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Eric.ed.gov – Common Errors and Misconceptions in Mathematical Proving by Education Undergraduates

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Ninety-seven education students majoring or minoring in mathematics had their math homework examined in a Number Theory or Abstract Algebra course. Each student’s homework was observed for the purpose of identifying common errors and misconceptions when writing mathematical proofs. The results showed that students collectively made four recurring errors: assuming the conclusion in order to prove the conclusion, proving general statements using specific examples, not proving both conditions in a biconditional statement, and misusing definitions. In the same courses taken subsequently by 91 new students, we informed them about these common errors prior to assigning their homework to see how the students’ proving processes would differ. The results showed that more exercises were left blank with comments such as “I’m not sure how to start the proof”,… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Higher Goals in Mathematics Education

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This monograph offers an overview of the current research work carried out in Croatia and the surrounding countries, and specifically an interesting insight in teaching and learning issues in these countries. The authors discuss the need of the general population for becoming good problem-solvers in society of today, which is characterised by rapid technological changes and economic development. They argue that modern teaching methods are therefore needed. From the contributions in this monograph, it appears that awareness of future teachers’ beliefs and knowledge is present in the tertiary education. The studies investigate various aspects of pre-service and in-service teachers’ characteristics, like beliefs, knowledge, digital competencies or using ICT in teaching. But the contributions also portray another picture: mathematics education is becoming accepted as a field of scientific… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Performance and Preparation: Alignment between Student Achievement, Teacher Ratings, and Parent Perceptions in Urban Middle-Grades Mathematics Classrooms

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The middle grades are a critical transition period in students’ mathematics trajectories, as students move from arithmetic to the more complex and abstract concepts of algebra. Teachers’ and parents’ judgments of students’ math abilities in these years are important to instructional planning and decision making for teachers, and can advise parents and students on future course placement. This study specifically examined teacher and parent judgments of students’ performance and preparedness for the next grade level in 5th and 6th grades mathematics. Results demonstrate that teacher and parent perceptions of students’ abilities are not calibrated to national norms, but to local contexts. Our findings are similar to other work suggesting that high poverty school contexts may provide teachers and parents a false comparative context for judging how well… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Experimental Methods and Results in a Study of PBS TeacherLine Math Courses

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) sought to build on the strengths of high quality professional development through an online venture funded under the U.S. Department of Education’s Ready To Teach (RTT) program. PBS TeacherLine was designed to provide high-quality, facilitated online professional development for K-12 teachers nationwide. Through PBS TeacherLine, more than 20,000 educators have participated in 90 online, facilitated courses in reading, mathematics, science, instructional strategies, instructional technology, and curriculum mapping. To what extent has PBS TeacherLine been successful in creating an online model of teacher professional development that gets to the heart of education needs–impacting teacher beliefs, classroom instruction, and student learning? This paper presents the results from one component of the comprehensive external evaluation of PBS TeacherLine: an experimental study that unfolded in the… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Radical Math: Creating Balance in an Unjust World, Conference Report

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Founded in 2006 by Jonathan Osler, Math and Community Organizing teacher at El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, a public CES high school in Brooklyn, New York, Radical Math is an organization for educators working to integrate issues of political, economic, and social justice into math education. In April 2007, Radical Math cosponsored “Creating Balance in an Unjust World” a conference on math education and social justice. With the urgent need for mathematical literacy and the current lack of equity in math education paramount in the consciousness of facilitators and participants, conference sessions included a variety of 28 workshops, two panels, and a keynote address delivered by civil rights activist Bob Moses, founder of The Algebra Project, a program that prepares underserved youth with high-level math… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Online Courses for Math Teachers: Comparing Self-Paced and Facilitated Cohort Approaches

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study investigated whether two different versions of an online professional development course produced different impacts on the intended outcomes of the course. Variations of an online course for middle school algebra teachers were created for two experimental conditions. One was an actively facilitated course with asynchronous peer interactions among participants. The second was a self-paced condition, in which neither active facilitation nor peer interactions were available. Both conditions showed significant impact on teachers’ mathematical understanding, pedagogical beliefs, and instructional practices. Surprisingly, the positive outcomes were comparable for both conditions. Further research is needed to determine whether this finding is limited to self-selected teachers, the specifics of this online course, or other factors that limit generalizability. (Contains 6 tables.) Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Effects of the Kentucky Virtual Schools’ Hybrid Program for Algebra I on Grade 9 Student Math Achievement. Final Report. NCEE 2012-4020

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The 2006-11 Regional Educational Laboratory Appalachia at CNA conducted a rigorous evaluation of the Kentucky Virtual Schools hybrid algebra I curriculum. The curriculum combines traditional face-to-face instruction with an online program. This study used a two-cohort sample with 25 high schools in year 1 (SY 07/08: 13 treatment and 12 control) and 22 in year 2 (SY 08/09: 11 and 11), the randomized sample included 6,908 students, 61.4 percent of whom were in rural schools. As reported in the study, “Effects of the Kentucky Virtual Schools Hybrid Program for Algebra I on Grade 9 Student Math Achievement,” researchers found that the hybrid class format was no more effective at increasing student achievement and future coursetaking in math than algebra offered in the traditional face-to-face format Eight appendixes… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Solving the Unknown with Algebra: Poster/Teaching Guide for Pre-Algebra Students. Expect the Unexpected with Math[R]

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: “Solving the Unknown with Algebra” is a new math program aligned with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards and designed to help students practice pre-algebra skills including using formulas, solving for unknowns, and manipulating equations. Developed by The Actuarial Foundation with Scholastic, this program provides skill-building activities that use mathematics for real purposes, while motivating students to achieve success in the classroom and in real-world situations outside of school. [A poster that accompanies this teaching guide can be viewed and/or retrieved at: http://www.actuarialfoundation.org/pdf/Solving_Poster.pdf.] Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Preparation, Placement, Proficiency: Improving Middle Grades Math Performance. Policy and Practice Brief

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Early in 2010, EdSource released a landmark study on middle grades education in California. “Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades” looked at the critical 6th- to 8th-grade years in the context of standards-based education. The analysis identified a comprehensive set of practices that differentiated higher from lower schoolwide academic achievement among a sample of 303 middle grades schools. As the authors began that study in 2008, the California State Board of Education passed a controversial motion–subsequently blocked through legal action–to make the state’s Algebra I test the “sole test of record” for grade 8 math for federal accountability purposes. And in the course of conducting the “Gaining Ground” study, the authors observed that schools in their sample differed widely in how they placed students into Algebra I… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – What’s in a Teacher Test? Assessing the Relationship between Teacher Licensure Test Scores and Student STEM Achievement and Course-Taking. Working Paper 158

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: We investigate the relationship between teacher licensure test scores and student test achievement and high school course-taking. We focus on three subject/grade combinations–middle school math, ninth-grade algebra and geometry, and ninth-grade biology–and find evidence that a teacher’s basic skills test scores are modestly predictive of student achievement in middle and high school math and highly predictive of student achievement in high school biology. A teacher’s subject-specific licensure test scores are a consistent and statistically significant predictor of student achievement only in high school biology. Finally, we find little evidence that students assigned to middle school teachers with higher basic-skills test scores are more likely to take advanced math and science courses in high school. Link til kilde