Performance of Mathematics Teachers to Build Students' High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)

The purpose of this study is to determine the mathematics teacher performance category in building high order thinking skills (HOTS) of students. The study was conducted on 560 students taken randomly from ten junior high schools and eight high schools from eight districts in North Sumatra Province. Data collection techniques and instruments are carried out by giving questionnaires to students which contain a number of questions about students' assessment of the mathematics teacher's performance in constructing the HOTS indicator. Based on descriptive analysis, it was found that the performance of mathematics teachers built HOTS indicators, namely (1) understanding of concepts, (2) mathematical communication, (3) creativity, (4) problem solving, and (5) reasoning is enough category. The results of analysis of variance show that teacher performance builds (1) understanding of concepts, (2) mathematical communication, (3) creativity, (4) problem solving, and (5) reasoning significantly influences students' abilities

Persistence in Mathematics by Underrepresented Students: Experiences of a Math Excel Program

Success in mathematics by underrepresented and nontraditional college students is measured not only by academic performance (grades), but also by the continued participation and persistence of these students in mathematics coursework. The Math Excel program at Oregon State University attempts to build learning communities with a sharp academic focus in support of students concurrently taking introductory level mathematics courses. The Math Excel program is based heavily on Uri Treisman\u27s Emerging Scholars Workshop model of collaborative problem solving. In this article, we examine the experience of minority students in the Educational Opportunities Program participating in the Math Excel program. While the program had appeared successful in terms of improving academic performance in the concurrent mathematics course, the continued participation and persistence of these students in mathematics was disappointing. On a trial basis, structural changes were made to build a much stronger identification of the Math Excel learning community with a section of College Algebra. In the next term, there was a much higher incidence of participation in the subsequent Precalculus using the same Math Excel structure. While the collaborative problem solving activity provided in Math Excel was crucial to students\u27 successful academic performance, these results suggest that subtle issues related to students\u27 recognition of and identification with a learning community may be critically important to underrepresented and nontraditional students\u27 continued persistence in mathematics

A Multiple Regression Analysis of Personality’s Impact on Actuarial Exam Performance

Existing literature indicates that there is some connection between personality and both academic and work-related performance. The author\u27s intent for the research described herein is to explore this connection for students majoring in actuarial mathematics with regard to their performance on actuarial certification exams. Specifically, using the five-factor model of personality, the author seeks to predict the number of attempts required to pass the first two exams in the process (Exam 1/P - probability; Exam 2/FM - financial mathematics) using measures of the five dimensions of the five-factor model (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability) through regression analysis. The author also examined the same variables’ effect on a binary passing indicator. The sample consists of 100 actuarial mathematics majors at three universities in southern New England. Although the results are not conclusive, it appears that conscientiousness correlates positively with performance and neuroticism correlates negatively with performance. In the future, the author suggests research with a larger sample size and an examination of non-linear relationships

Understanding the Transition between High School and College Mathematics and Science

Mathematics and science education is gaining increasing recognition as key for the well-being of individuals and society. Accordingly, the transition from high school to college is particularly important to ensure that students are prepared for college mathematics and science. The goal of this study was to understand how high school mathematics and science course-taking related to performance in college. Specifically, the study employed a nonparametric regression method to examine the relationship between high school mathematics and science courses, and academic performance in college mathematics and science courses. The results provide some evidence pertaining to the positive benefits from high school course-taking. Namely, students who completed high school trigonometry and lab-based chemistry tended to earn higher grades in college algebra and general chemistry, respectively. However, there was also evidence that high school coursework in biology and physics did not improve course performance in general biology and college physics beyond standardized test scores. Interestingly, students who completed high school calculus earned better grades in general biology. The implications of the findings are discussed for high school curriculum and alignment in standards between high schools and colleges

Introduction to Gestural Similarity in Music. An Application of Category Theory to the Orchestra

Mathematics, and more generally computational sciences, intervene in several aspects of music. Mathematics describes the acoustics of the sounds giving formal tools to physics, and the matter of music itself in terms of compositional structures and strategies. Mathematics can also be applied to the entire making of music, from the score to the performance, connecting compositional structures to acoustical reality of sounds. Moreover, the precise concept of gesture has a decisive role in understanding musical performance. In this paper, we apply some concepts of category theory to compare gestures of orchestral musicians, and to investigate the relationship between orchestra and conductor, as well as between listeners and conductor/orchestra. To this aim, we will introduce the concept of gestural similarity. The mathematical tools used can be applied to gesture classification, and to interdisciplinary comparisons between music and visual arts.Comment: The final version of this paper has been published by the Journal of Mathematics and Musi

Connecting Mathematics and the Applied Science of Energy Conservation

To effectively teach science in the elementary classroom, pre-service K-8 teachers need a basic understanding of the underlying concepts of physics, which demand a strong foundation in mathematics. Unfortunately, the depth of mathematics understanding of prospective elementary teachers has been a growing and serious concern for several decades. To overcome this challenge, a two-pronged attack was used in this study. First. students in mathematics courses were coupled with physical science courses by linking registration to ensure co-requisites were taken. This alone improved passing rates. Secondly, an energy conservation project was introduced in both classes that intimately tied the theoretical mathematics base knowledge to problems in physical science, energy efficiency, and household economics. These connections made the mathematics highly relevant to the students and improved both their theoretical understanding and their grades. Together, the two approaches of tying mathematics to physical science and applying mathematical skills to solving energy efficiency problems have shown to be extremely effective at improving student performance. This five-year study not only exhibited record improvements in student performance, but also can be easily replicated at other institutions experiencing similar challenges in training pre-service elementary school teachers

A holistic model to infer mathematics performance: the interrelated impact of student, family and school context variables

The present study aims at exploring predictors influencing mathematics performance. In particular, the study focuses on internal students' characteristics (gender, age, metacognitive experience, mathematics self-efficacy) and external contextual factors (GDP of school location, parents' educational level, teachers' educational level, and teacher beliefs). A sample of 1749 students and 91 teachers from Chinese primary schools were involved in the study. Path analysis was used to test the direct and indirect relations between the predictors and mathematics performance. Results reveal that a large proportion of mathematics performance can be directly predicted from students' metacognitive experiences. In addition, other student characteristics and contextual variables influence mathematics performance in direct or indirect ways

Rubric supported journal writing in mathematics : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Studies (Mathematics), at Massey University

Using an Action Research model, this project followed the implementation of a journal writing programme in mathematics, in a grade three (year 4) class. The effect of journal writing, as a formative assessment tool upon a single teacher's approach to the teaching and assessment of mathematics in her textbook-based, whole class mathematics programme, is the focus of the study. The teacher who participated in this project looked towards the journal writing programme to assist her in making changes to her teaching and assessment practises in mathematics, in an effort to bring them in line with her performance based approach to other areas of the curriculum. Using Greenwood's (1993) criteria for mathematical thinking, rubrics were designed to make mathematical thinking a focus of her teaching and assessment in mathematics. Several changes in the teacher's approach to the teaching and assessment of mathematics were observed within the study period and continued sustained changes were realised in the longer term. In addition, aspects of her teaching and assessment practices that were not observed to change are discussed. The suggestion is made that the potential of journal writing to be used to extend and challenge the mathematical thinking of students may be partly dependent upon the depth and breadth of the mathematical knowledge of the teacher

Academic Performance and Single-Sex Schooling: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Switzerland

We study the effects of random assignment to coeducational and single-sex classes on the academic performance of female high school students. Our estimation results show that single-sex schooling improves the performance of female students in mathematics. This positive effect increases if the single-sex class is taught by a male teacher. An accompanying survey reveals that single-sex schooling also strengthens female studentsÕ selfconfidence and renders the self-assessment of their mathematics skills more level-headed. Single-sex schooling thus has profound implications for human capital formation and the mind-set of female students.