Integration of structured cooperative learning in mathematics classrooms

Cooperative learning model played a dynamic role in improving students’ achievement in mathematics. The purpose of this research study was to compare the effects of three instructional methods on students’ mathematics achievement and attitudes toward mathematics among secondary students in Natore, Bangladesh. These instructional methods were used to teach students in three experimental groups such as group 1 with structured cooperative learning, group 2 with unstructured cooperative learning and group 3 with conventional teaching. 105 students took part in the experiment and completed pre-test and post-test of mathematics achievement and attitudes toward mathematics. The statistical analysis such as ANOVA, MANOVA and post hoc pairwise comparison were used to analyze the data. The results showed a significant effect of structured cooperative learning on mathematics achievement and attitudes toward mathematics. The findings revealed that the structured cooperative students outperformed the unstructured cooperative and conventional students on mathematics achievement due to structured form of cooperative learning integration. Therefore, structured cooperative learning can successfully be implemented to promote students’ achievement in mathematics

Mathematics education for sustainable agriculture specialists

ArticleOne of the Sustainable Development objectives is to promote life-long learning opportunities for all, but one of the Lifelong Learning competences is mathematical competence, which can be obtained studying mathematics at schools and universities. The question is how much and whether the course of mathematics should be included in the curriculum of the agronomy specialties at universities. The aim of the article is to highlight the insufficient amount of higher mathematics in the education of agriculture specialist in the context of sustainable development. The objectives of the study: to identify the importance of mathematics for agronomy specialists by analysing the role of the mathematics education for agronomy specialists and to analyse the proportion of mathematics courses in the curriculum of the agronomy programmes in the Baltics States and the Baltic Sea region’s higher education institutions. The mathematics education is important for agronomy specialists in many fields. Agronomy specialists need knowledge and skills in basic mathematics, in statistical analysis and interpretation, mathematical modelling, in scientific methods, in economic analysis. The knowledge and skills in a direct and indirect means is provided by mathematical studies at universities. In order to analyse the proportion of mathematics courses in study programmes of Agriculture, Agronomy and Horticulture, three universities of the Baltic States were compared: the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Aleksandras Stulginskis University (Lithuania) and Estonian University of Life Sciences. For a more comprehensive analysis and comparison several universities from the Baltic Sea region were chosen that provide studies in agricultural sciences. Unfortunately, not all agronomy programmes in the Baltic Sea region contain the higher mathematics course that would help to understand the role of derivatives, integrals, and differential equations in the modelling process, as well as further developing general problem-solving skills

Student performance and school costs in the Philippines'high schools

A key consideration in the policy debate on the appropriate role of private schools in predominantly public school systems is cost effectiveness. The questions are: Do private school students learn more than their counterparts, and is it more or less expensive to educate students in private schools? Taking selectivity into account, the private schools show a significant edge over public schools in both English and Pilipino. Public schools, on the other hand, had a slight advantage in mathematics. A comparison of cost per student reveals a substantial advantage for private schools: public schools in the Philippines spend on average roughly twice as much as private schools. These findings strongly suggest that private schools are an efficient purveyor of secondary education in the formulation of policy measures that could threaten the existence of such schools.Teaching and Learning,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Gender and Education,Primary Education,Educational Sciences

Learning from Comparison in Algebra

Mastery of algebra is an important yet difficult milestone for students, suggesting the need for more effective teaching strategies in the algebra classroom. Learning by comparing worked-out examples of algebra problems may be one such strategy. Comparison is a powerful learning tool from cognitive science that has shown promising results in prior small-scale studies in mathematics classrooms. This study reports on a yearlong randomized controlled trial testing the effect of an Algebra I supplemental comparison curriculum on students’ mathematical knowledge. 141 Algebra I teachers were randomly assigned to either implement the comparison curriculum as a supplement to their regular curriculum or to be a ‘business as usual’ control. Use of the supplemental curriculum was much less frequent than requested for many teachers, and there was no main effect of condition on student achievement. However, greater use of the supplemental curriculum was associated with greater procedural student knowledge. These findings suggest a role for comparison in the algebra classroom but also the challenges of supporting teacher integration of new materials into the curriculum

Integration of Structured Cooperative Learning in Mathematics Classrooms

Cooperative learning model played a dynamic role in improving students’ achievement in mathematics. The purpose of this research study was to compare the effects of three instructional methods on students’ mathematics achievement and attitudes toward mathematics among secondary students in Natore, Bangladesh. These instructional methods were used to teach students in three experimental groups such as group 1 with structured cooperative learning, group 2 with unstructured cooperative learning and group 3 with conventional teaching. 105 students took part in the experiment and completed pre-test and post-test of mathematics achievement and attitudes toward mathematics. The statistical analysis such as ANOVA, MANOVA and post hoc pairwise comparison were used to analyze the data. The results showed a significant effect of structured cooperative learning on mathematics achievement and attitudes toward mathematics. The findings revealed that the structured cooperative students outperformed the unstructured cooperative and conventional students on mathematics achievement due to structured form of cooperative learning integration. Therefore, structured cooperative learning can successfully be implemented to promote students’ achievement in mathematics

ANALISIS KONTEN BUKU TEKS MATEMATIKA K-13 TERKAIT POTENSI PENGEMBANGAN LITERASI MATEMATIS

Questions, one of the content textbook’s components, play an essential role in a learning activity. Content analysis of the textbook very important to carry out for evaluating whether the questions used in schools have an effect on the development of mathematical literacy skills as an essential ability students should acquire in the mathematics learning process. Regarding this case, this study aims to analyze the characteristics of the questions in the 2013 Curriculum (K-13) textbook related to the potential development of mathematical literacy. This research is a qualitative descriptive study using content analysis approach, investigating 135 questions in the Comparison and Scale chapter in the revised edition of the Mathematics VII grade K-13 textbook. The results of the analysis show that the questions presented do not optimally contain the components of developing students' mathematical literacy. This can be seen from the component of context usage and mathematical processes (formulate, employ, and interpret) needed to solve these problems which are not yet optimally integrated

Comparing Mathematics Early Years Education in Spain, Portugal and Slovenia

This work aims to examine how the learning of mathematics in early childhood is developed in different policies, particularly within the processes of formal education and care in early years institutions. A comparative analysis of early mathematics education policies across countries must consider cultural differences, teaching practice, structural differences and institutional framework conditions, as well as the initial training and professional knowledge of teachers and educators. Extracted from the official country regulations, the following pages include some of the main characteristics of the national systems of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Portugal, Slovenia and Spain, as well as a comparison of the ECEC guidelines concerning mathematics education between these three countries. There is an international consensus on an approach to early mathematics education inspired by realistic mathematics education (RME), i.e., on the importance of working mathematically in context, as well as on the idea of doing so through play, developing the language to communicate mathematical ideas. However, we found that these three aspects are reflected very differently in the official regulations of the three countries: while in Spain the development is very detailed and emphasizes the holistic approach and the role of mathematics in exploring the environment, the Portuguese curriculum emphasizes the role of mathematics as a form of language. The Slovenian curriculum, at last, focuses on the concepts and procedures associated with each mathematical sense. Furthermore, there are structural features concerning the regulation and type of ECEC system that have an influence in the implementation of the curriculum

Individual differences in inhibitory control, not non-verbal number acuity, correlate with mathematics achievement

Given the well-documented failings in mathematics education in many Western societies, there has been an increased interest in understanding the cognitive underpinnings of mathematical achievement. Recent research has proposed the existence of an Approximate Number System (ANS) which allows individuals to represent and manipulate non-verbal numerical information. Evidence has shown that performance on a measure of the ANS (a dot comparison task) is related to mathematics achievement, which has led researchers to suggest that the ANS plays a critical role in mathematics learning. Here we show that, rather than being driven by the nature of underlying numerical representations, this relationship may in fact be an artefact of the inhibitory control demands of some trials of the dot comparison task. This suggests that recent work basing mathematics assessments and interventions around dot comparison tasks may be inappropriate

Pengembangan Kemampuan Komunikasi Matematik melalui Pembelajaran Take and Give

AbstrakLatar belakang penelitian ini yaitu fakta bahwa kemampuan komunikasi matematik terbukti berperan strategis dalam berbagai kegiatan pembelajaran, termasuk matematika. Tetapi, pencapaiannya belum optimal. Penelitian ini diantaranya bertujuan menemukan sulusi untuk pengembangan kemampuan komunikasi dalam matematika melalui pembelajaran berbasis Take and Give di kalangan mahasiswa agar mempunyai kompetensi untuk berkomunikasi matematika dengan baik sebagai persiapan untuk menjadi guru. Metode kuasi eksperimen digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Adapun populasi yang dipilih yaitu mahasiswa prodi pendidikan matematika pada institut pendidikan swasta di Garut, dengan mahasiswa tingkat IIA dan IIB sebagai sampel dengan jumlah 50 mahasiswa. Penelitian menggunakan instrumen berbentuk tes uraian untuk pretest dan posttest. Dari hasil penelitian secara garis besar diketahui bahwa mahasiswa dengan pembelajaran Take and Give mempunyai kemampuan komunikasi matematik yang lebih baik daripada pembandingnya yaitu mahasiswa dengan pembelajaran ceramah biasa. Pembelejaran Take and give terbukti signifikan dalam mengembangkan kemampuan komunikasi matematik. Development of Mathematical Communication Ability through Take and Give LearningAbstractBackground of this study is the fact that mathematical communication ability is proven to be a strategic role in various learning activities, including mathematics. But, the achievement is not optimal. This research included the aim of finding solutions to the development of communication skills in mathematics through Take and Give learning among college students in order to have the competence to communicate mathematics well in preparation for becoming a teacher. This research used The quasi-experimental method. The population chosen is college students of the mathematics department at private education institutes in Garut, with students of level IIA and IIB as a sample with 52 students. The study used a descriptive test instrument for pretest and posttest. Based on the results of this research in broad outline, it is known that students with Take and Give learning have mathematical communication skills that are better than the comparison, namely students with regular lecture learning. Take and give learning proved to be significant in developing mathematical communication skills

Calculators, mathematics and young children : a study of six children using calculators as part of the mathematics curriculum during their first two years of school

The thesis investigates the role a calculator can play in the developing number knowledge of three girls and three boys as part of their mathematics program, during their first two years at primary school. Random sampling was used initially to select six girls and six boys from the twenty-four children entering a 1993 prep class. These twelve children were interviewed on entrance to school and based on the performance of the twelve children on the initial interview, a girl and a boy were chosen from the higher, middle and lower achievers to take part in the full study. The class teachers involved were previously participants in the ‘Calculators in Primary Mathematics’ research program and were committed to the use of calculators in their mathematics program. A case study approach using qualitative methods within the activity theory framework is used to collect relevant data and information, an analysis of five interviews with each child and observations of the children in forty-one classroom lessons provides comprehensive data on the children\u27s developing number knowledge during the two years. The analysis questionnaires establishes each teacher\u27s perceptions of the children\u27s number learning at the beginning and end of each year, compares teacher expectations with children\u27s actual performance for the year and compares curriculum expectations with children\u27s actual performance. A teacher interview established reasons for changes in teaching style; teacher expectations; children\u27s number learning; and was used to confirm my research findings. An activity theory framework provides an appropriate means of co-coordinating perspectives within this research to enable a description of the child\u27s number learning within a social environment. This framework allows for highlighting the mediation offered by the calculator supporting the children\u27s number learning in the classroom. Levels of children\u27s developing number knowledge reached when working with a calculator and as a result of calculator use are mapped against the levels recommended in ‘Mathematics in the National Curriculum’ (National Curriculum Council, December 1988), and the Curriculum and Standards Framework: Mathematics (Board of Studies 2000). Findings from this comparison illustrate that the six children\u27s performance in number was enhanced when using a calculator and indicate that on-going development and understanding of number concepts occurred at levels of performance at least two years in advance of curriculum recommendations for the first two years of school