Bottle Filling Task Reasoning: A Comparison of Matching Versus Constructed Student Responses

In this paper, we compare the levels of reasoning elicited during the completion of three versions of a bottle filling task: high school level matching; middle school level matching and constructed response. The goal of the tasks was to make visible secondary students covariational reasoning methods. Video of students completing the task while explaining their reasoning during one-onone interviews were analyzed. Analysis demonstrated a wide range of reasoning when provided a matching version with a greater incidence of accuracy with students who exhibited lower levels of reasoning. Conversely, the constructed response task demonstrated higher levels of reasoning more consistently with decreased accuracy. Implications for assessment are discussed

Calculus Students’ Ideas About Functions: Identifying Opportunities to Support Teacher Learning

We describe the first phase of a study aimed at developing video-based instructional modules for secondary mathematics teachers. We began by consulting the literature on figural pattern tasks (c.f. Rivera, 2010) and teachers’ ability to interpret student work (c.f. El Mouhayar & Jurdak, 2012). Interpreting student work on figural pattern tasks requires awareness of different problem solving strategies, such as recursive and constructive, and how students might use them with tasks that require different levels of generalization (El Mouhayar & Jurdak, 2012)

An Exploration of a Quantitative Reasoning Instructional Approach to Linear Equations in Two Variables with Community College Students

In this exploratory study, we examined the effects of a quantitative reasoning instructional approach to linear equations in two variables on community college students’ conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and reasoning ability. This was done in comparison to the use of a traditional procedural approach for instruction on the same topic. Data were gathered from a common unit assessment that included procedural and conceptual questions. Results demonstrate that small changes in instruction focused on quantitative reasoning can lead to significant differences in students’ ability to demonstrate conceptual understanding compared to a procedural approach. The results also indicate that a quantitative reasoning approach does not appear to diminish students’ procedural skills, but that additional work is needed to understand how to best support students’ understanding of linear relationships

Data Management Plan for Preparing Secondary Mathematics Teachers with Video Cases of Students’ Functional Reasoning

Data management plan for 2016 NSF Education and Human Resources (EHR) Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR) Program Proposa