We designed an instructional module that seamlessly integrates mathematics, environmental science, and technology to help students think critically about climate change. The results from a design experiment in a sixth-grade classroom show that our tasks not only enhanced students' covariational reasoning in mathematics but also helped students identify the different traits of climate change they encounter every day in the news media.
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Integrating Covariational Reasoning and Technology into the Teaching and Learning of the Greenhouse Effect
This research study was designed to evaluate the extent and the ways in which sixth-grade students developed their reasoning about the greenhouse effect and covariation as a result of their engagement with an instructional module that seamlessly integrates environmental science, mathematics, and technology. Quantitative and qualitative data were obtained from a design experiment in two sixth-grade classrooms and were compared to the data from a control group of students in a third sixth-grade classroom. The results from the quantitative analysis indicated that students in the treatment group demonstrated a greater development than the control group. The findings from the qualitative analysis illustrated that students developed sophisticated forms of reasoning about the greenhouse effect and covariation through their engagement with dynamic simulations and careful task design that prompted students to explore the covariational relationships underlying the science of the greenhouse effect. We consider the design of this instructional module to be valuable for future efforts to develop integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) modules.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1742125
- PAR ID:
- 10182059
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Mathematics Education
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2467-9364
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 6-23
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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