Learning mathematics in a student-centered, problem-based classroom requires students to develop mathematical understanding and reasoning collaboratively with others. Despite its critical role in students’ collaborative learning in groups and classrooms, evidence of student thinking has rarely been perceived and utilized as a resource for planning and teaching. This is in part because teachers have limited access to student work in paper-and-pencil classrooms. As an alternative approach to making student thinking visible and accessible, a digital collaborative platform embedded with a problem-based middle school mathematics curriculum is developed through an ongoing design-based research project (Edson & Phillips, 2021). Drawing from a subset of data collected for the larger research project, we investigated how students generated mathematical inscriptions during small group work, and how teachers used evidence of students’ solution strategies inscribed on student digital workspaces. Findings show that digital flexibility and mobility allowed students to easily explore different strategies and focus on developing mathematical big ideas, and teachers to foreground student thinking when facilitating whole-class discussions and planning for the next lesson. This study provides insights into understanding mathematics teachers’ interactions with digital curriculum resources in the pursuit of students’ meaningful engagement in making sense of mathematical ideas.
more »
« less
Digital Video Representations for Teaching Mathematics and Coding to Middle School Students
We present an integrated mathematics and computer programming curriculum for teaching bilingual middle school students how to code using digital video representations. Building on the student's familiarity with digital video, we introduce them to number representations (e.g., binary and hexadecimals), NumPy arrays, coordinate systems, color, frames, and how to combine them into digital video content. The curriculum is fully integrated with middle school mathematics. Middle school students who completed the curriculum joined undergraduate students to co-teach the curriculum in a small group collaborative learning environment. We found evidence of successful implementations based on video recordings of student and facilitator interactions, attitude scales, student exit interviews, and samples of student work.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1949230
- PAR ID:
- 10520523
- Publisher / Repository:
- IEEE Xplore
- Date Published:
- ISSN:
- 2165-3577
- ISBN:
- 979-8-3503-3959-8
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 4
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Collaborative learning, middle school mathematics, computing, image and video processing, education
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Rhodes (Rodos), Greece
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
This study investigates how two middle school teachers of mathematics reflected on and planned for the use of a digital collaborative platform embedded with a problem-based curriculum. As digital resources can help teachers enact mathematics problems that are responsive to the needs of their students, more empirical work is needed to understand and inform relevant teaching practices that leverage evidence of student thinking (Pepin et al., 2017). Drawing on a documentational approach to didactics (Gueudet & Trouche, 2009), we examine the influences of collaborative reflections on teachers’ decisions about the use of digital resources. Our preliminary findings show that based on their reflective conversation, teachers considered the affordances and constraints of both digital and non-digital resources in their planning. Our findings suggest collaborative reflections help teachers critically examine digital resources.more » « less
-
We discuss a constructionism-based geometry curriculum in which middle school students built models of tents, first at a full, large-size scale, and then at a small scale. We build on body syntonicity to analyze how students learn through relating abstract knowledge to the knowledge of their bodies. Using video data, we analyze the affordances and constraints for students’ mathematical engagement in creating models. We conclude with brief implications for mathematics education and for CSCL research.more » « less
-
When integrated into online curriculum modules for students, educative curriculum materials (ECMs) can enhance teachers’ enactment of these modules. This study investigated (1) the use of digitally enhanced ECMs built into an online plate tectonics curriculum module by teachers with different backgrounds and teaching experience, (2) the relationship between teachers’ use of ECMs and student learning gains, and (3) teacher reflections on the value of the ECMs they used. We studied 26 teachers who taught middle and high school students (n = 1,098) by analyzing teacher log files automatically generated by the ECMs, teacher reflections collected with post-implementation surveys and interviews, student log files, and student learning gains from pretest to posttest. Results indicate that (1) there were large variations in the amounts and types of ECM features teachers accessed, (2) middle school teachers accessed significantly more ECM features than high school teachers p < .01, (3) students of teachers who used ECMs during class time made significantly higher learning gains than students of teachers who used them only before and/or between class time, p < .05, and (4) teachers most valued ECM features on student assessment. An overall non-significant, but positive, correlation between the total teacher interactions with ECMs and student learning gains was observed, r = 0.20, p = .32.more » « less
-
Generalizing is a critical aspect of mathematics learning, with researchers and policy documents highlighting generalizing as a core mathematical practice. It can also be challenging to foster in class settings, and teachers need access to better resources to teach generalizing, including an understanding of effective forms of instruction. This article proposes Classroom Supports for Generalizing (CSGs), investigating how multiple elements—such as tasks, teacher moves, student interactions, and representations—interact to meaningfully foster student generalizing. Drawing on class video data from a middle school teacher and two high school teachers, we present the CSG Framework, which identifies three categories of supports: Interactions for Generalizing, Structures for Generalizing, and Routines for Generalizing.more » « less
An official website of the United States government

