The Missouri Elementary Mathematics Contest: Student Performance on Questions That Reflect NCTM Standards

2003 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 162-169
Author(s):  
Lynda M. Plymate ◽  
David I. Ashley
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Elementary Mathematics ◽  
Nctm Standards ◽  
Test Event

The Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM) has conducted an annual elementary mathematics contest for students in grades 4, 5, and 6 since 1985. Twenty-five sites throughout Missouri host regional contests in which school-selected participants (three to five per grade level, depending on the number of students) compete in grade-specific tests that measure mathematical estimation and computation, conceptual understanding, and problem-solving ability. The top three winners from each test event and at each grade level are then invited to compete against the winners from other regional contests at a state finals competition.

Assessment: Describing Student Performance Qualitatively

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 828-835
Author(s):  
Jinfa Cai ◽  
Maria E. Magone ◽  
Ning Wang ◽  
Suzanne Lane
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
National Council ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Reasoning Problem ◽  
Mathematics Educators

The issue of linking testing with instructional practice is not new. In recent years, mathematics educators have been redefining the goals of mathematics education to include increased attention to problem solving and reasoning. For example, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) and Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (1991) and the National Research Council's Everybody Counts (1989) suggest an emphasis on reasoning, problem solving, conceptual understanding, and communicating mathematically.

ANALYSIS OF NARRATIVE MATHEMATICAL QUESTIONS ON TEXTBOOKS BASED ON SOLO TAXONOMY AND MATHEMATICAL POWER

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 299
Author(s):  
Imam Kusmaryono
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Mathematical Representation ◽  
Structural Level ◽  
Mathematics Textbooks ◽  
Solo Taxonomy ◽  
Research Procedure ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive ◽  
The Ideal

This study aimed to identify the proportion of diversity and suitability of narrative mathematical questions with SOLO taxonomy level and mathematical power ability. The research was conducted through quantitative descriptive. Sources of data in the forms of narrations contained in mathematics textbooks. The research procedure was conducted by making the classification and determining the percentage of the narrations based on the compatibility of SOLO taxonomy and the mathematical power ability. The results showed that, the narrative mathematical questions with uni-structural level are of 7.5%, multi-structural of 33.8%, relational of 46.6% and extended abstract of 12.1 %. In terms of compatibility of the narrative  questions were able to measure 23% reasoning aspect, 18% problem solving, 8.3% connection, 28% communication and 22.6% mathematical representation. In general, mathematics textbooks as the object of research should be revised, since they have not yet achieved the ideal alignment between SOLO taxonomy based on grade level and the objective of learning develop mathematical power

Explicit teaching of problem categorization using concept mapping, and an exploratory study of its effect on student achievement and on conceptual understanding – the case of chemical equilibrium problems

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonios Bakolis ◽  
Dimitrios Stamovlasis ◽  
Georgios Tsaparlis
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Concept Mapping ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Chemical Equilibrium ◽  
Concept Maps ◽  
Equilibrium Problems ◽  
Solution Process ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Long Term Memory

Abstract A crucial step in problem solving is the retrieval of already learned schemata from long-term memory, a process which may be facilitated by categorization of the problem. The way knowledge is organized affects its availability, and, at the same time, it constitutes the important difference between experts and novices. The present study employed concept maps in a novel way, as a categorization tool for chemical equilibrium problems. The objective was to determine whether providing specific practice in problem categorization improves student achievement in problem solving and in conceptual understanding. Two groups of eleventh-grade students from two special private seminars in Corfu island, Greece, were used: the treatment group (N = 19) and the control group (N = 21). Results showed that the categorization helped students to improve their achievement, but the improvement was not always statistically significant. Students at lower (Piagetian) developmental level (in our sample, students at the transitional stage) had a larger improvement, which was statistically significant with a high effect size. Finally, Nakhleh’s categorization scheme, distinguishing algorithmic versus conceptual subproblems in the solution process, was studied. Dependency of problem solving on an organized knowledge base and the significance of concept mapping on student achievement were the conclusion.

Making sense of sensemaking: using the sensemaking epistemic game to investigate student discourse during a collaborative gas law activity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin H. Hunter ◽  
Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez ◽  
Nicole M. Becker
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Ideal Gas ◽  
Interactive Simulation ◽  
Structural Components ◽  
Student Discourse ◽  
Coding Scheme ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Ideal Gas Law ◽  
The Ideal

Beyond students’ ability to manipulate variables and solve problems, chemistry instructors are also interested in students developing a deeper conceptual understanding of chemistry, that is, engaging in the process of sensemaking. The concept of sensemaking transcends problem-solving and focuses on students recognizing a gap in knowledge and working to construct an explanation that resolves this gap, leading them to “make sense” of a concept. Here, we focus on adapting and applying sensemaking as a framework to analyze three groups of students working through a collaborative gas law activity. The activity was designed around the learning cycle to aid students in constructing the ideal gas law using an interactive simulation. For this analysis, we characterized student discourse using the structural components of the sensemaking epistemic game using a deductive coding scheme. Next, we further analyzed students’ epistemic form by assessing features of the activity and student discourse related to sensemaking: whether the question was framed in a real-world context, the extent of student engagement in robust explanation building, and analysis of written scientific explanations. Our work provides further insight regarding the application and use of the sensemaking framework for analyzing students’ problem solving by providing a framework for inferring the depth with which students engage in the process of sensemaking.

Untangling Geometric Ideas

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 508-515
Author(s):  
Claudia R. Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Wassily Kandinsky ◽  
Group Cooperation

This geometry lesson uses the work of abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky as a springboard and is intended to promote the conceptual understanding of mathematics through problem solving, group cooperation, mathematical negotiations, and dialogue.

scholarly journals Measuring the effectiveness of online problem solving for improving academic performance in a probability course

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Antonio González ◽  
Mónica Giuliano ◽  
Silvia N. Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Online Homework ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Technological Diversity ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Written Test

AbstractResearch on impact in student achievement of online homework systems compared to traditional methods is ambivalent. Methodological issues in the study design, besides of technological diversity, can account for this uncertainty. Hypothesis This study aims to estimate the effect size of homework practice with exercises automatically provided by the ‘e-status’ platform, in students from five Engineering programs. Instead of comparing students using the platform with others not using it, we distributed the subject topics into two blocks, and created nine probability problems for each block. After that, the students were randomly assigned to one block and could solve the related exercises through e-status. Teachers and evaluators were masked to the assignation. Five weeks after the assignment, all students answered a written test with questions regarding all topics. The study outcome was the difference between both blocks’ scores obtained from the test. The two groups comprised 163 and 166 students. Of these, 103 and 107 respectively attended the test, while the remainder were imputed with 0. Those assigned to the first block obtained an average outcome of −1.85, while the average in the second block was −3.29 (95% confidence interval of difference, −2.46 to −0.43). During the period in which they had access to the platform before the test, the average total time spent solving problems was less than three hours. Our findings provide evidence that a small amount of active online work can positively impact on student performance.

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