Combining Like Terms: A Qualitative Meta-synthesis of Algebra I Interventions in Mathematics and Special Education

Many students struggle with the transition from arithmetic to algebra. Despite meta-analytic work on algebra instruction and calls for meta-syntheses of mathematics education topics, little has been done to synthesize the corpus of qualitative mathematics education research in algebra. The purpose of this meta-synthesis is to summarize the techniques teachers use to elicit algebraic thinking from students with mathematics difficulty or disability in the mathematics and special education literature. Although both mathematics and special educators used student-centered and collaborative techniques to encourage students to share algebraic reasoning, students with mathematics difficulty and disability struggled to participate meaningfully, and directions for further critical work in algebra are specified.

Using The Internet In Teaching Algebra To Middle School Students: A Study Of Teacher Perspectives And Attitudes

During the past decades, technological resources have been improved to support the teaching of mathematics. While the improvement of technological resources, the World Wide Web provides teachers and students many resources that engage students in rich mathematics experiences. There are a vast number of educational resources available through the Internet for students and teachers, which should be implemented in the classroom to support and improve algebra instructions. This study seeks to identify the extent of the middle school teacher’s awareness of using the Internet to teach and develop students’ learning of algebra. The participant’s teachers in this study are teaching in schools located in a rural Appalachian region of a Midwestern state in the United States. The study found that the Internet’s function in the algebra classroom within this particular group of middle childhood teachers are used for purposes that do not contribute to algebra instruction.

Learning to Apply Algebra in the Community for Adults With Intellectual Developmental Disabilities

Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are routinely excluded from algebra and other high-level mathematics courses. High school students with IDD take courses in arithmetic and life skills rather than having an opportunity to learn algebra. Yet algebra skills can support the learning of money and budgeting skills. This study explores the feasibility of algebra instruction for adults with IDD through an experimental curriculum. Ten individuals with IDD participated in a 6-week course framing mathematics concepts within the context of everyday challenges in handling money. The article explores classroom techniques, discusses student strategies, and proposes possible avenues for future research analyzing mathematics instructional design strategies for individuals with IDD.

Graspable Mathematics

The goal of this chapter is to describe a process of touch screen technology development, beginning from basic cognitive research and resulting in an applied educational intervention for algebra. To that end, we introduce Graspable Mathematics (GM), a novel approach to algebra instruction that integrates strong theory and evidence from perceptual learning, cognitive science and mathematics education. We present a number of concrete examples of how this framework can be applied to technology-based interventions that aim to engage students in mathematics. This chapter will also describe many of the methodological, theoretical, and practical considerations that guided our iterative design and development, as well as address many of the challenges and lessons learned when implementing the intervention in classroom settings.