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Abstract Mathematics teacher education programs in the United States are charged with preparing prospective secondary teachers (PSTs) to teach reasoning and proving across grade levels and mathematical topics. Although most programs require a course on proof, PSTs often perceive it as disconnected from their future classroom practice. Our design research project developed a capstone courseMathematical Reasoning and Proving for Secondary Teachersand systematically studied its effect on PSTs’ content and pedagogical knowledge specific to proof. This paper focuses on one course module—Quantification and the Role of Examples in Proving,a topic which poses persistent difficulties to students and teachers alike. The analysis suggests that after the course, PSTs’ content and pedagogical knowledge of the role of examples in proving increased. We provide evidence from multiple data sources: pre-and post-questionnaires, PSTs’ responses to the in-class activities, their lesson plans, reflections on lesson enactment, and self-report. We discuss design principles that supported PSTs’ learning and their applicability beyond the study context.
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A comparison study of human examples vs. non-human examples in an evolution lesson leads to differential impacts on student learning experiences in an introductory biology course
Abstract Background Instructors can teach evolution using any number of species contexts. However, not all species contexts are equal, and taxa choice can alter both cognitive and affective elements of learning. This is particularly true when teaching evolution using human examples, a promising method for evolution instruction that nevertheless comes with unique challenges. In this study, we tested how an evolution lesson focused on a human example may impact students’ engagement, perceived content relevance, learning gains, and level of discomfort, when compared to the same lesson using a non-human mammal example. We use this isomorphic lesson and a pre-post study design administered in a split-section introductory biology classroom to isolate the importance of the species context. Results For two of the four measurements of interest, the effect of using human examples could not be understood without accounting for student background. For learning gains, students with greater pre-class content knowledge benefited more from the human examples, while those with low levels of knowledge benefited from the non-human example. For perceived relevance, students who were more accepting of human evolution indicated greater content relevance from the human example. Regardless of condition, students with lower evolution acceptance reported greater levels of discomfort with the lesson. Conclusions Our results illustrate the complexities of using human examples to teach evolution. While these examples were beneficial for many students, they resulted in worse outcomes for students that were less accepting of evolution and those who entered the course with less content knowledge. These findings demonstrate the need to consider diverse student backgrounds when establishing best practices for using human examples to teach evolution.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1818659
- PAR ID:
- 10309374
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Evolution: Education and Outreach
- Volume:
- 14
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1936-6426
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12052-021-00148-w
