Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Tasks For Learning Trigonometry, Sydnee Andreasen

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Many studies have been done using task-based learning within different mathematics courses. Within the field of trigonometry, task-based learning is lacking. The following research aimed to create engaging, mathematically rich tasks that meet the standards for the current trigonometry course at Utah State University and align with the State of Utah Core Standards for 7th through 12th grades. Four lessons were selected and developed based on the alignment of standards, the relevance to the remainder of the trigonometry course, and the relevance to courses beyond trigonometry. The four lessons that were chosen and developed were related to trigonometric ratios, graphing …

Key Benefits Of Small Group Instruction For Diverse Learners, Lydia Mcevoy

Master's Theses

Utilizing a mixed method approach this research study investigated the effects of small group instruction on the learning of diverse learners. Informed by a preliminary literature review that supports the use of small-group instruction, the researcher conducted a small-scale action research project to focus on three diverse learners in a 1st-grade classroom over four weeks. One of the findings of this project shows that small group instruction helps promote social and emotional skills as students feel more comfortable interacting with peers in a small group rather than in a whole group. Another finding indicates that students feel more encouraged by …

“Don’T Call On Me!”: Mediating Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Mathematics Anxiety In A Problem-Based Classroom, Christina Koehne, Wenyen Huang, Nataly Chesky

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This study aims to understand the ways in which problem-based teaching in a mathematics content course can alleviate pre-service elementary school teachers' mathematics anxiety. The significance of this work is to help increase the content and pedagogical knowledge of mathematics education, as outlined in STEM policies. Using a mixed method approach, the teachers-researchers explore what methods, procedures, and other perhaps unknown variables, helped pre-service elementary teachers decrease their mathematics anxiety during two mathematics content courses. The findings illuminate five major themes the authors discuss, which are illustrated by rich descriptions of students’ narratives and interviews. Given the importance of mathematics …

Undergraduate Mathematics Students Question And Critique Society Through Mathematical Modeling, Will Tidwell, Amy Bennett

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Mathematics can be used as a tool to question and critique society and, in doing so, give us more information about the world around us and how it operates. This however, is not a common perspective that is conveyed to students during their undergraduate mathematics coursework. This paper contributes to the understanding of how undergraduate mathematics students question and critique society via mathematical modeling tasks. In two courses at two universities, 27 mathematics majors and secondary preservice teachers engaged in the modeling process situated in authentic contexts to learn specific concepts and make mathematical connections across domains and disciplines. Both …

Gödel's Theorem In The Continuing Education Of Mathematics Teachers, Ana J. Lemes

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The notion of dépaysement épistémologique (epistemological disorientation) aims to capture the sense of disorientation when a learner is led to question their prior assumptions and understandings, generating uncertainty in a context in which they thought they had certain knowledge. This article describes an activity used with a group of practicing mathematics teachers in Uruguay that integrates elements of the history of mathematics related to Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, with the aim of provoking in the participants the experience of dépaysement épistémologique. Results show that several of the teachers participating in the activity felt dépaysement épistémologique, and this feeling triggered …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Teaching Mathematics With Poetry: Some Activities, Alexis E. Langellier

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

During the summer of 2021, I experimented with a new way of getting children excited about mathematics: math poetry. Math can be a trigger word for some children and many adults. I wanted to find a way to make learning math fun—without the students knowing they’re doing math. In this paper I describe some activities I used with students ranging from grades K-12 to the college level and share several poem examples, from students in grades two to eight.

Engaging Students With High-Stakes Problems, Deepak Basyal

Mathematics and Statistics

Engaging students in meaningful mathematics problem-solving is the intention of many education stakeholders around the world. Research suggests that the implementation of high-stakes problems in mathematics teaching is one way to strengthen students’ conceptual understanding. Many carefully crafted open-ended problems constitute high-stakes problems, and proper use of such problems in teaching and learning not only encourages learners’ flexible thinking but also helps detect their misconceptions. However, what is less practiced and understood is: how exactly one should aim to implement such problems in a classroom setting. Teaching pre-service middle school teachers for a few years using high-stakes (mostly open-ended problems) …

How Daily Movement Impacts Elementary Students In Math, Lesley Mcmahan Lawson

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Lesley McMahan Lawson on April 11, 2023.

Mastery Based Grading For Secondary Mathematics, Anderson Trimm

Professional Learning Day

Dr. Trimm will discuss in detail his design and implementation of a mastery grading system in calculus at IMSA and how it offers many benefits over traditional grading. Dr. Trimm will also explain how it makes creating assessments and grading easier and less work for the teacher, while being more accurate.

Financial Literacy Among Buffalo State College Undergraduate Students, Toni Martinucci

Public Administration Master’s Projects

Financial literacy can be complex and difficult for college students to comprehend. Many students struggle to afford college and are faced with large amounts of student loan debt. Financial awareness needs to be addressed early on for students to make informed decisions about college costs, student debt, and financial aid. However, financial aid applications, terms and conditions, and eligibility requirements are difficult for many students to comprehend on their own. The purpose of this study is to access financial literacy among undergraduate students at Buffalo State College. A quantitative approach is used in this study by implementing a web-based cross-sectional …

Applying Expansive Framing To An Integrated Mathematics-Computer Science Unit, Kimberly Evagelatos Beck, Jessica F. Shumway

Publications

In this research report for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 2022 Research Conference, we discuss the theory of Expansive Framing and its application to an interdisciplinary mathematics-computer science curricular unit.

“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 …

Collaboration In Mathematics Teacher Education: The What, How, And Why Of Mathematical Modeling, Aubrey Neihaus, Amy Bennett

The Advocate

In this paper, we share our collaboration across the disciplines of mathematics and mathematics education to develop and implement a mathematical modeling task for prospective secondary mathematics teachers. Through this collaboration, we identified three key components of mathematical modeling: the what, how, and why. In this paper, we outline these components from the literature and how each framed our development and implementation of the Sprinkler Task in our mathematics content and mathematics methods courses for secondary teachers. These three components show that mathematical modeling is a particularly fruitful space for collaboration between the disciplines of mathematics and …

Using Teacher Noticing And Video-Mediated Professional Learning To Develop Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge For Teaching The Derivative, Alfred M. Limbere

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study investigated how problem-solving videos can be used in video-mediated professional learning to support secondary preservice mathematics teachers (PMTs) in developing teacher knowledge for noticing student thinking in the context of the derivative concept in calculus. A model of the trajectory of PMTs’ noticing was constructed as six PMTs viewed and analyzed videos of students’ problem solving. At the same time, the nature of video-mediated interactions that were found to be productive in supporting this knowledge development was examined. A design experiment was used as the research methodology. Data was collected from video recordings of eight semi-structured teaching episodes …

Calculus Iii: Under The Influence Of Peer Instruction, Alan Von Herrmann, L. Jeneva Clark

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In peer Instruction, students engage with core course concepts and then explain those concepts to one another in small groups. Unlike in lecture format, peer instruction involves every student in the class. In Spring 2019, the first authot began using a modified version of peer instruction in Calculus III classes. He started each class by discussing important Calculus III concepts from three standpoints (the formula, the geometry behind the formula, and the physics behind the formula). During the last 20 minutes of each 50-minute class session, he polled the students using questions in the “Goldilocks Zone” – not too hard …

Navigating Mathematics Teacher Preparation During A Time Of Crisis, Zareen G. Rahman, Rani Satyam, Younggon Bae

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In this paper we highlight the experience of a mathematics teacher educator (MTE) and their prospective teachers (PTs) in a middle school mathematics methods course during the 2020 shift to online instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe it is valuable to report how the MTE reflected on their instructional decision-making in response to this massive transition to remote instruction. We also report that PTs needed support and guidance to employ new teaching practices they had learned in the methods course instead of reverting to familiar teaching methods.

Bbt Acoustic Alternative Top Bracing Cadd Data Set-Norev-2022jun28, Bill Hemphill

STEM Guitar Project’s BBT Acoustic Kit

This electronic document file set consists of an overview presentation (PDF-formatted) file and companion video (MP4) and CADD files (DWG & DXF) for laser cutting the ETSU-developed alternate top bracing designs and marking templates for the STEM Guitar Project’s BBT (OM-sized) standard acoustic guitar kit. The three (3) alternative BBT top bracing designs in this release are
(a) a one-piece base for the standard kit's (Martin-style) bracing,
(b) 277 Ladder-style bracing, and
(c) an X-braced fan-style bracing similar to traditional European or so-called 'classical' acoustic guitars.

The CADD data set for each of the three (3) top bracing designs includes …

Bbt Side Mold Assy, Bill Hemphill

STEM Guitar Project’s BBT Acoustic Kit

This electronic document file set covers the design and fabrication information of the ETSU Guitar Building Project’s BBT (OM-sized) Side Mold Assy for use with the STEM Guitar Project’s standard acoustic guitar kit. The extended 'as built' data set contains an overview file and companion video, the 'parent' CADD drawing, CADD data for laser etching and cutting a drill &/or layout template, CADD drawings in AutoCAD .DWG and .DXF R12 formats of the centerline tool paths for creating the mold assembly pieces on an AXYZ CNC router, and support documentation for CAM applications including router bit specifications, feeds, speed, multi-pass …

Happiness In Mathematics Education: The Experiences Of Preservice Elementary Teachers, Jeffrey Pair, Kent Dinh

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In this paper, we discuss preservice elementary teachers (PSTs) self-report of their happiness or unhappiness. Several times throughout a mathematics content capstone course, PSTs responded to prompts in which they described times from their past schooling experiences or during the course in which they experienced happiness or unhappiness in learning mathematics. Through thematic analysis, we examined their common experiences related to happiness and their mathematics learning. We found that PSTs’ happiness is related to expectations of themselves, their teachers, their peers, and mathematics itself. The study illuminates PST beliefs about mathematics teaching, collaborative group work, and the nature of mathematical …

Tech & Toys To Teach Linear Algebra, Kelly W. Remijan

Publications & Research

6th - 12 Grade Math teachers will Discover activities involving tech and/or toys:

1. CNC Machines- graphing points & line segments
2. Desmos/GeoGebra & flags- graphing linear equations/inequalities w/ domain/range
3. CBR & movement- graphing/analyzing lines
4. Push toys- systems of equations
5. Water growing toys- growth rate
6. Ziplines, Balloons, Barbie, & Lego People - slope & linear equations

Ready To Engage? Urban Middle School Teachers’ Responsiveness To Targeted Engagement Interventions On Their Virtual Instructional Practices: An Action Research Study, Svetlana Nikic

Dissertations

Teachers’ effectiveness is associated with their instructional practices and is ultimately linked to students’ learning outcomes. In order to impact teachers’ effectiveness, schools focus substantial effort and resources on professional development led by an assumption that teachers’ classroom practices can be improved through targeted interventions. Even if this premise is correct, little information is available about how much a teacher’s practice may change through interventions, or which aspects of instructional practice are more receptive to improving teacher effectiveness (Garret et al., 2019).

This study took place at an urban middle school and examined teachers’ responsiveness to targeted engagement intervention in …

Interdisciplinary Thinking: Financial Literacy Crosses Disciplinary Boundaries, Marla A. Sole

Publications and Research

Financial literacy is ideally suited to be integrated into mathematics courses and taught in an interdisciplinary manner. Students learn best and are motivated when tackling real-world meaningful questions. This article shares how elementary mathematics was applied to better understand the debate about raising the minimum wage and the United States National Debt. To serve as a guide for other teachers who wish to incorporate financial literacy into their mathematics courses and take an interdisciplinary approach, this article suggests readings, data sets, and pedagogical practices. Students were engaged and enthusiastic to work on problems that challenged their thinking about financial issues.

A Relationship Built To Impact Instruction: Developing And Sustaining Productive Partnerships Between Mathematics Specialists And Principals, Nathan D. Potter, Hannah Adera Rooney, Melody Locher, Debra Kinsey

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

How does the mathematics specialist provide a profound and lasting impact on instruction? We believe that a productive partnership between the principal and specialist, which we will call the principal-specialist relationship, is at the crux of the matter. When the principal-specialist relationship is built upon a foundation of a shared vision, clear roles, communication, and trust, both the teachers and students in the school benefit. We will explore the impact of the principal-specialist relationship on teacher success during the era of distance learning as necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to explore how these ideas come alive in the …

Fostering Mathematical Creativity Among Middle School Mathematics Teachers, Ceire H. Monahan

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this research was to understand in-service teachers’ experiences with and ideas about mathematical creativity after participating in a targeted professional development program. The professional development program encouraged participants to think creatively and foster students’ creativity. In this study I present the results from the main unit of analysis, 12 participants in a professional development program, along with a deep analysis of three exemplar teachers from each of the identified groups, adherence to traditional teaching practices (traditional), appreciation for teaching for creativity (creative but hesitant), and teaching for creativity (creative). The findings of this study highlight the combination …

Transitioning To An Active Learning Environment For Calculus At The University Of Florida, Darryl Chamberlain, Amy Grady, Scott Keeran, Kevin Knudson, Ian Manly, Melissa Shabazz, Corey Stone

Publications

In this note, we describe a large-scale transition to an active learning format in first-semester calculus at the University of Florida. Student performance and attitudes are compared across traditional lecture and flipped sections.

Transitioning Secondary Mathematics Pedagogy Towards Reform-Oriented Practice Through Coteaching, Jessica Tybursky Nuzzi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Reform standards in mathematics education have called for classrooms that are student-centered and that incorporate problem solving and reasoning for meaningful learning. After decades of reform efforts involving multiple stakeholders, research indicates that most classrooms remain teacher-centered and procedurally focused, due to the complexity of concerns and competing intentions that teachers face in their work. Coteaching, a commitment between two teachers to coplan, coenact, and coreflect on lessons, can serve as an ongoing, sustained, focused, integrated, reflective professional development structure that supports teachers towards growth. The theoretical constructs used to describe possible growth towards reform orientations in teaching secondary mathematics …

Mathematics Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge And Its Relation To Student Achievement, Michelle Emmalyn Peters-George

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students' performance in national assessments of mathematics at Grades 2, 4, and 6 has been a cause for concern in the Eastern Caribbean. Researchers have called for studies to focus on primary mathematics teachers' pedagogies rather than on laptops and curriculum; however, it is unclear how primary mathematics teachers' pedagogical knowledge influences these student’s achievement. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between primary mathematics teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (mathematical knowledge for teaching, quality of instruction, and pedagogical qualifications) and student achievement, measured by national assessment scores in Grenada, controlling for teachers’ age, gender, and experience. …

Factors Impacting Students’ Perceptions Of Mathematics, Amber Souza

Honors Program Theses and Projects

I want to be able to present math in a positive light to all of my future students, regardless of race, gender, and math background. However, for teachers as a whole to be able to take this important step, they must first develop a deeper understanding of why math is a sore spot for many students.

Saudi Elementary Mathematics Teachers’ Knowledge For Teaching Fractions, Mona Khalifah A Aladil

Dissertations

Recent reform efforts in Saudi Arabia attend to mathematics instruction with a great deal of emphasis to improve Saudi mathematics education. Studies in different countries have confirmed that teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching plays an important role in mathematical quality of instruction and students’ achievement (e.g., Ball, 1990; Baumert et al., 2010; Hill, Rowan, & Ball, 2005). Yet few studies about mathematics teachers’ knowledge for teaching have been conducted in the Saudi context. This study investigates Saudi elementary mathematics teachers’ knowledge for teaching in the content strand of rational numbers with an emphasis on fractions, which is an important step …