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tandfonline.com – Individual or collaborative projects? Considerations influencing the preferences of students with high reasoning ability and others their age

tandfonline.com har udgivet en rapport under søgningen “Teacher Education Mathematics”: ABSTRACT ABSTRACT Conditions influencing 328 students’ (Grades 6-8) preferences for collaborating or working alone on challenging projects were investigated, as well as their potential interactions with ability, grade and sex. Each student completed the Cognitive Abilities Test (Form 7) and Project Context Survey. No overall preference for individual or collaborative projects was found. Students’ preferences were sensitive to features of the context (subject, nature of the task and social dynamics). Individual projects were preferred in art and shared projects in science and social studies. Students with high ability and boys preferred individual projects in Math. Principal components analyses revealed three contextual considerations influenced students’ desire to work on projects alone (enjoyment, optimizing the outcome, and risk management) and five influenced… Continue Reading

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tandfonline.com – The Many Faces of Teacher Differentiation: Using Q Methodology to Explore Teachers Preferences for Differentiated Instruction

tandfonline.com har udgivet en rapport under søgningen “Teacher Education Mathematics”: Abstract Abstract Differentiated instruction occurs when teachers use students’ level of readiness, interests, and learning preferences to adjust the content, process, or products, which increases engagement and academic performance. However, teachers cannot offer every form of differentiation to every student all the time. There exist limits of resources as well as an essential balance that teachers need to make in terms of benefits for student learning on the one hand and classroom efficiency on the other. Additionally, the choices teachers make in terms of differentiation are also rooted in and stem from their personal beliefs systems. The goal of this research was to investigate teachers’ preferences for differentiating their instruction by using Q methodology. 32 teachers, coming from a single… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Learning Preferences of Saudi University Students with Native English Speaking Teachers

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Like many countries building up human and technological resources, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has embarked on the goal of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) to its citizens. One goal for the KSA Ministry of Education is increasing acceptance rates at teacher colleges for both genders specializing in English, in addition to Arabic, Math, Science and Computer Science (The Executive Summary of the Ministry of Education Ten-Year Plan, 2005). Virtually all government policies come with unexpected results. For example, Native English speaking teachers (NESTs) teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) often interact in ways that can be at odds with their host countries. Concerns involving pedagogy have been expressed in many countries with TEFL programs using NESTs (Degen & Absalom, 1998; Liu &… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – What Parents Want: Education Preferences and Trade-Offs. A National Survey of K-12 Parents

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This groundbreaking study finds that nearly all parents seek schools with a solid core curriculum in reading and math, an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, and the development in students of good study habits, strong critical thinking skills, and excellent verbal and written communication skills. But some parents also prefer specializations and emphases that are only possible in a system of school choice. “Pragmatists” (36 percent of K-12 parents) assign high value to schools that, “offer vocational classes or job-related programs.” Compared to the total parent population, Pragmatists have lower household incomes, are less likely themselves to have graduated from college, and are more likely to be parents of boys. “Jeffersonians” (24 percent) prefer a school that “emphasizes instruction in citizenship, democracy, and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Skinning the Pythagorean Cat: A Study of Strategy Preferences of Secondary Math Teachers

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: A series of observations in math classrooms revealed a pervasive problem of “re-teaching”. It matters little the subject; before the teacher can begin teaching new material, basic skills often have to be re-taught before the lesson can move forward. Perhaps some methods are more effective than others in the classroom. Consequently, this study addressed two research questions: Q1: What teaching strategies are considered preferential by math teachers for teaching math concepts? Q2: Do teacher demographics influence those teacher preferences? Consequently, this study seeks to add to the existing literature regarding math teacher preferences for teaching the Pythagorean Theorem to high achieving and low achieving secondary mathematics students. Thirty mathematics teachers were asked to rate their preferences of six research-based standards with respect to teaching a specific math… Continue Reading