Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

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.

The Processes Of Change On Learning Literacy And Numeracy In South Australian Primary Schools, I Gusti Ngurah Darmawan, Carol Aldous

Shannon Research Press

Success in science and mathematics is predicated on successful literacy and numeracy learning. Yet schools and communities across the country struggle to negotiate factors that both impede and facilitate such learning - particularly factors over which they have some control. Working with data more comprehensive than that used previously and applying statistical methods only recently developed, researchers from the South Australian hub of the centre for Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR-SA) seek answers to three basic questions. What factors influence performance in Literacy and Numeracy? Does living in a rural and …

An Investigation Of Palindromes And Their Place In Mathematics, Ryan Andrew Nivens

ETSU Faculty Works

What do the Honda Civic, the Mazda 626, and the Boeing 747 have in common? What about Weird Al's song Bob, the first name of Miley Cyrus' alter ego, and the 70s sensation Abba? What do all these things have in common? They all contain palindromes. While some people recognise a palindrome when they see one, fewer realise that a palindrome is a special case of a pattern and that these patterns are all around. Palindromes frequently occur in names, both of vehicles and people, and in music.

Parts Of The Whole: The Virtue Of Books, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This column argues that the majority of commercial textbooks do not serve students well. Strategies for change include clearly distinguishing the textbook requirements of different priority subjects and assembling writers who can address, in addition to content development, the cognitive level of the children as well as writing in an age-appropriate way. A discussion of the forces that produce current texts leads to the recommendation that textbooks be a focus of research and improvement rather than the byproduct of an individual’s lecture notes.

Quantitative Literacy Interventions At University Of Cape Town: Effects Of Separation From Academic Disciplines, Vera Frith

Numeracy

The aim of the Numeracy Centre at the University of Cape Town is to develop students’ quantitative literacy (QL) in a manner consistent with their programmes of study and intended roles in the community. Our theoretical perspective on the nature of QL is in line with that of the New Literacies Studies and sees academic QL as practices in different academic disciplinary contexts. This means that for us the ideal curriculum structure for developing QL would fully integrate it into the teaching of the disciplines. This is in practice not achievable in most cases, especially since many students do not …

Numeracy, Financial Literacy, And Financial Decision-Making, Annamaria Lusardi

Numeracy

Financial decisions, be they related to asset building or debt management, require the capacity to do calculations, including some complex ones. But how numerate are individuals, in particular when it comes to calculations related to financial decisions? Studies and surveys implemented in both the United States and in other countries that are described in this paper show the level of numeracy among the population to be very low. Moreover, lack of numeracy is not only widespread but is particularly severe among some demographic groups, such as women, the elderly, and those with low educational attainment. This has potential consequences for …

Monitoring Australian Year 8 Student Achievement Internationally : Timss 2011, Sue Thomson, Kylie Hillman, Nicole Wernert

TIMSS 2011 and PIRLS 2011

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2011) is an international study directed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). In Australia, TIMSS was managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), and funded by the Australian and state and territory governments.

The goal of TIMSS is to provide comparative information about educational achievement across countries to improve teaching and learning in mathematics and science. It also provides comparative perspectives on trends in achievement in the context of different educational systems, school organisational approaches and instructional practices and to enable this, TIMSS collects …

Disenfractioned: How A Blind Spot For Fractions May Be A Hindrance To Democracy, Matthew Salomone

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Teaching Mathematics: Using Research-Informed Strategies, Peter Sullivan

Australian Education Review

AER 59 reviews research into aspects of mathematics teaching, focusing on issues relevant to Australian mathematics teachers, to those who support them, and also to those who make policy decisions about mathematics teaching. It was motivated by and draws on the proceedings of the well-attended and highly successful ACER Research Conference Teaching mathematics? Make it count: What research tells us about effective mathematics teaching and learning, held in Melbourne in August 2010.

Section 2 describes the goals of teaching mathematics and argues that a practical orientation should be the focus of mathematics teaching in the compulsory years, and outlines …

Quantitative Literacy At Michigan State University, 2: Connection To Financial Literacy, Dennis Gilliland, Vince Melfi, Alla Sikorskii, Edward Corcoran, Eleanor Melfi

Numeracy

The lack of capability of making financial decisions has been recently described for the adult United States population. A concerted effort to increase awareness of this crisis, to improve education in quantitative and financial literacy, and to simplify financial decision-making processes is critical to the solution. This paper describes a study that was undertaken to explore the relationship between quantitative literacy and financial literacy for entering college freshmen. In summer 2010, incoming freshmen to Michigan State University were assessed. Well-tested financial literacy items and validated quantitative literacy assessment instruments were administered to 531 subjects. Logistic regression models were used to …

Quantitative Literacy At Michigan State University, 1: Development And Initial Evaluation Of The Assessment, Alla Sikorskii, Vince Melfi, Dennis Gilliland, Jennifer Kaplan, Suzie Ahn

Numeracy

Development, psychometric testing, and the results of the administration of a quantitative literacy (QL) assessment to undergraduate students are described. Three forms were developed covering a wide range of skills, contexts, and quantitative information presentation formats. Following item generation and revision based on preliminary testing and cognitive interviewing, a total of 3,701 consented undergraduate students at Michigan State University completed one of the three forms. Two of the forms contained 14 multiple-choice items, and one form contained 17 multiple-choice items. All forms were completed by students in less than 30 minutes. Evidence of validity and reliability were obtained for the …

Parts Of The Whole : Cognition, Schemas, And Quantitative Reasoning, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

Based loosely on ideas of Jean Piaget and Richard Skemp, this Parts of the Whole column considers the construction of knowledge in mathematics and quantitative reasoning. Examples are chosen that illustrate an important cognitive difference between quantitative numeracy and classical mathematics, and which illuminate the particular choices instructors must make in order to teach either or both of these.

Calculus, Biology And Medicine: A Case Study In Quantitative Literacy For Science Students, Kim Rheinlander, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This paper describes a course designed to enhance the numeracy of biology and pre-medical students. The course introduces students with the background of one semester of calculus to systems of nonlinear ordinary differential equations as they appear in the mathematical biology literature. Evaluation of the course showed increased enjoyment and confidence in doing mathematics, and an increased appreciation of the utility of mathematics to science. Students who complete this course are better able to read the research literature in mathematical biology and carry out research problems of their own.

Pisa In Brief : Highlights From The Full Australian Report : Challenges For Australian Education : Results From Pisa 2009 : The Pisa 2009 Assessment Of Students' Reading, Mathematical And Scientific Literacy, Sue Thomson, Lisa De Bortoli, Marina Nicholas, Kylie Hillman, Sarah Buckley

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

PISA in Brief summarises the results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 assessment of students’ reading, mathematical and scientific literacy skills. It tells us about how students performed in the assessment and describes some wider findings about what lies behind their results. PISA 2009 assessed students’ capacities to apply knowledge and skills in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy. More assessment time was given to reading literacy, as this was the main focus for this cycle.

Parts Of The Whole: Thinking About Variance: Standards, Targets, Tracking, And Other Thoughts, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

Variation is a natural result of any process, including education. Understanding how variation propagates and increases is necessary for designing educational interventions that work for the intended population. We show how common strategies such as setting standards and tracking can accidentally produce unintended and undesirable results due to the way variation moves through a system.

Creating A Masters In Numeracy Program, Eric Gaze

Numeracy

The Master of Science in Numeracy program at Alfred University received full approval from the New York State Education Department (NYSED) in May of 2007. This first-of-its-kind program seeks to provide teachers at all levels, from across the curriculum, the skills, and more importantly the confidence, to introduce relevant quantitative concepts in their own disciplines. Created to be a complement of the MS Ed. in Literacy, the 30-hour MS in Numeracy program consists of four required core courses (Teaching Numeracy, Teaching with Data, Assessment and Learning Theories in Numeracy, and Doing Science and Numeracy), five electives from a list of …

Engaging Math-Avoidant College Students, M. Paul Latiolais, Wendi Laurence

Numeracy

This paper is an informal, personal account of how we, as two college teachers, became interested in math anxiety, decided to explore it amongst students at our institution in order to inform our teaching, and became convinced that the massive problem is math avoidance. We tried discussion groups, but few students attended, although those that did made useful suggestions. Thus informed, we designed an innovative course, Confronting College Mathematics as a Humanities course with the possibility of credit toward the math requirement, but it was undersubscribed in its first offering and had to be canceled. How can we get college …

Quantitative Literacy Assessments: An Introduction To Testing Tests, Dorothy Wallace, Kim Rheinlander, Steven Woloshin, Lisa Schwartz

Numeracy

This paper describes how professional evaluators construct assessment instruments that work properly to measure the right thing. Constructing an assessment tool begins with getting feedback from relevant experts on the content of questions. The tool is developed and refined through comparison with existing instruments, focus groups and cognitive interviews. The final instrument is formally tested for content validity, usability, reliability and construct validity through a variety of statistical measures. This process of construction is illustrated by two examples relevant to quantitative literacy: the Medical Data Interpretation Test and the Math Attitudes Survey.

Parts Of The Whole: Is Everything Equally Important?, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

Two strategies are proposed for sorting out priorities and goals in education. At the college level the column argues that goals, and therefore requirements, should be set based on the desired knowledge base of the entire population rather than the individual. At the scale of a single K-12 classroom the column argues that priority be given to content requiring most instructor intervention, describing how the structure of class time and school activities would change as a result. Implementation of these strategies would lead to more efficient use of teacher’s time and effort, better allocation of systemic resources, and clarity of …

All The More Reason For Qr Across The Curriculum, Bernard L. Madison

Numeracy

No abstract provided.

The Learning Of Numeracy And Literacy In South Australian Primary Schools: An Investigation Into The Performance Of Students And Schools In Numeracy And Literacy In Rural And Regional South Australia., Carol Aldous

Shannon Research Press

Success in science and mathematics is predicted on successful literacy and numeracy learning. Yet schools and communities across the country struggle to negotiate factors that both impede and facilitate such learning - particularly factors over which they have no control. Working with data more comprehensive than that used previously and applying statistical methods only recently developed, researchers from the South Australian hub of the National Centre for Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR-SA) seek answers to three basic questions. What factors influence performance in literacy and numeracy? Does living in a rural …

A Good Start To Numeracy : Effective Numeracy Strategies From Research And Practice In Early Childhood, Brian Doig, Barry Mcrae, Ken Rowe

Student learning processes

The Commonwealth-funded Project Good Start was a longitudinal study of children during their year before school and the first year of school, involving preschool centres and schools across Australia. It considered the questions: how can effective numeracy programs be identified at both year-before-school and the early years of school; and what constitutes evidence of effectiveness. This report provides a review of the international and Australian research literature on numeracy in early childhood that complements the Department of Education, Science and Training’s major review of the numeracy literature undertaken by Deakin University. It is designed to provide early childhood professionals and …

Language Implications For Numeracy: A Study Of Language Use Of Disadvantaged Students, Robyn Zevenbergen

2000 - Improving Numeracy Learning

Increasingly language is recognised as causing difficulties for students when they come to learn mathematics. Many different levels and aspects of language can be seen to create such difficulties for students. This paper looks at the implications of language on learning mathematics or developing a sense of numeracy.

Calculator Use In Western Australian Primary Schools, Len Sparrow, Paul Swan

Research outputs pre 2011

There are very few issues in mathematics teaching over the past twenty five years which have caused so much debate among teachers, parents and the community than the use of calculators in primary schools. Letters to newspapers, magazine articles and public comment often express the opinion that the apparent decline in the ability of young people to calculate, even simple computations, is a direct result of the use of calculators in schools. Anecdotal evidence in the form of reports from teaching practice students, personal observation in schools and comments from teachers suggests there is, in fact, very little calculator use …

Mental Computation In School Mathematics: Preference, Attitude And Performance Of Students In Years 3, 5, 7 And 9, Alistair Mcintosh, Jack Bana, Brian Farrell

Research outputs pre 2011

Commencing in 1989 a team consisting of Alistair Mcintosh, Paul Swan and Ellita de Nardi at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, probed the strategies used by children of primary school age when calculating mentally, with a view to developing and promoting more appropriate and effective mental computation...This present monograph, which looks at the mental computation of Western Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, is one of the outcomes of this collaborative research project.

Children's Knowledge And Understanding Of Basic Number Facts, Jack Bana, Richard Korbosky

Research outputs pre 2011

Automatic recall of all the basic number facts is a major objective in primary school mathematics. This is an objective that is not easily attained. Many students have problems acquiring the skills which lead to correct and immediate responses (automatic recall) for all the basic number facts. Knowledge of the basic number facts is essential for undertaking all computation efficiently. These basic facts are defined as 0 + 0 to 9 + 9 for addition and their subtractive opposites; and 0 x 0 to 9 x 9 for multiplication and their inverses in division. This is a total of 390 …

Issues In Primary Mathematics Education Computers: Classroom Practice And Curriculum Reform, Lorraine Kershaw, Kevin Jones, Len Sparrow

Research outputs pre 2011

The advent of an interactive multimedia approach in teaching and learning has opened up yet another horizon to be explored in search of the perceived potential of the computer in primary mathematics education. Benefits promoted have included its use as a motivational aid, the developing of content knowledge and problem solving skills of children of varying abilities, its capacity to support an integrated curriculum, and to assist children in controlling their own learning. Many have doubts about the veracity of these assertions and disagree about the types of appropriate uses of the computer. For classroom teachers, software and hardware availability, …

Issues In Primary Mathematics Education: Calculators: Research And Curriculum Implications, Len Sparrow, Lorraine Kershaw, Kevin Jones

Research outputs pre 2011

Calculators: Research and curriculum implications is one of a series of monographs on issues in primary mathematics education. It has been written to support initiatives in the development of student-centred learning programs at Edith Cowan University - programs designed to accommodate current views on effective adult learning strategies, as wells as the development of professional and generic (key) competencies. Irrespective of the nature of individual learning programs, students and teachers working at undergraduate and postgraduate levels will find the series useful- either as a synthesis of currently available research findings and reference material, to identify potentially significant initiatives and developments …

Number Sense And Computation In The Classroom, Kevin Jones, Lorraine Kershaw, Len Sparrow

Research outputs pre 2011

Number sense and computation in the classroom is one of a series of monographs on issues in primary mathematics education. It has been written to support initiatives in the development of student-centred learning programs at Edith Cowan University - programs designed to accommodate current views on effective adult learning strategies, as wells as the development of professional and generic (key) competencies. Irrespective of the nature of individual learning programs, students and teachers working at undergraduate and postgraduate levels will find the series useful- either as a synthesis of currently available research findings and reference material, to identify potentially significant initiatives …

Profiles Of Learning. The Basic Skills Testing Program In New South Wales 1989, Geoff N. Masters, Janice Lokan, Brian Doig, Siek Toon Khoo, John Lindsey, Lynette Robinson, Susan Zammit

Assessment and Reporting

The 1989 Basic Skills Testing Program in New South Wales provides the most comprehensive picture yet compiled of literacy and numeracy learning in Australian primary schools. In 1989, some 53,800 Year 6 students in NSW government schools were tested in five aspects of literacy and numeracy. Another 2,300 Year 3 students took part in a pilot study. This book discusses the writing of the tests, the analysis of results, and the reporting of results to parents, teachers and schools. The aim of the basic skills tests is to describe, in positive terms, the skills that students have mastered, to identify …