Teaching Mathematics for Understanding: An Analysis of Lessons Submitted by Teachers Seeking NBPTS Certification

Silver, Edward A.; Mesa, Vilma; Morris, Katherine; Star, Jon R.; Benken, Babette M.

doi:10.3102/0002831208326559

Cited by 69 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“…Intrinsic motivation, openness, curiosity, and autonomy often play a role in children's creative efforts (Runco, 2006). Silver, Mesa, Morris, Star, and Benken (2009) found that experienced teachers have many aims when choosing tasks, including the aim of building students' self-confidence, which is negatively correlated with anxiety (Silver et al, 2009). …”

Section: Self-regulation and Self-efficacy -One Of The Affective Aspementioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Creativity and Self-efficacy of Elementary Students through a Collaborative Research Task in Mathematics: A Case Study

Katz¹,

Stupel²

2015

JCT

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There is a consensus among mathematicians and mathematics educators that creativity plays an essential role in doing mathematics. Creative students are self-regulated students who take control over processes and experience high self-efficacy beliefs. The aim of this case study was to promote mathematical creativity and self-efficacy of elementary students through a collaborative research task, and qualitatively elicit their efficacy-beliefs about performing creative mathematics tasks. The research questions asked about the students' ability to show creativity in the classroom and about the extent to which the task enriched their mathematics knowledge, and made them realize the beauty of mathematical creativity. Participants were 24 sixth graders who attended a college of education once a week, to learn mathematics. This study revealed the potential of student engagement in creative mathematical work that demanded meta-awareness, self-regulation, and self-efficacy. As the confidence to work mathematically was communicated by their peers, many students expressed a change in their attitudes to their own mathematical competence and were more willing to engage with unknown or challenging mathematical tasks. The contribution of this study is twofold: finding ways of developing the students' creativity and enhancing their performance, and engaging them in an activity that made them realize the beauty, wealth, and elegance of mathematics, thus enhancing their self-efficacy to learn mathematics. We recommend providing students with opportunities to enhance their mathematical creativity by using creative tasks.

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Section: Self-regulation and Self-efficacy -One Of The Affective Aspementioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Creativity and Self-efficacy of Elementary Students through a Collaborative Research Task in Mathematics: A Case Study

Katz¹,

Stupel²

2015

JCT

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…As BorgfordParnell et al (2010) emphasized, design often involves working on complex and ill-structured problems that feature ambiguity, multiple solutions, and few, if any, defined rules. The importance of middle school students working on challenging and motivating learning experiences with high cognitive demand has been stressed repeatedly in the literature (e.g., Brophy et al, 2008;Lambert & Stylianou, 2013;Silver, Mesa, Morris, Star & Benken, 2009;Stoner, et al, 2013), with such experiences contributing to the development of creative, flexible, and innovative thinking skills. Students are thus better placed to deal with the complex issues that arise in their present and future lives, including those that involve mathematical and scientific situations (e.g., Borgford et al, 2010;English, Dawes, Hudson, & Byers, 2009;National Research Council, 2009a).…”

Section: Engineering Design Processes In K-12 Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineering-Based Problem Solving in the Middle School: Design and Construction with Simple Machines

English¹,

Hudson²,

Dawes³

2013

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

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Incorporating engineering concepts into middle school curriculum is seen as an effective way to improve students' problem-solving skills. A selection of findings is reported from a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-based unit in which students in the second year (grade 8) of a three-year longitudinal study explored engineering concepts and principles pertaining to the functioning of simple machines. The culminating activity, the focus of this paper, required the students to design, construct, test, and evaluate a trebuchet catapult. We consider findings from one of the schools, a co-educational school, where we traced the design process developments of four student groups from two classes. The students' descriptions and explanations of the simple machines used in their catapult design are examined, together with how they rated various aspects of their engineering designs. Included in the findings are students' understanding of how their simple machines were simulated by the resources supplied and how the machines interacted in forming a complex machine. An ability to link physical materials with abstract concepts and an awareness of design constraints on their constructions were apparent, although a desire to create a ''perfect'' catapult despite limitations in the physical materials rather than a prototype for testing concepts was evident. Feedback from teacher interviews added further insights into the students' developments as well as the teachers' professional learning. An evolving framework for introducing engineering education in the pre-secondary years is proposed.

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“…Despite good intentions and well-laid conceptual foundations, many educational reform movements have failed to produce fundamental changes in the teaching practices of individual teachers (Cohen, 1990;Jacobs et al, 2006;Rousseau, 2004;Spillane, 2004;Spillane & Zeuli, 1999;Warfield, Wood, & Lehman, 2005). In the United States, for example, mathematics teaching generally looks and feels much as it has over the last 50 years; a classroom where sense-making is overshadowed by an emphasis on using standard procedures and getting the correct answers (Hiebert, 2013;Hiebert et al, 2005;Hoetker & Ahlbrand, 1969;Silver, Mesa, Morris, Star, & Benken, 2009). In Europe, despite a general increase in positive attitude towards inquiry-based practices in science and mathematics, survey data suggest that implementation of such practices varies widely by country (Engeln, Euler, & Maass, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of professional obligations in working to change one's teaching practices

Webel

Platt

2015

Teaching and Teacher Education

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Teaching Mathematics for Understanding: An Analysis of Lessons Submitted by Teachers Seeking NBPTS Certification

Cited by 69 publications

References 26 publications

Promoting Creativity and Self-efficacy of Elementary Students through a Collaborative Research Task in Mathematics: A Case Study

Promoting Creativity and Self-efficacy of Elementary Students through a Collaborative Research Task in Mathematics: A Case Study

Engineering-Based Problem Solving in the Middle School: Design and Construction with Simple Machines

The role of professional obligations in working to change one's teaching practices

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