255 results
Search Results
2. Exploring the Potential for Student Development of the Big Ideas of Statistics with Random Trials: The Case of the Mystery Spinner
- Author
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Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA), Watson, Jane, and Fitzallen, Noleine
- Abstract
This paper reports on the potential for engaging students in an activity that considers the interconnectedness of the five Big Ideas of Statistics in the context of conducting random trials. In the study, two classes of Year 6 students (aged 11-12 years) used "TinkerPlots" to determine the sample space of a "Mystery Spinner." Analysed for this paper were data collected from entries made in completed workbooks while engaged in the learning activity and responses to relevant questions in an end-of-year questionnaire from 27 students. The results indicated using an activity that included a probability model contributed to students working mathematically with percentages and frequencies and supported the development of intuitions about randomness and informal inference. This was promoted by students analysing the variation in the distribution of data and describing their expectations about an unknown sample space.
- Published
- 2022
3. Data Interpretation and Representation in Middle Primary: Two Case Studies
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Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA), Oslington, Gabrielle, and Mulligan, Joanne
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Two case studies of Australian primary school students tracked changes in their data interpretation and representation over three years. Students were engaged in predictive reasoning tasks based on their interpretation of a data table showing temperature change over time. Students' explanations and graphical representations were collected at the beginning of Years 3 and 4 and the end of Years 4 and 5. The first case study was a student mathematically weaker than her peers while case study two was within the average range for her year. Despite differences in starting points, both case studies followed a similar developmental sequence of predicting, interpreting and representing, with the first case generally lagging one stage behind the second case. Similarities and contrasts between the two students are discussed.
- Published
- 2023
4. Students' Conceptual Metaphors Influence Their Statistical Reasoning about Confidence Intervals. WCER Working Paper No. 2008-5
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Wisconsin Center for Education Research, Grant, Timothy S., and Nathan, Mitchell J.
- Abstract
Confidence intervals are beginning to play an increasing role in the reporting of research findings within the social and behavioral sciences and, consequently, are becoming more prevalent in beginning classes in statistics and research methods. Confidence intervals are an attractive means of conveying experimental results, as they contain a considerable amount of information in a concise format. The objectives of this study are to (1) show that the theory of conceptual metaphor as delineated in contemporary embodied cognition is a useful framework for describing statistics students' conceptions of confidence intervals; and (2) provide empirical evidence from discourse and gesture that graduate students in social science use at least two competing conceptual metaphors for confidence limits that have important implications for the understanding and application of statistics and for the reform of statistics education. In the first metaphor--Confidence Intervals Are Changing Rings Around a Fixed Point ("Changing Ring metaphor")--confidence intervals are moving disks of various diameters covering a fixed but unknown point, like horseshoes of varying widths pitched at a fixed stake. Key to this correct conceptual metaphor is that the interval is a property of a sample but not of the population. Here, the diameter of the disk (i.e., the length of the confidence interval) changes from sample to sample, whereas the location of the stake (i.e., the population parameter or population mean) is fixed across samples but generally unknown. In contrast, the second metaphor--Confidence Intervals Are Changing Points on a Fixed Disk ("Fixed Disk metaphor")--conceptualizes confidence intervals as fixed-diameter disks onto which successive points are placed. In this incorrect metaphor, the population parameter can change from sample to sample. The interval is of a fixed length, and each experiment results in placing a new parameter somewhere onto the fixed-diameter disk. One possible source of this second metaphor is a suspected confusion between acceptance regions in hypothesis testing and confidence intervals, concepts that tend to be taught in close proximity to one another in statistics textbooks. The Fixed Disk metaphor will generally lead to a misinterpretation of the confidence interval that results in inaccurate problem solving. By better understanding students' mental representations of confidence intervals and appealing to the metaphors they convey, the authors hope to improve both statistics instruction and education researchers' uses of statistical tests. Interview items are appended. (Contains 5 tables and 4 figures.)
- Published
- 2008
5. The Usefulness of Technology-Based Interactive Methods in Teaching Mathematics and Statistics at the College Level
- Author
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Bukhatwa, Bothaina, Al Ruqeishi, Eman Nasser Ali, and Al Khamisi, Fahad Mohamed Humaid
- Abstract
This study aims to investigate the advantages of implementing multimedia resources in the teaching and learning environment of mathematics and statistics. It examines the use of tablet PCs to create video learning resources. Such practices allow lecturers to provide additional learning support to students via the learning platform Moodle. This paper discusses the experiences of three lecturers in developing a technology-based, interactive teaching method to support student learning. The results found that "solved examples" in the video resources are useful in demonstrating topics about statistics. Furthermore, the paper encourages lecturers to learn from their experiences and develop learning resources to enable students to better engage in the learning process.
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- 2022
6. Teachers' Conceptions in Training on Mathematics of Medical Students
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Belova, Olga and Polyakova, Katerina
- Abstract
The goal of the paper is to pay attention to some important techniques and approaches including adequate designations as a tool for unambiguous understanding and a key to success in solving problems, vivid visual images as a mnemonic techniques, and special formulas as a universal tool for solving typical problems, when teaching medical students of mathematics. The motivation for this paper is to help non-mathematics students understand complicated mathematical topics in an easy, natural, and simple way.
- Published
- 2022
7. Proceedings of the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) International Conference on Mobile Learning (11th, Madeira, Portugal, March 14-16, 2015)
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International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS), Sánchez, Inmaculada Arnedillo, and Isaías, Pedro
- Abstract
These proceedings contain the papers and posters of the 11th International Conference on Mobile Learning 2015, which was organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society, in Madeira, Portugal, March 14-16, 2015. The Mobile Learning 2015 Conference seeks to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of mobile learning research which illustrate developments in the field. The following are included in these proceedings: (1) Evolution or Revolution? Diffusion and Adaptation of (Smart) Mobile Phones among Children and Adolescents (Gitte Bang Stald); (2) Wearables and the "Anatomy" of Information: Biodata, Privacy, and Ethics (Amber Hutchins and Jake McNeill); (3) Scaffolding Java Programming on a Mobile Phone for Novice Learners (Chao Mbogo, Edwin Blake and Hussein Suleman); (4) Implementation of an Intelligent Tutorial System for Socioenvironmental Management Projects (Gil Vera, Víctor Daniel and Gabriel Awad); (5) Patterns of Mobile Technology Use in Teaching: A Pilot Study (Tami Seifert); (6) Developing Students' Professional Digital Identity (Thomas Cochrane and Laurent Antonczak); (7) Impact of Contextuality on Mobile Learning Acceptance: An Empirical Study Based on Language Learning App (Stephan Böhm and Georges Philip Constantine); (8) Do Mobile Learning Devices Enhance Learning in Higher Education Anatomy Classrooms? (Kate Wilkinson and Phil Barter); (9) It's Not Just the Pedagogy: Challenges in Scaling Mobile Learning Applications into Institution-Wide Learning Technologies (Peter Bird and Mark Stubbs); (10) Mobile Learning and Teacher Education: Researching MLEARN Pilot Development (Don Passey and Joana Zozimo); (11) Mobile-Assisted Language Learning: Student Attitudes to Using Smartphones to Learn English Vocabulary (Neil Davie and Tobias Hilber); (12) Active Students in Webinars (Line Kolås, Hugo Nordseth and Jørgen Sørlie Yri); (13) Expanding the Media Mix in Statistics Education through Platform-Independent and Interactive Learning Objects (Hans-Joachim Mittag); (14) Research on Mobile Learning Activities Applying Tablets (Eugenijus Kurilovas, Anita Juskeviciene and Virginija Bireniene); (15) Learner Centered Experiences with Flipped Classroom and Mobile Online Webinars in Distance Education Program (Lisbeth Amhag); (16) Walk Like an Egyptian: A Serious, Pervasive Mobile Game for Tourism (Fatema Mohsen Gabr and Slim Abdennadher); (17) Educational Materials for Mobile Learning (Kosuke Kaneko, Yoshihiro Okada, Motofumi Yoshida, Hitoshi Inoue and Naomi Fujimura); (18) Boosting up JSL Learners' Outside-Class Learning Time with Learning Log System (Noriko Uosaki, Hiroaki Ogata and Kousuke Mouri); (19) An Integrated Learning Management System for Location-Based Mobile Learning (Christian Sailer, Peter Kiefer and Martin Raubal); (20) The Influence of Affordances on Learner Preferences in Mobile Language Learning (Maria Uther and Adrian Banks); (21) Microlearning as Innovative Pedagogy for Mobile Learning in MOOC (Despina Kamilali and Chryssa Sofianopoulou); (22) Cross-Platform User Interface of e-Learning Applications (Michal Stoces, Jan Masner, Jan Jarolímek, Pavel Šimek, Jirí Vanek and Miloš Ulman); (23) Technology Trends in Mobile Computer Supported Collaborative Learning in Elementary Education from 2009 to 2014 (Mia Carapina and Ivica Boticki); (24) Challenges of Using Learning Analytics Techniques to Support Mobile Learning (Marco Arrigo, Giovanni Fulantelli and Davide Taibi); (25) Effectiveness and Utility of Terminal Tablet as Electric Textbooks for Nursing Practicum (Yumiko Nakamura, Kaori Fukayama and Yukie Majima); (26) A Study on the Process of Development of Collective Intelligence for Utilization of Unused Space of Abandoned Schools (Uk Kim and Junyoung Yang); (27) Implementation of an Adaptive Learning System Using a Bayesian Network (Keiji Yasuda, Hiroyuki Kawashima, Yoko Hata and Hiroaki Kimura); (28) Mathematics and Mobile Learning (Fayez Sayed); and (29) A Framework to Support Global Corporate M-Learning: Learner Initiative and Technology Acceptance across Cultures (Wendy Farrell). An author index is provided. (Individual papers contain references.)
- Published
- 2015
8. Cleared for Takeoff: Paper Airplanes in Flight
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Reeder, Stacy L.
- Abstract
As middle school mathematics becomes more abstract, it is imperative for teachers to introduce concepts in ways that are interesting and meaningful to students. Since her students struggled at times to stay engaged in mathematics and seemed to have difficulty developing conceptual understanding, the author looked for ways to create learning contexts that would be noteworthy and relevant. Working with data seemed to lend itself readily to contexts that were appealing to students. To give her students additional experience with measures of central tendency and data collection, she developed an activity that involved making and flying paper airplanes. This lesson, which ultimately focused on measures of central tendency, also addressed measurement, scatter plots, and the four main forces of flight. (Contains 5 figures.)
- Published
- 2012
9. Learning to Make Sense of Data in a CODAP-Enabled Learning Environment: Interactions Matter
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Mojica, Gemma F., Barker, Heather, Azmy, Christina N., and Lee, Hollylynne S.
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In this study, we investigated how sixth and seventh grade students used CODAP to make sense of roller coaster data while engaged in Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA). Using instrumentation theory, we examined students' instrumentation approaches, as well as the types of instrumental orchestration utilized by teachers as they interacted with student pairs during EDA. [For the complete proceedings, see ED630060.]
- Published
- 2021
10. Do Common Educational Datasets Contain Static Information? A Statistical Study
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Barollet, Théo, Bouchez Tichadou, Florent, and Rastello, Fabrice
- Abstract
In Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS), methods to choose the next exercise for a student are inspired from generic recommender systems, used, for instance, in online shopping or multimedia recommendation. As such, collaborative filtering, especially matrix factorization, is often included as a part of recommendation algorithms in ITS. One notable difference in ITS is the rapid evolution of users, who improve their performance, as opposed to multimedia recommendation where preferences are more static. This raises the following question: how reliably can we use matrix factorization, a tool tried and tested in a static environment, in a context where timelines seem to be of importance. In this article we tried to quantify empirically how much information can be extracted statically from datasets in education versus datasets in multimedia, as the quality of such information is critical to be able to accurately make predictions and recommendations. We found that educational datasets contain less static information compared to multimedia datasets, to the extent that vectors of higher dimensions only marginally increase the precision of the matrix factorization compared to a 1-dimensional characterization. These results show that educational datasets must be used with time information, and warn against the dangers of directly trying to use existing algorithms developed for static datasets. [For the full proceedings, see ED615472.]
- Published
- 2021
11. Modeling to Understand the World around Us and Our Place in It: If the World Were a Village
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Thanheiser, Eva, Rosencrans, Brenda, Ellis, Brittney, Sugimoto, Amanda, Kulow, Torrey, and Robinson, Molly
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Increasingly, mathematics is being positioned as a tool to support students' understandings of social (in)justice and their own unique social positioning in the world. To this end, this study analyzes the impact of curricular reform efforts in an elementary mathematics content course. The course focused on fractions and statistics, and the course content was taught through tasks designed to support prospective teachers in understanding and critiquing the world. The authors found that through the course, prospective teachers' content knowledge increased and their knowledge of the world's demographics and social inequities increased. [For the complete proceedings, see ED629884.]
- Published
- 2020
12. Should Calculus Be a Pre-Requisite for Business Statistics? A Longitudinal Study
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Nietfeld, Carla, Setzler, Hubert, and Rajagopalan, Hari K.
- Abstract
Business Statistics is a required course for undergraduate business majors and presents significant challenges for students with weak quantitative and critical thinking skills. This paper shows that changing the pre-requisite for the Business Statistics course from Business Calculus to Probability and Statistics makes a significant positive impact, despite the increase in course content, on student performance for business students at a comprehensive regional university in the southeast. It is recommended business schools that experience difficulties with students successfully completing business statistics to carefully consider curriculum changes, particularly the chosen pre-requisite courses.
- Published
- 2022
13. Teachers' Engagement with a Competing Models Informal Inference Task
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Lovett, Jennifer N., Jones, Ryan Seth, and Duncan, Matthew
- Abstract
Informal inference is a critical practice for students to engage in if they are to understand formal statistical methods. However, during informal inference students often utilize complex ideas that many in-service teachers are not prepared for as they have not had the opportunity to think deeply about statistics and develop statistical knowledge for teaching (Groth, 2013). Research shows that engaging teachers in authentic inquiry of content supports the development of that content knowledge, and there is an urgent need to do so through professional developments (PDs). However, there is limited literature concerning PDs in statistics education, and a dearth of research focusing on teachers' engagement with informal inference tasks. This paper describes in detail how two teachers engaged with a seminal informal inference task during a PD, including their reasoning about variability and sample size when making inferences. [For the complete proceedings, see ED606556.]
- Published
- 2019
14. Probability and Statistics. A Collection of Papers on the Teaching of Probability and Statistics in CSMP's Elementary School Curriculum. Comprehensive School Mathematics Program.
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CEMREL, Inc., St. Louis, MO., Armstrong, Richard D., and Pedersen, Pamela
- Abstract
The Comprehensive School Mathematics Program (CSMP) is described as a complete elementary mathematics curriculum that provides a natural place for probability and statistics. The CSMP approach of innovative, pictorial techniques is summarized here, with emphasis on methods and activities seen as proven successful through the enthusiastic reception of CSMP students. Content is typically presented as extensions of experiences pupils have previously encountered. Pupils are led through problem-solving experiences in a constant applications atmosphere, typically in stories or game-like situations. Individual section titles after the Introduction are: (1) Probability and Statistics in Grades One to Three; (2) Fair Games?; (3) Codes to Solve Problems; (4) Whose Triangle is It?; (5) An Area Model for Solving Probability Problems; (6) Breaking a Stick: Probability without Counting; (7) Shunda's Newsstand; and (8) Population Growth. (MP)
- Published
- 1982
15. 'Plot 1 Is All Spread out and Plot 2 Is All Squished Together': Exemplifying Statistical Variation with Young Students
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Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Chick, Helen, Watson, Jane M., and Fitzallen, Noleine
- Abstract
The idea of variation is a foundation of statistical reasoning, and many curriculum documents, including the "Australian Curriculum", include variation in the learning required for the primary years. In this paper, we consider the design of activities that can exemplify the idea of variation for young students and investigate how students can use graphs to support discussions about variation. The use of appropriate contexts and the provision of physical experiences of the phenomena seemed to help students make sense of graphical representations and allowed them to discuss how variation was exemplified in the graphs.
- Published
- 2018
16. Manufacturing Licorice: Modeling with Data in Third Grade
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English, Lyn D.
- Abstract
This paper reports on a study of 3rd-grade students' modeling with data, which involves comprehensive investigations that draw upon STEM-based concepts, contexts, and questions, and generate products supported by evidence and open to informal inferential thinking. Within a real-world STEM-based context of licorice manufacturing, students experienced the "creation of variation" as they compared and represented the masses of "licorice sticks" they made by hand (using Play-Doh) and those using a Play-Doh extruder. By generating their own statistical measures, students could observe the features of data distributions including center, range, typical, and middle, at a much younger age than usual. They could draw inferences from the models they created, with awareness of how variation limits the certainty with which predictions can be made. The study supports a potential route for advancing early statistical learning. [For complete proceedings, see ED581294.]
- Published
- 2017
17. Proceedings of the International Conference on the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) (17th, Tsukuba, Japan, July 18-23, 1993). Volumes I-III.
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International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. and Hirabayashi, Ichiei
- Abstract
The Proceedings of PME-XVII has been published in three volumes because of the large number of papers presented at the conference. Volume I contains a brief Plenary Panel report, 4 full-scale Plenary Addresses, the brief reports of 10 Working Groups and 4 Discussion Groups, and a total of 23 Research Reports grouped under 4 themes. Volume II contains 37 Research Reports grouped under 7 themes. Volume III contains 28 Research Reports grouped under 5 themes, 25 Oral Communications, and 19 Poster Presentations. In summary, the 3 volumes contain 88 full-scale Research Reports, 4 full-scale Plenary Addresses, and 59 briefer reports. Conference subject matter can be conveyed through a listing of the 15 themes under which Research Reports were grouped: Advanced Mathematical Thinking; Algebraic Thinking; Assessment and Evaluation; Pupil's Beliefs and Teacher's Beliefs; Computers and Calculators; Early Number Learning; Functions and Graphs; Geometrical and Spatial Thinking; Imagery and Visualization; Language and Mathematics; Epistemology, Metacognition, and Social Construction; Probability, Statistics, and Combinatorics; Problem Solving; Methods of Proof; Rational Numbers and Proportions; Social Factors and Cultural Factors. Each volume contains an author index covering all three volumes. (MKR)
- Published
- 1993
18. Multivariate Analysis of Students' Perception of the Impact of Lecturers' Ranks on Their Performance at the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, University for Development Studies--Navrongo, Ghana
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Nyame, Faustina, Alhassan, Ibrahim, and Alhassan, Abukari
- Abstract
This paper examines students' perception of the impact of lecturers' ranks on their performance across departments in the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences (FMS) of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Navrongo Campus. The study used a self-designed structured questionnaire administered to 160 respondents (students) of the Faculty. All the 160 questionnaires were retrieved, which represents 100% response rate. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 for windows. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) results showed that (at P<0.05) Senior Lecturers received higher ratings followed by Lecturers and then Assistant Lecturers, indicating that the ranks of Teaching Staff significantly influenced their performance across the various departments of the Faculty. Recommendations and implications for management of Higher Institutions of Learning (HIL) have been discussed. The paper contributes to the literature in the area of supervision and evaluation of the performance of teaching staff in the HIL context.
- Published
- 2019
19. Statistics Education: (Re)Framing Past Work for Taking a Holistic Approach in the Future
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Weiland, Travis, Mojica, Gemma, Engledowl, Chris, and Jones, Ryan Seth
- Abstract
The goal of the proposed working group is to create a space for those interested in researching issues around the teaching and learning of statistics to meet, discuss, synthesize past research, and begin to strategize ways of leveraging multiple perspectives and expertise to identify and address current challenges in statistics education. The nature of statistics being a methodological discipline make it such that statistics education is made up of a diverse array of people from various backgrounds, disciplines, fields, interests and expertise. We propose this working group to create a space for dialogue among people with diverse perspectives to tackle important issues in the teaching and learning of statistics. Diverse perspective help to look at problems in new ways and come up with new solutions. However, we also want to pragmatically make progress towards a goal, which requires some common direction as well. To balance these tensions we frame our work in the notion of learning environments as a way of organizing past work as well as ideas for future projects into a meaningful structure. Additionally we are layering on the consideration of teachers and teaching in the design and enactment of learning environments. [For the complete proceedings, see ED606556.]
- Published
- 2019
20. Practicing Statistics in Year 4
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Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Watson, Jane, Fitzallen, Noleine, and Wright, Suzie
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This study reports on the capabilities of 53 Year 4 students as they completed the final stages of their first complete statistical investigation. In the context of becoming acquainted with students in a sister school in another city, students in both schools wrote and refined questions, which were answered by all students in an on-line survey. Using data from both schools, students chose at least one question to analyse and present their findings comparing the two cities and/or groups of students. Of interest are the representations created for the questions chosen, the conclusions drawn, the variation observed, the certainty about the conclusion, and the comments about what had been learned about writing survey questions.
- Published
- 2019
21. Reframing Mathematical Futures: Using Learning Progressions to Support Mathematical Thinking in the Middle Years
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Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Siemon, Dianne, Day, Lorraine, Stephens, Max, Horne, Marj, Callingham, Rosemary, Watson, Jane, and Seah, Rebecca
- Abstract
The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics calls for the concurrent development of mathematical skills and mathematical reasoning. What are the big ideas of mathematical reasoning and is it possible to map their learning trajectories? Using rich assessment tasks designed for middle-years students of mathematics, this symposium reports on the preliminary phase of a large national study designed to move beyond the hypothetical and to provide an evidence-based foundation for learning progressions in mathematical reasoning in three key areas of the curriculum: Algebraic Reasoning, Geometrical and Spatial Reasoning, and Statistical Reasoning. [References after each paper.]
- Published
- 2017
22. Teaching Data Science to Post Graduate Students: A Preliminary Study Using a 'F-L-I-P' Class Room Approach
- Author
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Eybers, Sunet and Hattingh, Mariè
- Abstract
Data is everywhere. As a result the need for data scientists with the correct skill set to analyze and interpret the data has escalated. Not surprisingly, data scientists are currently one of the most wanted professions. Tertiary institutions are faced with the challenge of producing students with the correct blend of theoretical knowledge and practical skills. In an attempt to provide current post-graduate students with these skills, a flipped class room approach was adopted to teach students data warehousing as part of the data science curriculum. This paper used the four pillars of F-L-I-P (FLN 2014) to analyze data obtained from lecturer implementation experience and student course evaluation forms. It was shown that great strides have been made in this course in the adoption of the flipped class room although there is room for improvement in order to achieve flipped learning. The outcome of the study directly contributes to the improvement of subsequent implementations of the module. [For full proceedings, see ED571459.]
- Published
- 2016
23. Research Report: Research Papers at ICOTS 4.
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Garfield, Joan
- Abstract
Summarizes 19 papers presented at the Fourth International Conference on Teaching Statistics held in Morocco, July 1994. Papers presented were in five categories: (1) empirical studies on students' conceptions; (2) theoretical papers on teaching and learning; (3) assessment; (4) using computers in teaching probability and statistics; and (5) data analysis. (MKR)
- Published
- 1995
24. Postgraduate Students' Attitude toward Statistics Pre and Post Scenario-Based Learning Method in a Statistics Course
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Syed Zamri, Sharifah Norul Akmar, Hutkemri, and Kwan Eu, Leong
- Abstract
Teaching introductory statistics to postgraduate students from multidisciplinary background and with diverse mathematics ability is a huge challenge that many statistics lecturers do not deny. The large ability range can make it very difficult for lecturers to fine tune the right level for effective course delivery. Even though an introductory statistics course has been seen as a necessary component for many postgraduate programs, research has shown that students have come to perceive statistics negatively. One suggestion for improving students' attitude toward statistics is through the use of innovative instructional approaches. This paper investigates the extent to which scenario-based learning (SBL) method used in a Statistics for Research in Education course were related to improvement in postgraduate students' attitude toward statistics. Nineteen students who enrolled in the course during the first semester of 2019/2020 were taught using the SBL instructional method. Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics-36 (SATS-36) was used to measure six statistics attitude components at the beginning and at the end of the course. Overall results show that there is a difference between mean score of attitude before and after exposure to scenario-based learning method. Scenario based learning has some positive effect on student attitude toward statistics.
- Published
- 2020
25. Teaching Statistics in Middle School Mathematics Classrooms: Making Links with Mathematics but Avoiding Statistical Reasoning
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Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Savard, Annie, and Manuel, Dominic
- Abstract
Statistics is a domain that is taught in Mathematics in all school levels. We suggest a potential in using an interdisciplinary approach with this concept. Thus the development of the understanding of a situation might mean to use both mathematical and statistical reasoning. In this paper, we present two case studies where two middle school Mathematics teacher taught a lesson in Statistics where the students had the task create a pie graph representing the data. Results show us that their procedural vision of Statistics lead them to focus more on a graphical representation and thus led to avoid all statistical reasoning development (Garfield, 2002).
- Published
- 2015
26. 'I Always Feel More Confident When I Know Where Things Are Going': How Do Pre-Service Teachers Engage with Mathematics Curriculum Documentation?
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Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Wilson, Sue, and McChesney, Jane
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The paper reports some findings about how pre-service students engage with the mathematics and statistics section of the "New Zealand Curriculum" (2007), when writing a yearly long-term plan in this curriculum area. This authentic task for pre-service students provided opportunities to seek out information about relevant curriculum knowledge including reviewing and revising mathematical content. This paper is part of a larger study, which focuses on the needs and concerns of final year primary pre-service teachers as they anticipate teaching mathematics in their first year of teaching. [For the complete proceedings, "Shaping the Future of Mathematics Education. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (33rd, Freemantle, Western Australia, Australia, July 3-7, 2010)," see ED520764.]
- Published
- 2010
27. A Modified Moore Approach to Teaching Mathematical Statistics: An Inquiry Based Learning Technique to Teaching Mathematical Statistics
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McLoughlin, M. Padraig M. M.
- Abstract
The author of this paper submits the thesis that learning requires doing; only through inquiry is learning achieved, and hence this paper proposes a programme of use of a modified Moore method in a Probability and Mathematical Statistics (PAMS) course sequence to teach students PAMS. Furthermore, the author of this paper opines that set theory should be the core of the course's pre-requisite with logic and calculus as antecedents to the set theory, an introduction to the theory of functions as subsets of the complex plane as consequents of set theory. The connections between logic, set theory, and proofs about probability, random variables and processes, & inferential mathematical statistics cannot be understated--the better the student's pre-requisite knowledge the easier it is for the student to understand probability theory and flourish in a Probability & Statistics course sequence. The author of this paper has experienced teaching such a course sequence for approximately fifteen years; mostly teaching the course at a historically black college. The paper is organised such that in the first part of the paper an explanation as to why Logic, Set Theory, and Calculus are proper pre-requisites to a Probability & Statistics course sequence and a brief overview is presented of the Moore method. The second part of the paper, presents justification for use of a modified Moore approach in teaching probability & statistics (or what is termed mathematical statistics often); both pedagogical and practical justification is submitted. In the third part of the paper, the author submits the model for the Probability & Statistics courses and focuses on what is effective for the students, what seems not useful to the students, and why. Also, explanation is presented as to why the courses were designed the way they were (content), how the courses were revised or altered over the years; hence, explaining what practices were refined, retained, modified, or deleted and how such was helpful or not for the faculty and students. The final part of the paper discusses the successes and lack thereof how the methods and materials in the PAMS courses established an atmosphere that created for some students an easier transition to graduate school, preparation for actuarial tests, to the work force in applied statistics, assisted in forging a long-term undergraduate research component in the major, and encouraged some faculty to direct undergraduates in meaningful research. So, this paper proposes a pedagogical approach to mathematical statistics education that centres on exploration, discovery, conjecture, hypothesis, thesis, and synthesis such that the experience of doing a mathematical argument, creating a statistical model, or synthesising ideas is reason enough for the exercise--and the joy of mathematics and statistics is something that needs to be instilled and encouraged in students by having them do proofs, counterexamples, examples, and counter-arguments in a Probability and Mathematical Statistics course (indeed in any course). (Contains 50 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2008
28. Developing Teachers' Reasoning about Comparing Distributions: A Cross-Institutional Effort
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Tran, Dung, Lee, Hollylynne, and Doerr, Helen
- Abstract
The research reported here uses a pre/post-test model and stimulated recall interviews to assess teachers' statistical reasoning about comparing distributions, when enrolled in a graduate-level statistics education course. We discuss key aspects of the course design aimed at improving teachers' learning and teaching of statistics, and the resulting different ways of reasoning about comparing distributions that teachers exhibited before and after the course.
- Published
- 2016
29. Fidget Toy or Mathematics Gem! The Multiple Uses of a Pop-It Squircle
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Quane, Kate and Brown, Leni
- Abstract
Mathematics educators and researchers have advocated for the use of manipulatives to teach mathematics for decades. The purpose of this article is to provide illustrative uses of a readily available manipulative rather than a complete list. From an Australian perspective, Pop-it fidget toys can be used across the mathematics curriculum. This paper documents how two different size squircle Pop-it toys can be used as a mathematical manipulative.
- Published
- 2022
30. Biological Models for Finite Mathematics
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Jungck, John R.
- Abstract
Finite Mathematics has become an enormously rich and productive area of contemporary mathematical biology. Fortunately, educators have developed educational modules based upon many of the models that have used Finite Mathematics in mathematical biology research. A sufficient variety of computer modules that employ graph theory (phylogenetic trees, food webs, networks), cellular automata (pattern formation, diffusion limited aggregation), fractals (both measurement and generation of self-similar structures), finite difference equations and deterministic chaos (logistic growth, predator-prey, SIR epidemiology), combinatorics and probability (genetics and evolution), information theory (biodiversity, sequence logos), and Boolean logic (operons) are available to adopt, adapt, and implement. An emphasis has been placed on modules that are freely available, that have been educationally vetted, and that run on a variety of operating systems. Most modules are easy to use, graphically visual, and amenable to modification. In this paper, two different approaches are stressed: (1) "glass box models" that allow students to see equations associated with each cell in a spreadsheet and to modify/extend those models with minimal effort; and (2) agent-based models that emphasize "bottom-up" modeling and that instantiate the power of massively parallel simulation and address the misconceptions of a "centralized mind-set."
- Published
- 2022
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31. Creative Insubordination in Statistics Teaching: Possibilities to Go beyond Statistical Literacy
- Author
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de Oliveira Souza, Leandro, Lopes, Celi Espasandin, and Fitzallen, Noleine
- Abstract
Statistics education has the potential to assist students to develop their identities and engage in problems and social contexts that assist in empowering them to act politically in the future. The actions and narrative reported in this paper seek to identify the way in which teachers could develop and implement statistical inquiries that utilize aspects of creative insubordination to enhance student learning experiences. This paper reports on two students who were supported to produce information and act politically on a problem founded in their social and cultural context. Reported practices in this research involved inquiry tasks that promoted collaborative exploration of ideas, data analysis, and reporting. Results evidence that teaching statistics through projects that focus on the development of political actions, Creative Insubordination, have the potential to improve students' statistical skills. As a consequence, the students were able to go beyond being data producers and data consumers to being statisticians and political activists, a shift necessary for students to understand how data can be used to transform their lives and those of others.
- Published
- 2020
32. Probability Learning in Mathematics Using Augmented Reality: Impact on Student's Learning Gains and Attitudes
- Author
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Cai, Su, Liu, Enrui, Shen, Yang, Liu, Changhao, Li, Shuhui, and Shen, Yihua
- Abstract
The development of Augmented Reality technologies has enabled students to learn in an environment that combines learning resources from the real and digital world. This paper integrates three mobile Augmented Reality-based applications into a series of mathematics lessons on probabilities in a junior high school. This paper aims to examine how mobile AR-based learning applications affect students' learning gains through ANCOVA. Moreover, students' attitudes towards the applications are discussed. The participants are 68 junior high school students. The experimental results show that the mobile AR-based applications would be helpful for students' learning gains in the topic of probability. Students' attitude towards the AR applications in this series of lessons was positive. Overall, it was found that mobile AR-based learning applications have positive effects on junior high students learning mathematics.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
33. Critical Responses to Enduring Challenges in Mathematics Education. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (37th, East Lansing, Michigan, November 5-8, 2015)
- Author
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International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, North American Chapter (PME-NA), Bartell, Tonya Gau, Bieda, Kristen N., Putnam, Ralph T., Bradfield, Kenneth, and Dominguez, Higinio
- Abstract
The theme of this year's conference is "Critical Responses to Enduring Challenges in Mathematics Education." The theme of this year's conference invites mathematics education scholars to reflect upon and critically respond to enduring challenges in teaching and learning mathematics for all students. To ignite discussion within the field, the organizers of this conference organized the conference around four focal-enduring challenges, each of which is featured in one of four plenary talks: (1) teaching as responsive to various conceptions of mathematics; (2) addressing the needs of marginalized populations in school mathematics; (3) the impact of teacher evaluation and high-stakes assessment in teaching; and (4) the role of assessment in teaching and learning. It is the hope of the organizers that the conference will catalyze collective reflection, collaborative inquiry, and discussion about various means for responding to and addressing these, and other, challenges. Submissions received numbered 528. The overall acceptance rate was 64%. The conference program includes 92 Research Report sessions, 96 sessions, 136 Posters, and 12 Working Groups. Chapters include: (1) Plenary Papers; (2) Special Session; (3) Curriculum and Related Factors; (4) Early Algebra, Algebra, and Number Concepts; (5) Geometry and Measurement; (6) Mathematical Processes; (7) Statistics and Probability; (8) Student Learning and Related Factors; (9) Teacher Education and Knowledge; (10) Teaching and Classroom Practice; (11) Technology; (12) Theory and Research Methods; and (13) Working Groups. [Individual plenary and research papers are available in ERIC. Financial and personnel support was provided by the Michigan State University CREATE for STEM Institute.]
- Published
- 2015
34. Visualisation of Selected Mathematics Concepts with Computers -- The Case of Torricelli's Method and Statistics
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Guncaga, Ján, Zawadowski, Wacek, and Prodromou, Theodosia
- Abstract
Visual imagery has been an effective tool to communicate ideas connected with basic mathematics concepts since the dawn of mankind. The development of educational visualisation technology allows these ideas to be demonstrated with the help of some educational software. In this paper, we specifically consider the use of GeoGebra, a free, open-source educational application developed by an international consortium of mathematics and statistics educators, but other educational software could also be used for the same visualisation tasks. In this study, we present Torricelli's method for measuring the area under arc of cycloid as an example of using GeoGebra to visualise he area of planar figures. This kind of introduction is suitable for secondary schools and for training pre-service teachers. We will also show how GeoGebra can be used to develop students' understanding of representing data (i.e. the topic from statistics education). While students explore the visualisation of data, GeoGebra allows them to create and explore representations while building the understanding that is required for analysing data and drawing figural conclusions from graphical representations.
- Published
- 2019
35. Generating Mathematical Exercises for E-Learning Systems Using R and QTI Import Format
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Liebscher, Eckhard and Michael, Ben
- Abstract
In the paper a software solution is presented for the generation of instances of exercises. The focus is on education in mathematics but the approach can be adopted in other fields such as computer science and natural science. The present solution uses the R environment for the generation process and LaTeX for the content presentation. In the established system, we realized the separation of computations and design which has the advantage that it is easier to find errors and shortcomings.
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- 2019
36. Using R as a Simulation Tool in Teaching Introductory Statistics
- Author
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Zhang, Xuemao and Maas, Zoe
- Abstract
The use of computer simulations in the teaching of introductory statistics can help undergraduate students understand difficult or abstract statistics concepts. The free software environment R is a good candidate for computer simulations since it allows users to add additional functionality by defining new functions. In this paper, we illustrate how computer simulations with R are used in statistics classrooms and student homework assignments by examples. These examples include sampling distributions and the central limit theorem, the t-distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, regression analysis and nonparametric tests.
- Published
- 2019
37. Implementing Individualized Learning in a Legacy Learning Management System: A Feasibility Prototype for an Online Statistics Course
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Morrow, M. Earnest and Lee, Dabae
- Abstract
Educators are being encouraged to shift their instructional paradigm from teacher-centered to learner-centered through the use of technology. For online courses, legacy learning management products originally designed to support and deliver teacher-centered instruction may represent a constraint to implementing the learner-centered paradigm. Yet, replacement of these systems presents a formidable hurdle to educators wishing to initiate learner-centered online courses. This hurdle could be lowered significantly by a transitional approach that allows learner-centered strategies to be delivered within the framework of existing learning management systems. This paper describes our efforts to prototype such a transitional approach for an online statistics course. Pedagogical and technological objectives were successfully achieved by combining the technologies of the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), a legacy learning management system, and a stand-alone course authoring tool to deliver an example course demonstrating adaptive, competency-based student progress instruction that personalizes one's learning path with topic-contingent assessment feedback.
- Published
- 2019
38. Teaching Basic Statistics to a Student Who Is Blind.
- Author
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McCallister, Corliss Jean and Kennedy, Robert L.
- Abstract
This case study describes a congenitally blind undergraduate student who successfully completed a basic statistics course. Accommodations specific to his blindness included: a textbook on tape and review tapes before examinations; a talking calculator; graphs made on Braille paper and other tactile teaching aids. Affective problems encountered included overcoming low mathematical self-efficacy while cognitive problems were classified as conceptual, computational, experiential, practical, and symbolic. Among instructional strategies successfully used to overcome these cognitive difficulties were: (1) kinesthetic explanations for standard derivation; (2) cardboard curves with rubber bands for teaching problems related to areas under the normal curve; (3) very small data sets when introducing new concepts; and (4) one memorable problem for each formula studied. Teachers and tutors of students who are blind or visually impaired are urged to choose accommodations based on the type and severity of visual disability, individualize instruction based on student preferences, and perform continuous formative assessments followed by instructional adjustments. (Author/DB)
- Published
- 2001
39. Strategies and Difficulties That University Students Develop through the Modeling of Random Phenomena by Simulation
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Inzunsa, Santiago and Mario Romero
- Abstract
This paper reports the results of a research about the strategies and difficulties developed by university students in the process of modeling and simulating of random phenomena in an environment of a spreadsheet. The results indicate that students had difficulties to identify key components of the problems, which are crucial to formulate a simulation model. We have identified three different schemes to generate the results of the key components, which only one of them is correct; this scheme is based in the generation of random numbers. In consequence during this investigation it was observed that the process of the instrumentation of the spreadsheet to simulate random phenomena it is complex. [For the complete proceedings, see ED584829.]
- Published
- 2012
40. Mathematics Education. Selected Papers from the Conference on Stochastic Processes and Their Applications. (15th, Nagoya, Japan, July 2-5, 1985).
- Author
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Nagoya Univ. (Japan)., Hida, Takeyuki, and Shimizu, Akinobu
- Abstract
This volume contains the papers and comments from the Workshop on Mathematics Education, a special session of the 15th Conference on Stochastic Processes and Their Applications, held in Nagoya, Japan, July 2-5, 1985. Topics covered include: (1) probability; (2) statistics; (3) deviation; (4) Japanese mathematics curriculum; (5) statistical education; (6) programmable calculators; (7) limit theorems; (8) Poisson distribution; (9) French curriculum for high school and college; (10) middle school curriculum, People's Republic of China; (11) New Zealand curriculum; and (12) reforms in Korean curriculum. (JM)
- Published
- 1986
41. Mathematics Achievement of Secondary School Students in Japan. NIER Occasional Paper 02/87.
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National Inst. for Educational Research, Tokyo (Japan).
- Abstract
In 1980-82, the Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS) was conducted in 20 countries, including Japan. This study was conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). This paper constitutes a summary of the research relating to the level of mathematics achievement of Japanese students. The tests administered to the students were designed to measure computation, comprehension, application, and analysis in the areas of: (1) sets, relations and functions; (2) number systems; (3) algebra; (4) geometry; (5) mathematical analysis; (6) probability and statistics; (7) measurement; and (8) finite mathematics. Scores on the tests were compared with the internationally averaged values of all 20 countries involved in the study. The achievement by Japanese students was found to be better than the international average in all content areas, but especially in the areas of geometry, algebra, and measurement. (TW)
- Published
- 1987
42. Mathematics and New Technologies Writing Team Report.
- Author
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Evans, Ruby
- Abstract
This paper discusses the use of technology in teaching and learning mathematics in community colleges. The first section addresses the current state of new technologies and learning in mathematics and statistics. The second section looks at the major trends in the coming years, specifically more reading, more writing, and less arithmetic. The third section lists the critical issues that need to be addressed. The fourth section outlines issues related to new teaching and learning environments, including a sound rationale for integrating technology, the need for greater integration of technology, issues for new users, how technology can help, and what you need to get started. (Contains 17 references.) (MES)
- Published
- 2000
43. Data Modeling in Elementary and Middle School Classes: A Shared Experience
- Author
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English, Lyn D.
- Abstract
This paper argues for a renewed focus on statistical reasoning in the elementary school years, with opportunities for children to engage in data modeling. Data modeling involves investigations of meaningful phenomena, deciding what is worthy of attention, and then progressing to organizing, structuring, visualizing, and representing data. Reported here are some findings from a two-part activity (Baxter Brown's Picnic and Planning a Picnic) implemented at the end of the second year of a current three-year longitudinal study (grade levels 1-3). Planning a Picnic was also implemented in a grade 7 class to provide an opportunity for the different age groups to share their products. Addressed here are the grade 2 children's predictions for missing data in Baxter Brown's Picnic, the questions posed and representations created by both grade levels in Planning a Picnic, and the metarepresentational competence displayed in the grade levels' sharing of their products for Planning a Picnic. [For the complete proceedings, see ED585874.]
- Published
- 2011
44. Higher Goals in Mathematics Education
- Author
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Kolar-Begovic, Zdenka, Kolar-Šuper, Ružica, and Ðurdevic Babic, Ivana
- Abstract
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 research in this region. Although mathematics education research is a young scientific field, it has been recognised that changes in the curriculum and teaching practice should draw upon findings from well-established mathematics education studies. Therefore, in order to enhance mathematics teaching and learning in Croatia and the surrounding countries, there should exist continuous collaboration between communities of mathematics researchers and teacher practitioners, since one of many problems is how to make research results more usable in the classroom. This book contains the results of the research on teaching mathematics and examples of good practice provided by the scholars from the neighbouring countries Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden. The following chapters are presented in this monograph: (1) Understanding of mathematically gifted students' approaches to problem solving (Tatjana Hodnik Cadež, Vida Manfreda Kolar), (2) Contemporary methods of teaching mathematics--the discovering algorithm method. Algorithm for fraction division (Maja Cindric, Irena Mišurac), (3) Word problems in mathematics teaching (Edith Debrenti), (4) Graphical representations in teaching GCF and LCM (Karmelita Pjanic, Edin Lidan), (5) Mathematics + Computer Science = True (Anders Hast), (6) Discovering patterns of student behaviour in e-learning environment (Marijana Zekic-Sušac, Ivana Ðurdevic Babic), (7) Classification trees in detecting students' motivation for maths from their ICT and Facebook use (Ivana Ðurdevic Babic, Anita Marjanovic), (8) Using Moodle in teaching mathematics in Croatian education system (Josipa Matotek), (9) Future teachers' perception on the application of ICT in the process of assessment and feedback (Karolina Dobi Barišic), (10) Pass rates in mathematical courses: relationship with the state matura exams scores and high school grades (Dušan Mundar, Zlatko Erjavec), (11) Approaches to teaching mathematics in lower primary education (Sead Rešic, Ivana Kovacevic), (12) Issues in contemporary teaching of mathematics and teacher competencies (Zoran Horvat), (13) Teaching Mathematics in early education: current issues in classrooms (Ksenija Romstein, Stanislava Irovic, Mira Vego), (14) Preservice mathematics teachers' problem solving processes when working on two nonroutine geometry problems (Doris Dumicic Danilovic, Sanja Rukavina), (15) Tendencies in identifying geometric shapes observed in photos of real objects--case of students of primary education (Karmelita Pjanic, Sanela Nesimovic), (16) Visual mathematics and geometry, the "final" step: projective geometry through linear algebra (Emil Molnàr, Istvàn Prok and Jeno Szirmai), (17) Is any angle a right angle? (Vladimir Volenec), (18) An interesting analogy of Kimberling-Yff's problem (Zdenka Kolar-Begovic, Ružica Kolar- Šuper, Vladimir Volenec), (19) Pre-service teachers and statistics: an empirical study about attitudes and reasoning (Ljerka Jukic Matic, Ana Mirkovic Moguš, Marija Kristek), (20) Beliefs about mathematics and mathematics teaching of students in mathematics education programme at the Department of Mathematics, University of Zagreb (Aleksandra Cižmešija, Željka Milin Šipuš), (21) Self-reported creativity of primary school teachers and students of teacher studies in diverse domains, and implications of creativity relationships to teaching mathematics in the primary school (Željko Racki, Ana Katalenic, Željko Gregorovic), (22) How Croatian mathematics teachers organize their teaching in lower secondary classrooms: differences according to the initial education (Ljerka Jukic Matic, Dubravka Glasnovic Gracin), and (23) Structures of Croatian Mathematics Textbooks (Goran Trupcevic, Anda Valent). An index is included. Individual chapters contain references, tables, figures, and footnotes. The papers are written in English, and at the end of each paper is a summary on the original language of the author. [The following entities sponsored this work: Osijek--Baranja County, Osijek--City Government, Osijek Mathematical Society, Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, Tvornica reklama d.o.o., Osijek.]
- Published
- 2015
45. Views on Adults Re-Learning Mathematics: A Comparative Study.
- Author
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Angiama, R. O.
- Abstract
This paper is based on the on-going research, work, and teaching carried out in the Mathematics Foundations Course (MFC) at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Teaching is a very intimate and rewarding experience for the mathematics lecturer as well as for the adult student. Mathematics lecturers and adults should be challenged by their experiences, and adult students of mathematics in particular should be empowered and rewarded for their efforts. Focus is placed on "Comparative Mathematics" education and teaching received from the perspectives of adult students' views about themselves as well as their views on the teachers who teach them. It is argued that much of the debate about adults' access to and performance in higher education concerns Humanities and Social Science students. Mathematics, despite its importance as an essential pre-requisite for studying science and technology, has been absent from the discussion. In their study, students reached conclusions about how adults see their own mathematical backgrounds, recorded and celebrated some of their achievements, and indicated some grounds for optimism about how likely they are to achieve in the field. They made suggestions about how adult learners of mathematics might best be prepared to make decisions about the suitability of mathematics courses for them. Students believe that this is a basis for some important practical conclusions for practitioners advising and supporting adult students. This study looked at a group of adults' return to Re-Learning Mathematics with the hope of gaining access to the BSc Mathematics and Statistics degree Course at Goldsmiths College, University of London. The paper concludes, by selecting three major theories that have some bearing on the selection of content and how it is taught, and characterizes these contexts as essentialism, encyclopedism, and pragmatism to include the general position in order to identify constituent curriculum theory. (Contains 36 references.) (Author/ASK)
- Published
- 1998
46. Having It Your Way: How To Use Statistics Creatively.
- Author
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Tibbs, Peggy, Jordan, Susan, and Sherrill, Donna
- Abstract
This paper discusses different ways of using statistics more creatively. One method begins with two conflicting headlines from newspapers and analyzes them statistically by using a graphing calculator. Other activities using graphing calculators are also presented. (ASK)
- Published
- 1997
47. Against the Odds: Insights from a Statistician with Dyscalculia
- Author
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Lewis, Katherine E. and Lynn, Dylan M.
- Abstract
Students with dyscalculia are typically thought of by both researchers and educators as having deficits. The deficit language permeates studies of dyscalculia as well as assessments and documentation of students in schools. In this paper, we offer an alternative to the dominant narrative. We understand disabilities, and dyscalculia specifically, as resulting from cognitive differences--not deficits--which lead to issues of access. We provide a case study of Dylan (second author), an individual with dyscalculia who decided to major in statistics at University of California, Berkeley and become a statistician. Although she experienced significant issues of access--both in the standard tools used to do mathematics, and in navigating the structures at the university--she developed systems to enable her to compensate. She collaborated in this research enterprise in order to share with researchers, teachers, parents, and students her experiences with dyscalculia and how she was able to succeed in higher level mathematics. Informed by previous empirical work, we collected video recordings of Dylan's deliberate efforts to share insights and strategies with another student with dyscalculia. In this work, Dylan challenges dominant and problematic myths about ability and mathematics.
- Published
- 2018
48. Bridging Language Barriers in Statistics for Year-12 Pasifika Students: A Collaborative Study
- Author
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Sharma, Sashi
- Abstract
This paper focuses on the use of home languages as a resource for Pasifika students who are learning about statistical methods. It is acknowledged that there are connections between language use and mathematics in mathematics learning and teaching, and the potential challenges this issue can pose have been investigated by researchers. Yet how the challenges of the use of home language versus teaching language might be overcome in statistics classrooms, where language is even more important as a medium of instruction, has received very little scrutiny. This article reports on research carried out in three New Zealand largely Pasifika dominated Year-12 classes. Data was collected from audio recordings of student group discussions and teacher reflections while students were carrying out an investigation of existing datasets. Findings from the teacher reflection aspect of the study indicate that teachers can struggle with how to use home language and real-life contexts to maximise learning in their classroom. Some strategies to incorporate students home language in their learning worked better than others. However, more in-depth research is needed to explore language issues and the barriers they might present in statistics education.
- Published
- 2018
49. Teaching College Probability for Higher Achievement
- Author
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Papaieronymou, Irini
- Abstract
This paper presents the results of a study which examined the role of particular tasks implemented through two instructional methods on college students' achievement in probability. A mixed methods design that utilized a pre-test (with multiple-choice items) and post-test (with multiple-choice and open-ended items) in treatment and control groups in an introductory statistics course was used. An analysis of pre-test scores indicated that students in the control and treatment groups had comparable initial probability knowledge. The results of the Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks test indicated that the multiple-choice scores of students in the control group were significantly lower on the post-test compared to the pre-test. In the case of the treatment group, student scores on the multiple-choice items did not increase significantly from the pretest to the post-test. In addition, the results of the Mann-Whitney test showed that the normalized gain scores of the treatment group were significantly different from those of the control group. Relative to the open-ended post-test items, the Mann-Whitney test indicated that the scores of the treatment group on these items were significantly higher than the scores of the control group. Overall, the total post-test achievement of students in the treatment group was significantly higher than that of students in the control group.
- Published
- 2017
50. Probability, Uncertainty and the Tongan Way
- Author
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Morris, Noah
- Abstract
Problems teaching probability in Tonga (in the South Pacific) led to the question how language and culture affect the understanding of probability and uncertainty. The research uses a discursive approach to find the endorsed narratives which underlie Tongans' reasoning in situations of uncertainty. I aim to justify the claim that the Tongan Language and the Tongan way of life interact to make the concept of uncertainty unimportant and the concept of probability almost redundant in day to day discourse. [For the complete proceedings, see ED597799.]
- Published
- 2014
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