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This paper describes how plan-do-study-act cycles engaged a classroom mentor teacher and student teacher in a professional collaboration that resulted in two inquiry activities for high-school geometry classes. The PDSA cycles were carried out in four high school geometry classes, each with 30 to 35 students, in a mid-Atlantic urban school district in the U.S. The four geometry classes were co-taught by the second and third authors of this paper. The data consisted of classroom documents (e.g., activity prompts, tasks), classroom observations, student feedback about activities, and monthly PDSA reports. The PDSA cycles had a direct effect on the professional learning of the teachers. The resultant classroom activities used a data collection approach to engaging students in inquiry to learn about trigonometry functions and density. Student learning behaviors were noticeably improved during these activities compared with traditional mathematics instruction. We concluded that the data collection sequence provided an accessible entry point for students to begin scientific inquiry in mathematics. The process opened the conceptual space for students to develop curiosity about mathematical phenomena and to explore their own research questions. The use of culturally relevant topics was especially compelling to students, and the open-ended nature of these exploratory activities allowed students to see mathematics through their own cultural lenses.
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Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Efforts to Engage Students through Academic and Social Support
Teachers' efforts to support students, both academically and socially, can play a role in how high school students productively engage with mathematics in the moment. To examine the connection between teacher support and student engagement, we conducted an exploratory mixed-methods study combining data from 20 high school classroom observations with student self-reports taken during the observed activity. Our findings indicate that when teachers provide academic support to their students during a lesson, they are also likely to provide social support. Higher teacher support of both kinds correlates with higher student self-efficacy, as well as social and cognitive engagement. Investigating relationships between observations of teaching and students' self-reports of engagement in-the-moment is a potentially revealing approach for uncovering engaging instructional strategies in secondary mathematics classrooms.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1661180
- PAR ID:
- 10303229
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the 41st annual meeting of the North American Chapter for the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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