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Full-Text Articles in Secondary Education and Teaching

Tasks For Learning Trigonometry, Sydnee Andreasen May 2024

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 …


Fragile Strength: Math Self-Efficacy Of High Achieving Girls, Tristan Tang May 2019

Fragile Strength: Math Self-Efficacy Of High Achieving Girls, Tristan Tang

Education | Master's Theses

Math gender gap research shows girls’ math self-efficacy to be correlated with their interest in pursuing higher levels of math education and STEM career opportunities. Most math gender gap studies have used only quantitative approaches, thereby missing the opportunity to gain deeper perspectives directly from girls who are steadfastly facing the math gender gap. This study centered around two small focus groups of girls attending a unique secondary school where every afternoon is fully dedicated to deep engagement with higher-level mathematics. Additionally, parents of girls at the school were surveyed to provide further insight into possible sources of their daughter’s …


"Returning To The Root" Of The Problem: Improving The Social Condition Of African Americans Through Science And Mathematics Education, Vanessa R. Pitts Bannister, Julius Davis, Jomo Mutegi, Latasha Thompson, Deborah Lewis Apr 2017

"Returning To The Root" Of The Problem: Improving The Social Condition Of African Americans Through Science And Mathematics Education, Vanessa R. Pitts Bannister, Julius Davis, Jomo Mutegi, Latasha Thompson, Deborah Lewis

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

The underachievement and underrepresentation of African Americans in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines have been well documented. Efforts to improve the STEM education of African Americans continue to focus on relationships between teaching and learning and factors such as culture, race, power, class, learning preferences, cultural styles and language. Although this body of literature is deemed valuable, it fails to help STEM teacher educators and teachers critically assess other important factors such as pedagogy and curriculum. In this article, the authors argue that both pedagogy and curriculum should be centered on the social condition of African Americans – …


The Role Of Sequence In The Experience Of Mathematical Beauty, Leslie Dietiker Jan 2016

The Role Of Sequence In The Experience Of Mathematical Beauty, Leslie Dietiker

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In this article, I analyze the aesthetic dimensions of a sequence of mathematical events found in an unusual first grade lesson in order to demonstrate how sequencing may affect an individual’s experience of mathematical beauty. By approaching aesthetic as a sense or felt quality of an experience in context (Sinclair, 2001, 2011), this analysis explains how sequence can affect the way mathematical objects or actions are experienced by an individual. Thus, rather than questioning whether or in what ways a set of mathematical objects are beautiful or not, this paper addresses under what conditions is the mathematics in play beautiful. …


Teaching Mathematics For Social Justice: Conversations With Educators – A Symposium, David W. Stinson, Anita A. Wager Jan 2013

Teaching Mathematics For Social Justice: Conversations With Educators – A Symposium, David W. Stinson, Anita A. Wager

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

Using Marilyn Frankenstein’s germinal 1983 article “Critical Mathematics Education: An Application of Paulo Freire’s Epistemology” and Ole Skovsmose’s 1985 germinal article “Mathematics Education Versus Critical Education” as credible “start points”, critical mathematics or more broadly, social justice mathematics, is marking three decades of empowering yet uncertain possibilities. Nonetheless, there are two recurring questions: What is it? and What does it “look like”? Drawing on the collective stories (and wisdom) of critical mathematics educators, this symposium aims to offer some open, non-definitive answers to these two questions.


Conversations About Privilege And Oppression In Mathematics Education, David W. Stinson, Joi A. Spencer Jan 2013

Conversations About Privilege And Oppression In Mathematics Education, David W. Stinson, Joi A. Spencer

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this editorial, the authors frame the purpose and outline the contents of the JUME special issue “Privilege and Oppression in the Mathematics Preparation of Teacher Educators” (the title of a 3-day conference held in Battle Creek, Michigan). As part of the “thoughtful action” called for throughout the conference, the intention of the special issue is to invite all mathematics educators (and others) into conversations about systems of privilege and oppression.


Addressing Impulsive Disposition: Using Non-Proportional Problems To Overcome Overgeneralization Of Proportionality, Kien Lim, Osvaldo Morera Jan 2010

Addressing Impulsive Disposition: Using Non-Proportional Problems To Overcome Overgeneralization Of Proportionality, Kien Lim, Osvaldo Morera

Kien H Lim

Impulsive disposition is an undesirable way of thinking where one spontaneously applies the first idea that comes to mind without checking its relevance. In this research, we explore (a) the possibility of helping pre-service teachers improve their disposition, from being impulsive to being analytic, in one semester, and (b) the effect of using non-proportional situations. This study involves two sections of a mathematics course for pre-service teachers for Grades 4-8. The lessons were designed whenever possible to elicit students’ impulsive disposition so that they could become cognizant of it and make conscious attempts to overcome it. Some test items were …


Teachers Reflecting Differently: Deconstructing The Discursive Teacher/Student Binary, David W. Stinson, Ginny C. Powell Jan 2009

Teachers Reflecting Differently: Deconstructing The Discursive Teacher/Student Binary, David W. Stinson, Ginny C. Powell

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

This session explores the ways that practicing teachers came to reflect differently regarding the discursive teacher/student binary during a graduate-level course entitled “Mathematics Education within the Postmodern.” Using Dewey’s concept of reflective thinking, as well as Foucault’s discourse and Derrida’s deconstruction, we show how the course provided new suggestions for the students as they continued their journey of becoming teachers. Through interweaving comments written by the students with concepts borrowed from postmodern philosophers and theorists, we illustrate how the teachers began to understand that teachers and students might indeed be described differently in the postmodern.


Becoming Critical Mathematics Pedagogues: A Journey, David W. Stinson, Carla R. Bidwell, Ginny C. Powell, Mary M. Thurman Jan 2008

Becoming Critical Mathematics Pedagogues: A Journey, David W. Stinson, Carla R. Bidwell, Ginny C. Powell, Mary M. Thurman

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

This session will report the findings of a study that explored the beginning transformations in the pedagogical philosophies and practices of three mathematics teachers (middle, high school, and 2-year college) who completed a graduate-level mathematics education course that focused on critical theory and teaching for social justice, and how these transformations are compatible (or not) with reform mathematics education as suggested by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and in turn, the new Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). The study employed Freirian participatory research methodology; in fact, the participants were not only coresearchers, but also co-authors of the study. …


Critical Mathematics Pedagogy: Transforming Teachers’ Practices, David W. Stinson, Carla R. Bidwell, Christopher C. Jett, Ginny C. Powell, Mary M. Thurman Jan 2007

Critical Mathematics Pedagogy: Transforming Teachers’ Practices, David W. Stinson, Carla R. Bidwell, Christopher C. Jett, Ginny C. Powell, Mary M. Thurman

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

This study reports the effects of a graduate-level mathematics education course that focused on critical theory and teaching for social justice on the pedagogical philosophies and practices of three mathematics teachers (middle, high school, and 2-year college). The study employed Freirian participatory research methodology; in fact, the participants were not only co-researchers, but also co-authors of the study. Data collection included reflective essays, journals, and “storytelling”; data analysis was a combination of textual analysis and autoethnography. The findings report that the teachers believed that the course provided not only a new language but also a legitimization to transform their pedagogical …


What Is Mathematics?: Teachers Exploring The Philosophy Of Mathematics, Kimberly White-Fredette, David W. Stinson Jan 2007

What Is Mathematics?: Teachers Exploring The Philosophy Of Mathematics, Kimberly White-Fredette, David W. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Mathematics As “Gate-Keeper” (?): Three Theoretical Perspectives That Aim Toward Empowering All Children With A Key To The Gate, David W. Stinson Jan 2004

Mathematics As “Gate-Keeper” (?): Three Theoretical Perspectives That Aim Toward Empowering All Children With A Key To The Gate, David W. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this article, the author’s intent is to begin a conversation centered on the question: How might mathematics educators ensure that gatekeeping mathematics becomes an inclusive instrument for empowerment rather than an exclusive instrument for stratification? In the first part of the discussion, the author provides a historical perspective of the concept of “gatekeeper” in mathematics education. After substantiating mathematics as a gatekeeper, the author proceeds to provide a definition of empowering mathematics within a Freirian frame, and describes three theoretical perspectives of mathematics education that aim toward empowering all children with a key to the gate: the situated perspective, …


The Northeast Ohio Model Schools Project: A Pathway To Scaling Up Reform In Mathematics And Science, Joanne E. Goodell, Francis S. Broadway, Linda Gojak Apr 2002

The Northeast Ohio Model Schools Project: A Pathway To Scaling Up Reform In Mathematics And Science, Joanne E. Goodell, Francis S. Broadway, Linda Gojak

Joanne E Goodell

The Northeast Ohio Model Schools Institute (NOMSI) provided professional development for school-based leadership teams in standards-based mathematics and science teaching practices and leadership skills. Leadership teams from six local school districts were recruited to attend a two-week summer institute in August 2001, which focused on national standards, principles of effective professional development, an understanding of the conditions necessary for change. One or two faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences at each university also participated in the summer institute. Teams prepared a professional development plan for their school or district and received a mini-grant to implement their plan. Coaches—experts …


The Northeast Ohio Model Schools Project: A Pathway To Scaling Up Reform In Mathematics And Science, Joanne E. Goodell, Francis S. Broadway, Linda Gojak Mar 2002

The Northeast Ohio Model Schools Project: A Pathway To Scaling Up Reform In Mathematics And Science, Joanne E. Goodell, Francis S. Broadway, Linda Gojak

Francis Broadway

The Northeast Ohio Model Schools Institute (NOMSI) provided professional development for school-based leadership teams in standards-based mathematics and science teaching practices and leadership skills. Leadership teams from six local school districts were recruited to attend a two-week summer institute in August 2001, which focused on national standards, principles of effective professional development, an understanding of the conditions necessary for change. One or two faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences at each university also participated in the summer institute. Teams prepared a professional development plan for their school or district and received a mini-grant to implement their plan. Coaches—experts …


Assessing The Impact Of Sustained Professional Development On Middle School Mathematics Teachers, Joanne E. Goodell, Lesley H. Parker, Jane Butler Kahle Jan 2000

Assessing The Impact Of Sustained Professional Development On Middle School Mathematics Teachers, Joanne E. Goodell, Lesley H. Parker, Jane Butler Kahle

Joanne E Goodell

The study reported in this paper examines the impact of the Ohio Statewide Systemic Initiative (SSI) on participating mathematics teachers. Quantitative data from 90 SSI-trained teachers and 400 teachers without training, along with qualitative data collected from seven SSI teachers who were visited in their classrooms are presented. Analysis of the quantitative data showed that SSI and Non-SSI teachers reported significantly different frequencies of reformed teaching practices and held significantly different views about the nature and pedagogy of mathematics. Qualitative data from the interviews highlighted that the SSI professional development experience, the ability to find creative ways to overcome lack …