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tandfonline.com – Can students with different language backgrounds profit equally from a language-responsive instructional approach for percentages? Differential effectiveness in a field trial

tandfonline.com har udgivet en rapport under søgningen “Teacher Education Mathematics”: ABSTRACT ABSTRACT Language-responsive instructional approaches are intended to enhance the mathematics learning of students with low academic language proficiency, mostly by enriching mathematical content trajectories with systematic language-learning opportunities. However, little is known about their effects (and in particular differential effects) in linguistically diverse classrooms. The paper reports on a cluster-randomized field trial investigating the effectiveness of a language-responsive instructional approach for percentages in 38 mathematics classrooms with 655 seventh graders. The multilevel regression analysis shows that the intervention group developed significantly more conceptual understanding of percentages than the control group. In the intervention group, no differential effects were found for language proficiency, multilingual background, and immigrant status. These findings suggest that all students’ access to mathematical conceptual understanding can… 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