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Eric.ed.gov – The Effectiveness of Child-Centered (Piggybacking) Approach to Early Childhood Teacher Education.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: A total of 58 preservice teachers enrolled in an elementary childhood program at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts were surveyed before and after taking a special math, science, and social studies course called Piggybacking. This course emphasizes child-centered and cooperative learning by allowing elementary school students to choose individual preservice teachers to work with on a one-to-one basis for an entire semester. The elementary school students learn math, science, and social studies concepts, and the preservice teachers learn by observing how children think and learn. Before enrolling in the course, the preservice teachers indicated high levels of concern about innovative methods such as child-centered and cooperative learning. After the course, however, levels of concern dropped by an average of 20 percent. (MDM) Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Enjoyment and Value: Math Attitudes of Business and Elementary Education Majors.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This investigation compared the attitudes of business and elementary education majors on the enjoyment and value of mathematics. Fifty elementary education majors and 58 business majors participated. The mathematics attitude questionnaire contained two sections of questions: eight questions on the enjoyment of mathematics and eight questions on the value of mathematics. The attitude of enjoyment was not significantly different between the business and elementary majors. However, elementary education majors valued mathematics significantly higher than did the business majors. It was also found that both the elementary education and business majors value mathematics to a significantly higher degree than they enjoy mathematics. No significant differences were found between male and female business majors’ enjoyment and value scores. (Author/YP) Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – The Effect of Using Exercise-Based Computer Games during the Process of Learning on Academic Achievement among Education Majors

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The aim of this study is to define whether using exercise-based games increase the performance of learning. For this reason, two basic questions were tried to be answered in the study. First, is there any difference in learning between the group that was given exercise-based games and the group that was not? Second, is there any difference in learning between the group that used exercise-based games at end of the process of learning and the group that was not applied this but taken the questions of exercises in game material? This research has been conducted within the subject of Testing and Evaluation in the program of Kocaeli University Primary Maths Teacher’s College. Experimental design with a pre test-post test control group was used in this study. Experimental… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Issues in the Outcome Evaluation of a Math Anxiety Reduction Program for Teacher Education Students.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: A project was designed to evaluate TEAM, a math anxiety reduction program for undergraduate students preparing to be elementary school teachers. The program consisted of two main components: (1) instruction intended to improve problem solving skills using the areas of patterns, probability, measurement, approximation, and estimation; and (2) activities designed to reduce math anxiety and to increase confidence in mathematics. The outcome evaluation for a two-year materials development project consisted of replications of small-scale trials of the materials. Outcome measures included both attitudinal and math concept instruments. Future evaluation research in this or similar programs can concentrate in several areas arising from the development and evaluation of the TEAM materials and course. Areas such as the instructional approach, the integration of testing and teaching, teacher confidence and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Do School Districts Get What They Pay for? Predicting Teacher Effectiveness by College Selectivity, Experience, Etc. Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series. PEPG 10-08

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Holding a college major in education is not correlated with effectiveness in elementary and middle school classrooms, regardless of the university at which the major was earned. Teachers do become more effective with a few years of teaching experience, but (except in elementary reading) no gains–and some declines–in effectiveness appear in the second decade after a teacher has begun teaching. These and other results are obtained from estimations using value-added models that control for student characteristics as well as school and (where appropriate teacher) fixed effects that estimate teacher effectiveness in reading and math for Florida students in 4th through 8th grades for six school years, 2001-02 through 2006-07. The findings suggest that teacher selection and compensation policies are in need of revision. (Contains 2 figures, 11… Continue Reading

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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 – Teacher Education in Illinois Public Community Colleges.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In 1990, the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) conducted a study to determine ways in which the community college system could increase its participation in the preparation of elementary and secondary teachers. Drawing information from ICCB course files and unit cost data, as well as a survey of the colleges, the study investigated the employment outlook for teachers; the number of community college students planning to major in teacher education; courses available in teacher education at the colleges; the number of credit hours generated in teacher education courses; methods used to promote teacher education; and articulation agreements between community colleges and four-year institutions. Study findings included the following: (1) statewide employment outlook data anticipate teacher shortages in math, science, special education, and bilingual education through the year… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Broken Gears: The Value Added of Higher Education on Teachers’ Academic Achievement. Policy Research Working Paper 7168

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Good teachers are essential for high-quality educational systems. However, little is known about teachers’ skills formation during college. By combining two standardized tests for Colombian students, one taken at the end of senior year in high school and the other when students are near graduation from college, this paper documents the extent to which education majors relatively improve or deteriorate their skills in quantitative reasoning, native language, and foreign language, in comparison to students in other programs. Teachers’ skills vis-à-vis those in other majors deteriorate in quantitative reasoning and foreign language, although they deteriorate less for those in math-oriented and foreign language oriented programs. For native language, there is no evidence of robust differences in relative learning mobility. An appendix contains Figure A1 and Tables A1 and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – “Math Makes Me Sweat” The Impact of Pre-Service Courses on Mathematics Anxiety

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: We investigate mathematics anxiety amongst education majors currently enrolled as pre-service teachers in special education, deaf and hard of hearing, early childhood and elementary education. The impact of a compulsory freshmen content course and sophomore methodology course on mathematics anxiety for each education major was studied over a two year period. Results indicate that the highest level of mathematics anxiety, as measured by the Revised-Mathematics Anxiety Survey (R-MANX), occurred amongst pre-service deaf and hard of hearing teachers as they enter their training as teachers. Results reveal that certain education majors benefit more than others from mathematics training courses. (Contains 9 tables and 1 figure.) Link til kilde