Preservice Teachers' Beliefs and Practice
After Participating in an Integrated Content/Methods Course
Lynn C. Hart, Georgia State University
There is substantial evidence that teachers' beliefs about mathematics
impact their teaching of mathematics. Given this evidence, it is appropriate
that teacher education programs assess their effectiveness, at least in
part, on how well they nurture beliefs that are consistent with their philosophy
of learning and teaching. To explore this perspective a study was conducted
with preservice elementary teachers participating in an alternative certification
program for teaching in an urban setting. Students were required to take
6 hours of mathematics and 6 hours of mathematics education taught as a
seamless course over three semesters. Before and after the program students
completed a Mathematics Belief Instrument. Descriptive statistics were
used to study trends across the group (n=14). Higher mean scores were found
in all three parts of the post survey. Qualitative data were collected
over the year in the form of weekly teaching logs. Results suggest that
the program was successful in changing preservice teacher beliefs.
Go
to Table of Content
Changes in Students' Science Ability Produced
by Multimedia Learning Environments: Application of the Linear Logistic
Model for Change
Dimiter M. Dimitrov, Kent State University
Steven McGee and Bruce C. Howard, Wheeling Jesuit University
The purpose of this study was to measure changes in students' science
proficiency produced by a multimedia learning environment, Astronomy Village:
Investigating the Solar System, developed at Wheeling Jesuit University's
Center for Educational Technologies with funding from the National Science
Foundation. The inquiry-based design of Astronomy Village supports middle
school students in learning fundamental concepts in life, earth, and physical
science. Astronomy Village was compared to an alternative treatment that
simulated elements of traditional science instruction using web site access
to background materials and content in Astronomy Village. The results indicate
sizable treatment effects for two groups of Astronomy Village students,
as well as for the alternative treatment group. Differences in the treatment
effect sizes among the three treatment groups reveal the relative merits
of different approaches to using technology. The Linear Logistic Model
for Change applied in this study is beneficial for comparing alternative
uses of technology, since it separates effects due to treatments from natural
trend effects and eliminates drawbacks of traditional statistical designs
for pretest-posttest changes.
Go
to Table of Content
"The Square Thing" as a Context for Understanding,
Reasoning and Ways of Knowing Mathematics
Diana B. Erchick, The Ohio State University at Newark
This paper introduces The Square Thing, a lesson that engages and invites
student development of problem solving and reasoning skills, understanding
through connections within the content, and mathematics voice. A background
for the lesson, an enrichment topic that allows the teacher to set the
stage for the problem, is described first. Next, The Square Thing is introduced,
along with a discussion of student solutions and pedagogical notes grouped
in sections as Estimation Approaches, Coordinate Geometry Approaches, and
Parallel Line Approaches. A pedagogical discussion ends the paper, in which
components for successful pedagogy and benefits for students experiencing
this and similar mathematics pedagogies are described.
Go
to Table of Content
Scoring Concept Maps: An Expert Map-Based Scheme
Weighted for Relationships
James A. Rye, West Virginia University
Peter A. Rubba, Penn State University
The use of student-constructed concept maps in assessment is congruent
with the changing emphases set forth by the National Science Education
Standards. Authorities have expressed concern about concept map scoring
systems and their associated validity and reliability. They favor methods
that employ expert/criterion maps as referents and emphasize the use of
accurate concept relationships in deriving scores, which have been found
to correlate with performance on standardized tests. In this study, student
constructed concept maps (n = 17) that emerged from post-instructional
interviews about chlorofluorocarbons were scored against a teacher-expert
map using a scheme weighted for relationships. Interrater reliability for
the scoring scheme was high (r = .959). Students' map scores correlated
highly with their scores on the California Achievement Test component total
(r = .729) and moderately with their Pathfinder index (r = .474), the latter
believed to be an excellent measure of structural knowledge. A revised
map score, derived only from relationships containing one or more of the
concepts employed in Pathfinder analysis, was a statistically significant
(p = .031) predictor of the Pathfinder index. The findings of this study
support the recommendations of others to use expert referents and emphasize
concept relationships in assessing concept maps.
Table
of Contents