; Larkin & Jorgensen, 2016; Parnis & Petocz, 2016;). However, if these learners successfully pass remedial mathematics courses like Intermediate Algebra, they are more likely to persist in mathematics and the university (Benken et al., 2015). Due to students' success in remedial mathematics, persistence in mathematics raises many questions. In many cases, these students have had unpleasant experiences, attitudes, or beliefs about mathematics but were …

Investigating Students' Interpretations Of Ecological Food Webs, Christopher Neil Grissett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To better prepare undergraduate students for current and future biological challenges, scientists, educators and researchers in the Vision and Change report recommended five core conceptual areas essential for the improvement of biological literacy, one of which is biological systems. Systems are an identified core concept that may help promote biological literacy. One example of a system that students have difficulty understanding is an ecological food web, which consists of parts or components interacting with one another to perform a given phenomenon. The intricacies of this system tend to confuse students and can produce naïve conceptions that could hinder future learning …

Measurement In Chemistry, Mathematics, And Physics Education: Student Explanations Of Organic Chemistry Reaction Mechanisms And Instructional Practices In Introductory Courses, Brandon J. Yik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The work in this dissertation is presented in two parts. The first part (Chapters 3 and 4) details work relating to students’ explanations of reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry. The second part (Chapters 5 and 6) details work relating to the evaluating the uptake of research-based instructional practices in introductory chemistry, mathematics, and physics courses.

To evaluate learning of organic chemistry reactions, instructors must ask students to construct written explanations of reaction mechanisms. Written assessments should focus on what is happening and why it is happening to promote deeper student understanding. However, for instructors to gain insight into students’ understanding, …

College Students’ Numeracy Events In Discussing Public Issues, Samuel L. Tunstall

Numeracy

An important consideration in the design and development of numeracy-focused coursework is ensuring that one meets students where they are with respect to both their mathematics background and their existing numeracy practices in relation to public issues. The latter consideration is especially important, given that students already think about such issues in their daily lives, long before we use them as a means for motivating quantitative exploration in the classroom. In this article, I report on a qualitative study of eight college students’ numeracy events—that is, events mediated in some way by quantification–when reasoning in focus groups with three distinct …

“Math Talks Are Like An Alarm Clock Waking You Up”: Language’S Crucial Role In Mathematics, Gabriella M. Wasser

Journal of Practitioner Research

Whole group math talks, or number talks, are a common practice to get students talking about their own understanding of mathematical concepts. The purpose of this study was to implement math talks in small group settings to see what would happen, specifically to students’ conceptual understanding as well their general perceptions of math talks. This study took place in a fourth-grade math classroom, and math talks were implemented with the whole class for a week and then moved to small groups for the remaining three weeks of the study. During the study, a pre-and post-assessment was given, field notes were …

What Can We Learn From The Different Understandings Of Mathematical Literacy?, Svein Arne Sikko

Numeracy

Mathematical literacy, quantitative literacy, numeracy, matheracy, disciplinary literacy, and content-area literacy are among a plethora of terms used to link mathematics and literacy. In addition to this abundance of terms, the content of the terms is not precise, and in some cases the terms are used interchangeably. I delve into this landscape and dissect the meaning of each of them. From such an analysis of mathematical literacy, numeracy, and quantitative literacy, we learn about the importance of quantitative practices and elementary mathematics in society, including both how mathematics is necessary for everyday life but also how it can be used …

A Tale Of Success: Embedding Remediation And Curricular Design, Joseph P. Mccollum, William Adamczak, James R. Nolan

Numeracy

This paper reports how high failure rates in the first quantitative course that college business majors take were significantly reduced by implementing course-embedded remediation. More specifically, this paper details our process for identifying students at risk, placing them in special sections of the first quantitative course, and adding an additional hour of application of course concepts which resulted in a statistically significant increase in pass rates. The study focused on the learning environment, the attitude of the student, the utility of the material and the role of the professor for this special course. We feel this research is timely, as …

Collaboratively Building A Teaching Model (Tttc) In A Doctoral Science Education Program: An Autoethnography, Alton George Declaire

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This autoethnography illustrates benefits of doctoral education consistent with the holistic paradigm underlying today’s society and development of a practice-research-practice cycle useful to science teacher educators. Emergent hypotheses indicate ways to increase a doctoral student’s well-being, intellectual risk taking, production of creative products, and expedite in-depth learning. The hypotheses were derived from the processes and pathways I used to make sense of the learning opportunities afforded me and features of my experience that led to my well-being and maintaining my enthusiasm despite the significant life challenges I encountered and the tedious parts of the doctoral process.The original research question was, …

How The Number Line Can Be Used To Promote Students' Understanding Of The Normal Distribution, Danri H. Delport

Numeracy

A strong foundation in early number concepts is crucial for students’ future success in statistics. Despite its importance in statistics, many first-year students struggle to comprehend the normal distribution due to a lack of basic number sense. Students get confused about the order and magnitude of negative z-scores on a standard normal curve or when problems about normally distributed random variables are presented in word questions which involve phrases that indicate inequalities. As a result, students shade wrong areas on the bell-shaped curve when they have to calculate probabilities for normally distributed variables. Visual representations such as the number …

Covid-19: A Developing Crisis For Quantitative Reasoning, Nathan D. Grawe

Numeracy

Assessment data show substantial learning losses resulting from pandemic-era teaching and learning. While all learning domains have been affected, mathematics performance shows particularly large losses among elementary and secondary school students. Advocates for quantitative reasoning in high schools and colleges should anticipate weaker levels of basic numeracy among entering cohorts for a decade to come. As a consequence, the urgency to reform curricula and student support has never been greater.

Learning, Planning For, And Reflecting On Teaching Mathematics For Social Justice: A Case Study Investigation Of A High School Mathematics Methods Course, Queshonda J. Kudaisi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While much is known about learning to teach for social justice in other content areas, less is known about how mathematics education students learn to teach mathematics for social justice, specifically at the high school level. Hence, this mixed-methods convergent case study addresses this gap in the research literature by examining and describing the experiences of mathematics education students learning to teach mathematics for social justice within the context of a high school mathematics methods course at a large research university in the southeastern United States. The data sources accessed for this study include a survey measuring beliefs about teaching …

An Ecology Of Learning: Secondary Mathematics Teacher Candidate Learning While Co-Teaching In Early Clinical Practice, Cynthia A. Castro-Minnehan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have called for more empirical research exploring better ways to organize clinical practice around teacher candidate (TC) learning and the coursework-fieldwork gap. This study responds to their call by exploring secondary mathematics TC learning in early clinical placements that use co-teaching. Further, this study views co-teaching in clinical practice through the lens of an activity system. An activity system conceptualizes co-teaching in clinical practice as a complex learning environment or a learning ecology. This study uses a convergent mixed methods design. Findings reveal evidence of TC learning of eight key practices associated with co-teaching in their early clinical placements. …

Advances In Global Education And Research: Volume 4, Waynne B. James, Cihan Cobanoglu, Muhittin Cavusoglu

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

This is the fourth volume of the Advances in Global Education and Research Book Series. This volume has the following parts:

• Part 1: Adult Education
• Part 2: Curriculum and Instruction Development
• Part 3: Educational Technology
• Part 4: Education in Other Specialties
• Part 5: English as a Second Language
• Part 6: Global Competence
• Part 7: Higher Education and Educational Leadership
• Part 8: Inclusive Education
• Part 9: International Education
• Part 10: PreK-12
• Part 11: Research Methods in Education

ISBN: 978-1-955833-04-2

Adult Education

• Teaching for knowledge transfer: Best practices from a graduate-level educational psychology distance learning program
  • Bobby Hoffman
• A study on the …

Saudi High School Science Teachers' Perceptions Towards The Integration Of Digital Game-Based Learning Into Their Teaching Practice, Jawaher A. Alsultan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The switch to distant learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic demanded an immediate adaptation of technology platforms to improve students' online learning. Science teachers were suddenly required to teach their classes virtually with little time and preparation. This breakneck shift to remote learning raised the question of how teachers can provide instruction to their students in the practices of science using virtual technologies. This embedded case study investigates an intervention to support Saudi science teachers facing the unprecedented challenge posed by COVID-19 in teaching the practices of science in the virtual school platform, Madrasati, through the engagement in digital game-based …

The Attributes Of Mathematics Learning Which Ghanaian Senior High School Students Value, Ernest Kofi Davis, Wee Tiong Seah, Nathaniel Howard, Eric Magnus Wilmot

Journal of Global Education and Research

Valuing constitutes an important aspect of mathematics pedagogy and hence student learning outcomes. This study surveyed 416 students from Cape Coast, Ghana to explore what senior high school students in this country in West Africa valued in their study of mathematics. The data collected were analyzed using principal component analysis. The results suggest that Ghanaian senior high school students found connections, understanding, fluency, learning technologies, feedback, instructional materials, open-endedness and problem-solving important in their mathematics learning. Implications of the findings for curriculum delivery in mathematics and future research opportunities are also discussed.

Arab Undergraduate Students' Perceptions Of Their Transition To Learn Mathematics In English In The United States, Annetta Hastings

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of students who choose to pursue higher education outside their home country has continued to grow, and one of the most popular international destinations is the United States. International students, whose home language is not English, can find this educational opportunity to be academically challenging. Institutions of higher learning can admit international students and expect them to adjust to the linguistic, cultural, and social differences in a new educational system without appropriate support. To better support international students in undergraduate mathematics, researchers have focused on how language and culture affect mathematical understanding (Barton & Neville-Barton, 2003; Durand-Guerrier et …

Young Adolescents’ Opportunity To Develop Concept Images Of Polygons In Middle School Mathematics Textbooks, Megan N. Cannon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Young adolescents build notions of figures through experiences. When young adolescentsbegin middle school mathematics, they already have prior assumptions and conceptualizations about shapes (Herbst, Fujita, Halverscheid, & Weiss, 2017). Over years of experiences, interactions, and exposures with a particular concept, these students develop concept images consisting of all the visual information, pictures, mental images, or properties associated with the particular mathematical concept (Vinner, 1983). Seminal works in the field of mathematics education research found that without an opportunity to engage with varied representations, young adolescent students may not develop robust concept images (Aspinwall, Shaw & Presmeg, 1997; Hasegawa, 1997; Mesa, …

National Numeracy Network Officers And Board Of Directors, Milo Schield

Numeracy

National Numeracy Network Officers and Board of Directors in the year 2020.

Course Design And Academic Outcomes In Quantitative Literacy After Eliminating Required Remediation, Jennifer E. Clinkenbeard

Numeracy

In Fall 2018, remedial mathematics courses were eliminated from the 23-campus California State University system under Executive Order 1110. Incoming first-year students were placed into college credit-bearing mathematics courses with options for corequisite support. This study examines the academic outcomes for students at California State University Monterey Bay in a college credit level quantitative literacy (QL) mathematics course with optional corequisite support during the 2018-2019 academic year. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that required remediation is not necessary for success in college-level QL. The corequisite support model also has potential to support more equitable outcomes for all …

Advancing Functional Scientific Literacy To Socioscientific Literacy As A Cross Disciplinary Educational Goal: A Philosophical Analysis, Kory Bennett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Educational experiences built upon the Socioscientific Issues (SSI) framework provide opportunities for teachers and students to reflectively and reflexively address ill-defined complex scientific issues that affect human beings around the planet. Through the practice of Socioscientific Reasoning (SSR), while grappling with SSI, students have the potential to develop a SSI functional perspective of scientific literacy (SL); functional scientific literacy (FSL). Due to the multidimensional complexity of many human issues in and out of the science classroom, students are required to develop various skills, dispositions, and problem-solving strategies that expand from and connect with a SSI functional perspective of SL. The …

Equitable Mathematics Classroom Discourse, Liza Bondurant

Journal of Practitioner Research

In this article the author shares a self-study investigation into how the quality of talk and opportunities to participate are distributed across individual students based on race and gender in her college math class. Readers will learn how to conduct a similar investigation in their classroom. A discussion of ways to use the information gathered from equitable mathematics classroom discourse investigations will follow.

Successful Novice Teachers’ Conceptualizations And Enactments Of The Collaborating Teacher Role: A Dual Case Study, Kia Sarnoff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive, exploratory, dual case study was to understand the ways two successful novice middle school mathematics teachers serving as first-year collaborating teachers (CTs) for preservice teachers (PSTs) from the same “Grow Your Own” (GYO) educator preparation program (EPP) where they received their initial preparation conceptualized and enacted their CT roles. The CTs’ perceived impact of being alumni of the same middle school mathematics EPP as their PSTs was also explored. Analysis of interview, observation, and document data collected throughout the PSTs’ initial field experience and the CTs’ first-ever mentoring experience resulted in several key assertions including: …

Teacher Certification Pathway And Mathematical Quality Of Instruction, Gail Stewart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The formal documentation of alternative routes to teacher certification programs in the United States began in 1983 (Ludlow, 2011). According to the former US Secretary of Education’s Annual Report on teacher quality the high demand for teachers in high needs areas, such as mathematics, has caused growth in alternative certification routes for teachers (Paige, 2002). The many factors that influence teaching quality make it difficult to determine what impact, if any, a teacher’s preparation program has on the quality of their instruction. Current research on teacher quality shows varied results, making it hard to reach a conclusion about the effectiveness …

Probing For Bias: Comparing Populations Using Item Response Curves, Paul J. Walter, Edward Nuhfer, Crisel Suarez

Numeracy

We introduce an approach for making a quantitative comparison of the item response curves (IRCs) of any two populations on a multiple-choice test instrument. In this study, we employ simulated and actual data. We apply our approach to a dataset of 12,187 participants on the 25-item Science Literacy Concept Inventory (SLCI), which includes ample demographic data of the participants. Prior comparisons of the IRCs of different populations addressed only two populations and were made by visual inspection. Our approach allows for quickly comparing the IRCs for many pairs of populations to identify those items where substantial differences exist. For each …

Parts Of The Whole: The Last Column: Freire's Pedagogy Of Liberation, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

The educational theory of Paolo Freire is briefly summarized for instructors of quantitative reasoning, with a focus on what it means to give students “agency.” Some examples are given of how to implement his basic ideas.