Report on mathematics coursetaking and achievement

Robert Bozick and Steven J. Ingels recently published a report called: Mathematics Coursetaking and Achievement at the End of High School: Evidence from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002).

The report is available as downloadable pdf. I have copied the description of the report below:

This report documents and examines the relationship between the number
and types of math courses taken in the 11th and 12th grade and growth
in mathematics proficiency over the same time period. Using data from
the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), the analysis
identifies the coursetaking sequences most prevalent among contemporary
high school students in their junior and senior years, sociodemographic
characteristics of the students who follow these course sequences, and
the association between specific courses and course sequences and
mathematics gains over the last two years of high school. Because most
students (94 percent) entered the second half of high school with a
mastery of basic mathematics skills such as simple arithmetic and
operations, most learning during this time was in intermediate-level
mathematics skills and concepts. For example, the percentage of
students with an understanding of simple problem solving skills grew
from 53 to 65 percentage points over the two year period. In terms of
learning in specific content areas, the largest gains in intermediate
skills such as simple operations and problem solving were made by those
who followed the geometry–algebra II sequence. The largest gains in
advanced skills such as derivations and making inferences from
algebraic expressions were made by students who took precalculus paired
with another course. The smallest gains were made by students who took
one mathematics course or no mathematics courses during their last 2
years.

ICMI Study 19: Proof and proving in mathematics education

ZDM published a (online first) discussion document a few days ago, called ICMI Study 19: Proof and proving in mathematics education. It is written by Gila Hanna and Michael de Villiers on behalf of the International Program Committee. The article/discussion document points at the interesting discussion about proofs and proving in mathematics education. At ICME 11, there is going to be a Topic Study Group (TSG-18) on this theme (Perhaps there is a slight mix of numbers here?).

Prominent researcher #1: Hans Freudenthal

I have decided to also use this blog to present some of the most prominent researchers in the field of mathematics education, and what would be more appropriate than to start with one of the giants of the past: Hans Freudenthal.

Hans Freudenthal

Hans Freudenthal was born into a Jewish family, September 17, 1905. He was born in Germany (Luckenwalde), and in 1930 he defended a thesis on topological groups at the University of Berlin. The same year, he was invited to Amsterdam as the assistant of LEJ Brouwer.

Early in his career, Freudenthal was involved with topology and algebra, and he also worked on Lie groups for a few years. In his later years, though, he became more and more interested in mathematics education. He wrote several important books and numerous scientific articles in this field.

The Freudenthal Institute in Utrecht, Netherlands, is named after him, and his theories have strongly influenced the Dutch tradition called Realistic Mathematics Edcuation.

Sources

Some of Freudenthal’s books (mathematics education):

MES5

Saturday February 16th, the 5th International Conference on Mathematics Education and Society (a.k.a. MES5) starts in Albufeira, Portugal. The conference will address issues like:

  • The politics of mathematics education
  • Cultural and social aspects of mathematics teaching and learning
  • The sociology of mathematics and mathematics education
  • Alternative research methodologies in mathematics education

These are interesting questions for all researchers within the field. If you are interested in learning more about the contents of the conference, you should take a look at the programme. Most of the material (articles from plenary lectures, paper/project discussions etc.) are available for download in pdf format!

The plenary lectures are:

  1. “Reinventing” Freire: Mathematics Education for Social Transformation (Eric Gutstein, University of Illinois-Chicago, USA)
  2. Describing teacher change: Interactions between teacher
    moves and learner contributions
    (Karin Brodie, University of Witswatersrand, South Africa)
  3. Equity-in-Quality: Towards a Theoretical Framework (Murad Jurdak, American University of Beirut, Lebanon)
  4. Order of the World or Order of the Social. Conceptions of
    Mathematics and Their Importance to Mathematics Education
    (Ole Ravn Christensen, Aalborg University, Denmark)

Mathematics Teaching, January 2008

The January issue of Mathematics Teaching has the following articles under the research section:

A model for multiplication – Heather McLeay

Heather McLeay discusses a visual representation to aid the multiplication of fractions.

Deconstructing calculation methods, part 3: Multiplication – Ian ThompsonBuy MT2063436 for £3

In the third of a series of four articles, Ian Thompson deconstructs the primary national strategy’s approach to written multiplication. The first two articles in this series were published in MT202 and MT204.

Representing multiplication – Tony Harries and Patrick BarmbyBuy MT2063741 for £3

Tony Harries and Patrick Barmby explore the use of visual representations, in particular the array, in the teaching of multiplication in the primary school.

EJMSTE, issue 1, 2008

The Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education has published their first issue this year. The following articles are related to mathematics education:

Pre-Service Elementary School Teachers’ Learning Styles and Attitudes towards Mathematics
Murat Peker and Seref Mirasyedioglu
[Full Text in PDF] (Size: 244 KB)

The Effects of Mathematics Anxiety on Matriculation Students as Related to Motivation and Achievement
Effandi Zakaria and Norazah Mohd Nordin
[Full Text in PDF] (Size: 158 KB)

Science and Mathematics Teachers’ Experiences, Needs, and Expectations Regarding Professional Development
Kathryn Chval, Sandra Abell, Enrique Pareja, Kusalin Musikul and Gerard Ritzka
[Full Text in PDF] (Size: 291 KB)

JMTE-article about prospective teachers’ beliefs

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education has published a new (online first) interesting article. The title is: