Developing statistical literacy with students and teachers in the secondary mathematics classroom

This thesis investigates the teaching of statistical literacy in the first two years of secondary school mathematics. The teachers involved in the research aim to make changes to classroom practice in the teaching and learning of statistics and statistical literacy in response to changes in the New Zealand curriculum. An action research methodology is adopted by the research. A group of three teachers and the author undertake an action research cycle of planning, observing, acting and reflecting in three different Year 9 and 10 mathematics classrooms. The research documents the designing and implementing of strategies by a group of teachers in a mathematics department for integrating statistical literacy into teaching programmes. The research adopts framework for improving practice that utilise models for statistical literacy and thinking and principles for teaching with a language learning or literacy focus. Data is collected through discussions with teachers, observations of lessons and interviews with teachers and students. Themes emerge from the data. They include the significance of teacher and student concepts of statistics and statistical literacy, the importance of language and literacy in the statistics classroom, the adoption of teaching principles to facilitate statistical literacy and the challenge of adopting a critical literacy stance in the statistics classroom. The study highlights the importance of literacy and language skills in statistical literacy. The research concludes that the important changes needed for developing statistical literacy are about classroom methodology rather than content knowledge and shows that adoption of language learning principles into the teaching programme may achieve this

Impact of Educators\u27 Considerations of Children\u27s Perspectives on Language Development

Abstract Many children are in a group setting for most of the day in early childhood programs with educators developing the programming and schedules (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019). Research was analyzed to see if the lack of consideration of the children’s interests and perspectives had an impact on language development during early childhood. Evidence showed that learning was enhanced when children were given the opportunity to make decisions and engage in meaningful activities of interest to the children (Breathnach, Danby, & O’Gorman, 2017; Kinkead-Clark, 2017; Pyle & Alaca, 2016). The research demonstrated that planning with the children, understanding the children’s funds of knowledge and personal interests were essential aspects for educators to consider when creating an environment conducive for language development for young children (Chesworth, 2016; Hedges et al., 2011)

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF READING STRATEGIES USED BY PROSPECTIVE LANGUAGE TEACHERS

The study investigated reading strategies used by prospective foreign language teachers studying at a foreign language department of an education faculty in Turkey. It was explored how these strategies differ in view of the variables such as sex, department, education experience, and proficiency levels. For this aim, the Reading Strategy Use Scale is implemented to prospective foreign language teachers studying at a German and English as a Foreign Language Department at a public university in Turkey. The data was collected from prospective foreign language teachers majoring at two departments (English and German) during the academic year 2020 – 2021. The data were collected and analyzed by using the PASW Statistics 18 program. As the data showed normal distribution, the parametric statistical analyses Independent Samples t-Test and one - way ANOVA were used. The findings revealed that reading strategies used by prospective language teachers differ in terms of sex, but do not differ in terms of the department majored. Regarding education experience there were significant differences in planning and assisting strategies. Sophomores and seniors use more assisting strategies, while preparatory class students use less planning strategies compared to freshmen. Furthermore, prospective foreign language teachers with proficiency levels of C use more reading strategies in the construction category compared to A level. Based on the findings of this study, it can be recommended to provide explicit instruction on reading strategies in language teacher education while considering different preferences

Data and Geometry; Model Building at Calthorpe Analytics

This report documents my Summer 2016 internship with Calthorpe Analytics, a Berkeley CA based urban planning firm. Calthorpe Analytics specializes in scenario development for planning, modeling, and plan evaluation for government and municipal clients. The primary responsibility of my internship was model development and refinement using advanced spatial analytics working in the Python programming language. The internship was extremely successful: it gave me a great opportunity to strengthen my open source GIS skillset, deepen my understanding of data science, and vastly improve my geospatial programming skillset. It also gave me a chance to apply advanced geospatial modeling and spatial statistics in practice. The firm provided a great working environment and a very supportive culture in which to learn and test new ideas and techniques. The following paper will expand on the work of Calthorpe Analytics, their culture and organization, my contributions to their workflow, and reflect on the personal and professional impact of the internship

A website supporting sensitive religious and cultural advance care planning (ACPTalk): Formative and summative evaluation

Background: Advance care planning (ACP) promotes conversations about future health care needs, enacted if a person is incapable of making decisions at end-of-life that may be communicated through written documentation such as advance care directives. To meet the needs of multicultural and multifaith populations in Australia, an advance care planning website, ACPTalk, was funded to support health professionals in conducting conversations within diverse religious and cultural populations. ACPTalk aimed to provide religion-specific advance care planning content and complement existing resources. Objective: The purpose of this paper was to utilize the context, input, process, and product (CIPP) framework to conduct a formative and summative evaluation of ACPTalk. Methods: The CIPP framework was used, which revolves around 4 aspects of evaluation: context, input, process, and product. Context: health professionals’ solutions for the website were determined through thematic analysis of exploratory key stakeholder interviews. Included religions were determined through an environmental scan, Australian population statistics, and documentary analysis of project steering committee meeting minutes. Input: Project implementation and challenges were examined through documentary analysis of project protocols and meeting minutes. Process: To ensure religion-specific content was accurate and appropriate, a website prototype was built with content review and functionality testing by representatives from religious and cultural organizations and other interested health care organizations who completed a Web-based survey. Product: Website analytics were used to report utilization, and stakeholder perceptions were captured through interviews and a website survey. Results: Context: A total of 16 key stakeholder health professional (7 general practitioners, 2 primary health nurses, and 7 palliative care nurses) interviews were analyzed. Website solutions included religious and cultural information, communication ideas, legal information, downloadable content, and Web-based accessibility. Christian and non-Christian faiths were to be included in the religion-specific content. Input: Difficulties gaining consensus on religion-specific content were overcome by further state and national religious organizations providing feedback. Process: A total of 37 content reviewers included representatives of religious and cultural organizations (n=29), health care (n=5), and community organizations (n=3). The majority strongly agree or agree that the content used appropriate language and tone (92%, 34/37), would support health professionals (89%, 33/37), and was accurate (83%, 24/29). Product: Resource usage within the first 9 months was 12,957 page views in 4260 sessions; majority were (83.45%, 3555/4260) from Australia. A total of 107 Australian-based users completed the website survey; most felt information was accurate (77.6%, 83/107), easy to understand (82.2%, 88/107), useful (86.0%, 92/107), and appropriate (86.0%, 92/107). A total of 20 nurses (general practice n=10, palliative care n=8, and both disciplines n=2) participated in stakeholder interviews. Qualitative findings indicated overall positivity in relation to accessibility, functionality, usefulness, design, and increased knowledge of advance care planning. Recommended improvements included shortened content, a comparable website for patients and families, and multilingual translations. Conclusions: The CIPP framework was effectively applied to evaluate the development and end product of an advance care planning website. Although overall findings were positive, further advance care planning website development should consider the recommendations derived from this study

The underlying basis of the communication difficulties of high functioning pervasive developmental disorder

This study aimed to explore the underlying basis of the communication difficulties in children (between 5.0 and 7.11 years) with high functioning pervasive developmental disorder (HFPDD) (n=26), compared to children with specific language impairment (SLI) (n=26), and children with no history of developmental difficulty (NDD) (n=26). The study looked at: whether different profiles could be obtained for the groups on comprehensive batteries of communication, cognitive processing and theory of mind; which areas measured were best correlated; and which measures best differentiated the groups. Comprehensive communication and theory of mind batteries were devised and conducted. Cognitive processing was measured using the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) (Naglieri and Das, 1997). Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, the Kruskal-Wallis test, Bonferroni t tests, frequency distributions, Pearson correlation coefficients and discriminant function analyses. Kappa coefficients and analysis of variance measures were carried out on 23% of the rated data in order to establish inter-rater agreement and acceptable levels of agreement were reached. On the communication assessment, the HFPDD group experienced the most difficulty on the measures of understanding abstract vocabulary, understanding conversation, pronoun alternation, higher level semantics, narrative ability and pragmatic ability. In contrast, the SLI group experienced the most difficulty on the measures of expressive grammar and narrative clarity. On the cognitive processing assessment, the HFPDD group experienced marked difficulty in the areas of planning and attention, while the SLI group experienced significant difficulty in the areas of successive processing and less marked but still significant difficulty in the area of planning. Within the HFPDD group, a group with simultaneous processing markedly stronger than successive processing, a group with successive processing markedly stronger than simultaneous processing, and a group with simultaneous and successive processing occurring at a similar level, were identified. The HFPDD group experienced significant difficulty on all the measures of theory of mind, although a limited number of HFPDD subjects did not experience difficulty. The SLI group experienced significant difficulty on the two theory of mind measures that were more verbally loaded. Strong correlations were found between receptive language, expressive semantics, narrative ability, pragmatic ability, planning, attention and theory of mind; and between expressive grammar and successive processing. Pragmatic ability, narrative ability, planning, and certain of the theory of mind measures best appeared to discriminate the groups. A combined model of language, cognitive and theory of mind processing is proposed to explain the differences between the HFPDD and SLI groups

Exploring factors affecting perfomance of bachelor of education (educational administration, planning and policy studies) students in educational statistics: case study of Zimbabwe Open University, Mashonaland West Region

A ZJER study aimed at investigating the causes that affected students to fail Educational Statistics using Zimbabwe Open University students, from Mash West Province, as a case study.This explorative study was motivated by Bachelor of Education (Educational Administration, Planning and Policy Studies) abbreviated B.Ed (EAPPS), students who failed in assignment one, educational statistics course code EA3DC201, in 2005. The aim of the study was to identify factors which affected students’ performance in educational statistics. An analysis of 28 assignment one, intake 17 and 15 end of semester marked examination scripts for educational statistics, was done to identify students’ difficulties and sources used. This was followed by an evaluation of instructional content in Module EA3DC201, pages 48 to 53. A questionnaire was administered to 28 B.Ed (EAPPS) students intake 17, in Mashonaland West region, to establish factors which affected their performance. Three tutorials were observed to identify the tutorial aims, content, activities and source of matter. This was followed by interviews seeking students’ evaluation of the tutorial. The study found that, B.Ed (EAPPS) students’ performance in educational statistics was affected by the following factors: mathematical misrepresentations in module EA3DC201, assignment bunching, lack of content validity and delayed student feedback. Students’ loss of touch with mathematical concepts, limited resources and improper orientation to distance learning also affects them. The study recommends a review of module EA3DC201, educational statistics, orientation of students into distance learning, even spacing of assignments, tutor staff development in systematic, capita-selector, supplementary and capsule tutorials. Further research is required on the role of English language and its influence on the performance of B.Ed (EAPPS) students in educational statistics

A Study of the Status of the Strategic Planning Process as Used by Public School Districts in Six Suburban New York City Counties

Over the past two decades, strategic planning has emerged as a management tool to assist administrators in leading public school districts forward. If strategic planning is an important administrative tool in moving a school district toward its vision, how and in what form is it being utilized in suburban New York City school districts? The purpose of this study was to understand the utilization of strategic planning in suburban New York City school districts and to understand the constraints, training and technical needs regarding strategic planning. This study also discusses the relationship existing between strategic planning and the key district variables noted in the research questions. The research questions were to determine: 1. How is strategic planning being utilized in suburban New York public school districts in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, Nassau, and Suffolk counties? For districts that do not have a written strategic plan, how are components of strategic planning incorporated in the planning process? 2. What are the perceived constraints, training and technical needs of school districts in the area of strategic planning ? 3. What is the relationship between the degree of utilization of strategic planning and student performance on state English Language Arts assessments in Grades 4, 8, and 11? 4. What are the relationships between the degree of utilization of strategic planning and selected district variables of: percentage of students graduating with a New York State Regents diploma, cost-per-pupil, the student drop-out rate, student attendance, and percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch? The first two research questions were answered using descriptive statistics and linear regressions while questions three and four were answered by analysis of variance and Pearson correlations. The findings revealed that planning in these school districts encompassed a variety of forms and that strategic planning is still evolving as a planning tool for educators. Also, no assumptions can be made regarding the relationship between student achievement and strategic planning. Finally, if strategic planning is to emerge as a cultural component of school districts, the following areas should be addressed: training and technology needs, funding and staff requirements, and an understanding of the transformational nature of strategic planning

A Study of the Status of the Strategic Planning Process as Used by Public School Districts in Six Suburban New York City Counties

Over the past two decades, strategic planning has emerged as a management tool to assist administrators in leading public school districts forward. If strategic planning is an important administrative tool in moving a school district toward its vision, how and in what form is it being utilized in suburban New York City school districts? The purpose of this study was to understand the utilization of strategic planning in suburban New York City school districts and to understand the constraints, training and technical needs regarding strategic planning. This study also discusses the relationship existing between strategic planning and the key district variables noted in the research questions. The research questions were to determine: 1. How is strategic planning being utilized in suburban New York public school districts in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, Nassau, and Suffolk counties? For districts that do not have a written strategic plan, how are components of strategic planning incorporated in the planning process? 2. What are the perceived constraints, training and technical needs of school districts in the area of strategic planning ? 3. What is the relationship between the degree of utilization of strategic planning and student performance on state English Language Arts assessments in Grades 4, 8, and 11? 4. What are the relationships between the degree of utilization of strategic planning and selected district variables of: percentage of students graduating with a New York State Regents diploma, cost-per-pupil, the student drop-out rate, student attendance, and percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch? The first two research questions were answered using descriptive statistics and linear regressions while questions three and four were answered by analysis of variance and Pearson correlations. The findings revealed that planning in these school districts encompassed a variety of forms and that strategic planning is still evolving as a planning tool for educators. Also, no assumptions can be made regarding the relationship between student achievement and strategic planning. Finally, if strategic planning is to emerge as a cultural component of school districts, the following areas should be addressed: training and technology needs, funding and staff requirements, and an understanding of the transformational nature of strategic planning