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Eric.ed.gov – Tiering Instruction on Speed for Middle School Students

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: A design experiment with 18 students in a regular seventh grade math class was conducted to investigate how to differentiate instruction for students’ diverse ways of thinking during a 26-day unit on proportional reasoning. The class included students operating with three different multiplicative concepts that have been found to influence rational number knowledge and algebraic reasoning. The researchers and classroom teacher tiered instruction during a 5-day segment of the unit in which students worked on problems involving speed. Students were grouped relatively homogenously by multiplicative concept and experienced different number choices. Students operating at each multiplicative concept demonstrated evidence of learning, but all did not learn the same thing. We view this study as a step in supporting equitable approaches to students’ diverse ways of thinking, an… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – A Toolbox for Supporting Early Number Learning in Play: Moving beyond “How Many”?

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This paper explores the ways preschool teachers orchestrate instructional environments to promote mathematical play related to early number and, how they intervene during play to promote children’s engagement with early number. We highlight these practices to identify resources for the growing numbers of early childhood teachers. This is important as many prospective and practicing teachers do not have access to the knowledge of teaching that supports young children’s math learning because of the constraints of mathematics methods courses and the dearth of research on early childhood mathematics in mathematic education journals — particularly in-depth attention to early number and teaching mathematics in play. [For the complete proceedings, see ED583989.] Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Uniquely Precise: Importance of Conceptual Knowledge and Mathematical Language

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The importance of mathematical concept development and language is recognized early in children’s schooling as they mature through shape and counting experiences. The reader may recall instances of a youngster referring to a “corner” of a shape before the reader has the language of vertex. This language precision needs to continue to grow as the learner moves through arithmetic into algebra, geometry, and further mathematics. This precision is essential and is reinforced in the common core standards for mathematics (2010). If the primary goal is to facilitate proficiency in math for all students (including students with disabilities), there needs to be an emphasis on the deeper conceptual development and the uniquely precise nature of mathematics language both at the pre-service and in-service levels. This is essential as… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Uses of Mathematics Textbooks for Grade (4-8) as per Basic Concepts and Questions Levels in TIMSS Test: A Study Conducted in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Schools

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study tried to explore the degree of representation of math textbooks for grades (4-8) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia concerning the key concepts, shape, and levels of questions used in the TIMSS test. The study population of this study includes both students and teachers from fourth grade to eighth grade. The goal of this study was associated with six key concepts including numbers and their operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, statistics and probability, and a pro-rata. The researcher analyzed the questions and exercises used in the math textbooks to identify their effectiveness and efficiency. In addition, the researcher also calculated the percentages, the levels, and the shape for each key concept. The results of the study were organized in frequency tables. In the light of those… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Provoking Mathematical Thinking: Experiences of Doing Realistic Mathematics Tasks with Adult Numeracy Teachers

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This action research project looks at what happened when a small group of adult numeracy teachers with widely different experiences of learning and teaching mathematics explored their own informal numeracy practices and undertook a series of collaborative mathematical tasks. Evidence from qualitative data collected during the enquiry suggests that “realistic” tasks can provoke a range of mathematical thinking and learning responses which allow us to identify ways in which “procedural” and “conceptual” thinking is being used, and to track learning journeys through different stages of problem-solving. Although more experienced numeracy teachers could move between and within their “real worlds” and “maths worlds” with intent and ease, others had less integrated experiences, often valuing perceived mathematical powers over their own intuitive powers, with mixed success. Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Code-Switching Explorations in Teaching Early Number Sense

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: New semiotic perspectives about the role of language in mathematics education indicate that teachers have a fundamental role in communicating and teaching the language that carries mathematical meaning. However, little is known about how educators of young children understand and use the language of mathematics. This study addresses this void. Supported by the understanding that mathematics has its own language (Pimm, 1987), the study focuses on code switching–the mixing of words from two languages–by educators as they shift between the language of instruction and the language of mathematics. A qualitative multiple case study approach utilizing discourse analysis was used to explore three early years teachers’ math talk. Findings indicate that these educators code-switched to the mathematics register when they talked about numbers, number words and counting, to… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – “With Percentages the 100 Is Always in the Denominator”: From the Field to Pre-Service Teachers

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The ubiquity of the subject of percentages in our everyday life demands that math teachers and pre-service math teachers demonstrate a profound knowledge and thorough understanding of the concept of percentages. This work, which originated from one specific lesson in an 8th grade math class, studies the conceptual understanding and problem-solving strategies of 17 pre-service math teachers. We exhibit and analyze the pre-service teachers’ misconceptions and their inefficient or false problem-solving strategies. We identify two main misconceptions. The first we name “In percentage problem is 100 always the denominator?” and the second “One can handle percentage problems using the same techniques as in numerical problems” (or Over-transferring of numerical problems). We hypothesize reasons and explanations for these misconceptions. The frequent use of percentages in everyday life and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Mathematics in Early Childhood: Teacher Educators’ Accounts of Their Work

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: While early childhood practitioners have long been asked to have complex understandings of child development and provide rich, meaningful educational experiences for children, focusing on mathematics marks new terrain. Consequently, teacher educators are now tasked with figuring out how to communicate new ideas about early mathematics education to early childhood practitioners, yet we know little about their work. This paper examines what early childhood teacher educators have to say about their work. We found that there were only small differences in how they described: (1) what they teach; (2) how to teach it; (3) resources they draw from; and (4) what informs their work. When there were differences in their approaches, these often were reflective of whether the teacher educators had more of an early childhood or… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – “It’s Just Like Learning, Only Fun”–A Teacher’s Perspective of Empirically Validating Effectiveness of a Math App

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of this paper is to provide a narrative of work in progress to validate a math app designed for number sense. To date I have conducted classroom research and pilot studies across ten early childhood classrooms in two schools and will begin an empirical study at the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year. Through my work I believe the fields of neuroscience, education, and digital science offer robust and unique ways to address at least two barriers I encountered: identifying instructional computer adaptive software containing embedded assessments and designed explicitly with cognitive models of learning; and developing ongoing collaborative research networks to validate this software. In an attempt to inform the work of those working in the fields of digital science, cognitive science and education,… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Math at Work: Using Numbers on the Job

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Math is used in many occupations. And, experts say, workers with a strong background in mathematics are increasingly in demand. That equals prime opportunity for career-minded math enthusiasts. This article describes how math factors into careers. The first section talks about some of the ways workers use math in the workplace. The second section focuses on three occupations that use math: (1) cryptologists; (2) health data analysts; and (3) math teachers. A third section highlights reasons why workers enjoy their math-related careers and discusses some of their challenges. And a final section suggests sources for more information. (Contains 2 tables.) Link til kilde