The effect of an interdisciplinary algebra/science course on students' critical thinking skills was examined. A traditional college algebra course was used as a comparison group. The students in the sample enrolled in college algebra and then half were randomly placed into the interdisciplinary course. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest comparison group design was used. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal was used to measure the students' critical thinking skills. This instrument consists of an overall critical thinking score as well as five subscores in the areas of Inference, Recognition of Assumptions, Deduction, Interpretation and Evaluation of Arguments. It was found that the students in the interdisciplinary course made greater gains in the overall critical thinking score as well as in four of the five subscores. However, the differences in the gains made in the two courses were not statistically significant. Disregarding course, other factors that were found to be closely related to critical thinking were Composite ACT, grade received in the course, Math ACT and grade point average. It was also found that students whose majors were in the Schools of Arts and Letters or Science and Technology scored higher on critical thinking than students whose majors were in the Schools of Business or Education. Factors found to have no relationship to critical thinking were ethnicity, gender and classification.

The problem of this study was to determine if the teachers of Algebra I rated highest and lowest according to the Texas Teacher Appraisal System differed significantly in a measure of achievement. The analyses indicated that there were significant differences in achievement between the classes taught by the highest and lowest ranked teachers.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-08-08T11:30:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Renata Mendes Soares.pdf: 2927777 bytes, checksum: dcdc528de401d9634fff47e385636acd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T11:30:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Renata Mendes Soares.pdf: 2927777 bytes, checksum: dcdc528de401d9634fff47e385636acd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-05-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Our investigation, which has a qualitative character, has as goal to indicate which aspects related to the development of algebraic thinking are identified by four Mathematic teachers that operate on the second cycle of elementary School in a São Paulo’s public school. For that purpose, Blanton and Kaput; Kieran; Fiorentini, Miorin and Miguel; Fiorentini, Fernandes and Cristóvão; Ponte, Branco and Matos and Blanton were adopted as reference and guided each moment of our research. Initially we proposed to the participants the resolution of three activities that presented an algebraic nature and were destined to the sixth and seventh grades of elementary school, as well as some questions regarding the Algebraic thinking and Algebra teaching. We have done, also, a presentation to the participants about the research’s themes. At last, teachers were interviewed with the intent of clarifying points of their written production or participation on the moment of the presentation, which demanded further explanations. After the analysis of the written production and audio tapes, made during the presentation and interviews, we verified that the participants identified some elements characterizing a work that prioritizes the development of the algebraic thought, as we hoped. Elements such as equivalency of numeric expressions and algebraic; not obligatory use of an algebraic language to resolution of problems; use of different representations; comprehension of the structure of a calculation. However, none of them identified the generalization, element that we hoped they would indicate. This element is already present on three activities chosen as our instrument of data collection / Nossa investigação, de caráter qualitativo, tem o objetivo de identificar quais aspectos relacionados ao desenvolvimento do pensamento algébrico são identificados por quatro professores de Matemática que atuam no segundo ciclo do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola da rede estadual de São Paulo. Para isso Blanton e Kaput; Kieran; Fiorentini Miorin e Miguel; Fiorentini, Fernandes e Cristovão; Ponte, Branco e Matos e Blanton foram tomados como referências e nortearam cada momento de nossa pesquisa: inicialmente propusemos aos participantes a resolução de três atividades que apresentam um cunho algébrico e são destinadas a sexto e sétimo anos do ensino fundamental, alguns questionamentos acerca das atividades propostas, para colher dados sobre seus saberes a respeito do Pensamento Algébrico e ensino de Álgebra; realizamos, também, uma apresentação aos participantes sobre a temática da pesquisa; por fim, foram feitas entrevistas com professores com o intuito de esclarecer pontos de suas produções escritas ou participações no momento da apresentação que demandavam maiores explicações. Após análise das produções escritas e gravações de áudio tomadas na apresentação e entrevistas, constatamos que os participantes identificam alguns elementos caracterizadores de um trabalho que priorize o desenvolvimento do pensamento algébrico que esperávamos, como equivalência de expressões numéricas e algébricas, não obrigatoriedade do uso de uma linguagem algébrica para resolução de problemas, uso de diferentes representações, compreensão da estrutura de um cálculo. No entanto, nenhum deles identificou a generalização, elemento que esperávamos que eles indicassem. Este elemento está presente em três atividades escolhidas para nosso instrumento de coleta de dados

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-09-18T12:29:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Paula Teles de Oliveira.pdf: 1429586 bytes, checksum: 83e9261fc458586c93c9fe22bebe556c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-18T12:29:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Paula Teles de Oliveira.pdf: 1429586 bytes, checksum: 83e9261fc458586c93c9fe22bebe556c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-08 / In this research our aim is to investigate and evaluate a collection of data that will help understand the concept of the algebraic group, according to the question: What are the strength and limitations of a group of activities mentioned in examples and counterexamples in the algebraic structure group to generalize and formalize the context referred? It is possible to observe that this concept is organized through the following definitions: axiom and theories both containing examples and counterexamples. Our proposal consists on doing the opposite, meaning through examples and counterexamples it will be possible to study the concept involved. To start the research, we elaborated three activities, reorganized in four subgroups, which were elaborated in numeric and geometric exercises and fundamentals mentioned in Brousseau theories. We implemented the method of Design Experiments which helped us improve the activities, and thus evolve them with five individuals and subdivisions with two teams. This methodology has two perspectives: a prospective – that addresses a study of the activates proposed in the ways that will provide possible answers and further reflections - presenting an analysis of the answers and reflections obtained with the goal of meeting the proposed objective (the concepts of structure in the algebraic group). The people that took part in this research are students enrolled on the post-graduate of Mathematical Education. As a result, we point out as potentiality the movement between the phases of didactic situations in necessary concepts of the group algebraic structure identity element and associative property and also in relation to the worked examples as the reflection, composition of geometric transformations as an operation and when the same is closed in a given set and identity transformation as identity element in the set of geometric transformations. As limitations we observe that the phases of didactic situations did not occur in concepts such as binary and closed operation and the group algebraic structure. The activates done are not self-explanatory and thus needs to be clarified by individuals with the basic idea of element inverse, identity element, commutative and associative properties, composition of functions and symmetries in addition to the algebraic language / Nesta pesquisa nosso objetivo consiste em elaborar e analisar um conjunto de atividades para a constituição do conceito de estrutura algébrica grupo, direcionada pela questão: Quais são as potencialidades e limitações de um conjunto de atividades pautadas em exemplos e contraexemplos particulares de estrutura algébrica grupo para generalização e formalização do referido conceito? Observamos que esse conceito é organizado a partir de definições, axiomas, teorias, seguido de exemplos e contraexemplos. Nossa proposta consiste em fazermos uma inversão, ou seja, a partir de exemplos e contraexemplos estudarmos o conceito. Dessa forma, para iniciar os trabalhos de pesquisa, elaboramos três atividades, reorganizadas em quatro durante a pesquisa, que pautamos em exercícios numéricos e geométricos e fundamentamos teoricamente nas situações didáticas de Brousseau. Empregamos a metodologia Design Experiments, que nos permitiu aprimorar as atividades, e as desenvolvemos com cinco indivíduos, subdivididas em duas equipes. Essa metodologia envolve duas faces: uma prospectiva – que aborda um estudo das atividades propostas no sentido de fornecer possíveis respostas e resoluções, e outra reflexiva – que apresenta uma análise das respostas e resoluções obtidas com a finalidade de atingir o objetivo proposto (constituição do conceito de estrutura algébrica grupo). Os sujeitos de pesquisa, que compuseram as equipes, foram alunos matriculados no curso de pós-graduação em Educação Matemática. Como resultado, apontamos como potencialidade o movimento entre as fases das situações didáticas em conceitos necessários da estrutura algébrica grupo, elemento neutro e propriedade associativa e, ainda, exemplos trabalhados como reflexão, composição de transformações geométricas como uma operação, mesmo que seja fechada em um determinado conjunto, e transformação identidade como elemento neutro no conjunto das transformações geométricas. Em relação às limitações observamos que as fases das situações didáticas não ocorreram em conceitos como operação binária, fechada e a estrutura algébrica grupo. As atividades não são autoexplicativas e precisam ser desenvolvidas por indivíduos com ideias básicas de elemento inverso, elemento neutro, propriedades comutativa e associativa, composição de funções e simetrias, bem como a utilização de linguagem algébrica

Within undergraduate mathematics education, there are few validated instruments designed for large-scale usage. The Group Concept Inventory (GCI) was created as an instrument to evaluate student conceptions related to introductory group theory topics. The inventory was created in three phases: domain analysis, question creation, and field-testing. The domain analysis phase included using an expert consensus protocol to arrive at the topics to be assessed, analyzing curriculum, and reviewing literature. From this analysis, items were created, evaluated, and field-tested. First, 383 students answered open-ended versions of the question set. The questions were converted to multiple-choice format from these responses and disseminated to an additional 476 students over two rounds. Through follow-up interviews intended for validation, and test analysis processes, the questions were refined to best target conceptions and strengthen validity measures. The GCI consists of seventeen questions, each targeting a different concept in introductory group theory. The results from this study are broken into three papers. The first paper reports on the methodology for creating the GCI with the goal of providing a model for building valid concept inventories. The second paper provides replication results and critiques of previous studies by leveraging three GCI questions (on cyclic groups, subgroups, and isomorphism) that have been adapted from prior studies. The final paper introduces the GCI for use by instructors and mathematics departments with emphasis on how it can be leveraged to investigate their students' understanding of group theory concepts. Through careful creation and extensive field-testing, the GCI has been shown to be a meaningful instrument with powerful ability to explore student understanding around group theory concepts at the large-scale.

Orientador : Anna Regina Lanner de Moura / Dissertação (mestrado) ¿ Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T12:44:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Scarlassari_NathaliaTornisiello_M.pdf: 1150253 bytes, checksum: 3ff8a24b10e00322ae200a7208de6031 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Esta pesquisa, de caráter qualitativo, tem como objetivo principal discutir Que tipo de dificuldades alunos da 6ª série do Ensino Fundamental apresentam em uma situação B de ensino de álgebra, comparativamente a alunos da mesma série que passaram por uma situação A de ensino de álgebra? As situações de ensino tiveram a seguintes características: A situação A ocorreu em uma escola da rede particular de ensino da cidade de Piracicaba, em 1999, em duas classes de 6ª série e constituiu-se fonte de dados para a nossa pesquisa de Iniciação Científica que versou sobre as dificuldades dos alunos em álgebra. Atuamos como observadoras das aulas de álgebra que foram desenvolvidas numa abordagem tradicional, pela manipulação simbólica, resolução e correção de listas de exercícios na lousa. Os dados foram provenientes das respostas dos alunos a uma lista de exercícios. Dessas respostas analisamos e categorizamos as dificuldades em álgebra, aí manifestas. A situação B de ensino de álgebra ocorreu em uma escola estadual da cidade de Campinas, em duas classes de 6ª série onde atuamos como pesquisadoras e professora das classes pesquisadas. Foram trabalhadas atividades que propunham o desenvolvimento dos nexos conceituais da álgebra elementar, tais como: fluência, variável, campo de variação, linguagem, operacionalidade e unidade. Após esse desenvolvimento solicitamos aos alunos responderem a mesma lista de exercício usada na situação A. Comparamos as dificuldades encontradas nas duas situações para os mesmos exercícios. Esta comparação indica que os alunos da situação B encontraram menos dificuldades para realizar as atividades e que a freqüência dos erros, nessa situação, foi menor. Este trabalho permitiu afirmar que a Situação B de ensino proporcionou uma aprendizagem mais significativa das idéias algébricas correspondentes aos exercícios solicitados do que a Situação A, de abordagem tradicional / Abstract: The main purpose of this research is to discuss under a qualitative aspect What kind of difficulties the sixth-grade students of Elementary school present with regard to the Algebra learning situation B in comparison with those students from the same grade who have experienced the Algebra learning situation A? The learning situations had the following characteristics: The situation A occurred in two sixth-grade classes of one private school located in the city of Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, in 1999, and it has constituted data source for the Undergraduate Research that discussed students' difficulties regarding algebra. We have been acting as observers in the algebra classes, which were prepared according to a traditional approach using symbolic manipulation, resolution, and correction of lists of exercises on the blackboard. The data was gathered from the answers given by the students to a list of exercises, from which we were able to analyze and categorize the difficulties in algebra. The algebra learning situation B happened in two sixth-grade classes of public school in the city of Campinas, São Paulo, where we have acted both as researchers and teachers on the researched classes. Working activities proposed the development of the conceptual nexus of elementary algebra, such as fluency, variable, variation field, language, operationability and unity. Afterwards we invited the students to answer the same list of exercises used in situation A. We compared the difficulties found in both situations considering the same exercises. This comparison shows that the students in situation B found less difficulty to solve this list and there was a fewer occurrence of mistakes compared to situation A. This research allowed us to affirm that the learning situation B has brought a more significant understanding of the algebraic ideas related to the given exercises than the situation A, which considered a traditional learning approach / Mestrado / Educação Matematica / Mestre em Educação

Orientador: Dario Fiorentini / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-23T20:37:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santos_SuelidosPrazeres_M.pdf: 3248639 bytes, checksum: df5758dccce33b51eb115fa7a654d241 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Este estudo tem como hipótese de trabalho que os erros e dificuldades evidenciados pelos alunos na aprendizagem da matemática estão diretamente relacionados com os modos de conceber e realizar o ensino da álgebra em sala de aula. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é identificar e analisar, em investigações que têm como foco de estudo erros no ensino e aprendizagem da álgebra elementar, as relações que se estabelecem entre as concepções de ensino de álgebra, os tipos de erros cometidos pelos alunos e os modos de os pesquisadores lidarem com eles. Para alcançar tal objetivo, foi realizada uma metanálise qualitativa de nove dissertações brasileiras de mestrado que investigaram erros e dificuldades dos alunos em álgebra elementar. Esse corpus de análise foi constituído de acordo com critérios definidos previamente. A metanálise desse corpus foi desenvolvida com base nas seguintes perspectivas de investigação: identificação dos tipos de erros em álgebra presentes nas pesquisas; os modos de conceber a educação algébrica em cada pesquisa, tendo por base Fiorentini, Miorim e Miguel (1993); e as concepções e os modos de lidar com erros evidenciados nesses estudos. Foram identificadas quatro concepções distintas de erro nessas pesquisas: o erro que deve ser corrigido e identificado; o erro considerado como um obstáculo; o erro como parte integrante do processo de ensino e aprendizagem; e o erro considerado como indicador para avaliar/reavaliar a prática pedagógica. Em relação aos erros identificados, foi possível discutir sobre alguns erros que tiveram um caráter mais procedimental, considerados como erros de sintaxe, e outros erros mais relacionados com a interpretação de significados e de conceitos, considerados como erros de natureza semântica. Percebeu-se, ao final da metanálise, que as pesquisas que apresentaram mais erros de procedimentos, alinhavam-se às concepções de educação algébrica fundamentalista estrutural, fundamentalista analógica e linguístico-pragmática. Entretanto as pesquisas alinhadas à concepção exploratória e de desenvolvimento do pensamento e da linguagem algébricos, e que enfatizavam a produção e negociação de significados e a compreensão dos conceitos algébricos, evidenciaram erros de natureza semântica, mesmo na exploração de situações de natureza sintática. Em síntese, os resultados obtidos reforçaram nossa hipótese inicial de que os tipos de erros cometidos ou destacados em álgebra estão diretamente relacionados à concepção que professores e pesquisadores têm do ensino da álgebra. / Abstract: The hypothesis of this research is that the errors and difficulties of students during mathematical learning are related directly to ways of thinking and teaching algebra in classes. Its main goal is to identify and analyze, in study that have as focus the study errors in the teaching and learning of elementary algebra, relations established among the algebra teaching conceptions, the kinds of errors made by students and the researchers' ways of managing them. To get the goal, it was realized a qualitative meta-analysis of nine master's degree Brazilian theses that studied students' errors and difficulties in elementary algebra. The corpus of analysis was established according to criteria defined previously. The meta-analysis was developed based on the following investigation perspectives: identifying of errors kinds in algebra from researches; the ways of thinking the algebra teaching in each research, based on Fiorentini, Miorim and Miguel (1993); and the conceptions and the ways of managing the errors evidenced in the studies. It was identified four concepts of errors: error that must be identified and corrected; error regarded as an obstacle; error as a part of teaching and learning process; and error regarded as an indicator to evaluate and reevaluate the pedagogical practice. Concerning the identified errors, it was possible to discuss about some errors with procedural feature, regarded as syntax errors, and others related to interpretation of meaning and concepts, regarded as errors with semantic feature. It was perceived that, at the end of meta-analysis, the researches that presented more procedural errors are aligned with structural fundamentalism, analogical fundamentalism and linguistic pragmatic conceptions of algebra teaching. However, the researches aligned with the exploratory conceptions, with algebraic thinking and language developing, that emphasized the production and negotiation of meaning and understanding of algebraic concepts, evidenced errors of semantic feature, even in the investigation of situations with syntax feature. In summary, the obtained results reinforced the initial hypothesis that errors made or showed in algebra are directly related to the conception that teachers and researchers have about algebra teaching. / Mestrado / Ensino de Ciencias e Matematica / Mestra em Multiunidades em Ensino de Ciências e Matemática

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of mathematical connections used by selected teachers when teaching the topic of algebra and to investigate their perceptions of their use of connections. The participants were selected on the basis of teaching experience as well as their willingness to share their ideas. An interpretive paradigm was used to collect and analyse data. The data was collected from three participating teachers. These participants were selected from the three secondary schools in the town of Tsumeb in Namibia. I used video recordings of two lessons per teacher as well as semi-structured interviews as my tools to gather data. After the two lessons were video recorded, I conducted a workshop with the teachers to introduce them to the 5 types of mathematical connections pertinent to this study. We analysed the videos together using Businskas' framework as a basis for analysis. This then formed part of the stimulated recall interviews. It was found that, even though teachers were not aware of the concept of mathematical connections before our interactions, there was strong evidence of connections being made and used in their lessons. The two types of connections that were used most frequently (24.1 percent each) were procedural and instruction-oriented connections respectively. Part-whole relationships connections were used the least with a frequency of 12 percent. All three teachers agreed that they needed to make more connections when teaching and that they would think more about connections in future, particularly when preparing their lessons. The study makes recommendations to encourage the continuous use of connections in teaching mathematics.

This dissertation consists of three related papers. The first paper, Rethinking mathematics bridge courses--An inquiry model for community colleges, introduces the activities of conventionalizing and axiomatizing from a practitioner perspective. In the paper, I offer a curricular model that includes both inquiry and traditional instruction for two-year college students interested in mathematics. In particular, I provide both examples and rationales of tasks from the research-based Teaching Abstract Algebra for Understanding (TAAFU) curriculum, which anchors the inquiry-oriented version of the mathematics bridge course. The second paper, the role of past experience in creating a shared representation system for a mathematical operation: A case of conventionalizing, adds to the existing literature on mathematizing (Freudenthal, 1973) by "zooming in" on the early stages of the classroom enactment of an inquiry-oriented curriculum for reinventing the concept of group (Larsen, 2013). In three case study episodes, I shed light onto "How might conventionalizing unfold in a mathematics classroom?" and offer an initial framework that relates students' establishment of conventions in light of their past mathematical experiences. The third paper, Collective axiomatizing as a classroom activity, is a detailed case study (Yin, 2009) that examines how students collectively engage in axiomatizing. In the paper, I offer a revision to De Villiers's (1986) model of descriptive axiomatizing. The results of this study emphasize the additions of pre-axiomatic activity and axiomatic creation to the model and elaborate the processes of axiomatic formulation and analysis within the classroom community.

The questions guiding this research seek to discover the factors that affect high school math course completion and college readiness in a Texas suburban public school district. The first research question examines the relationship between 8th grade completion of Algebra I and high school mathematics course taking patterns and college readiness. The second question evaluates the relationship between race, gender, socioeconomic status and enrollment in the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program to college math readiness and high school mathematics course completion. Participants included 841 high school graduates of the class of 2006; 76% of the graduates were White, 15% Hispanic and 7% African American. Twenty-three percent of students were economically disadvantaged and 46% of students completed Algebra I in 8th grade. Chi-square, Cramer's V, and multiple regression were conducted to evaluate possible relationships between variables. The Chi-square and Cramer's V showed statistically significant (p<.05) relationships between 8th grade algebra completion and both college readiness and high school math course completion. A significant statistical relationship was also found between college readiness and each of the independent variables, ethnicity, economic status, completion of 8th grade algebra and enrollment in AVID. The number of math courses completed in high school was statistically related to ethnicity and economic status.. The findings of this study indicate that early access to Algebra I can positively affect the number of high school math courses a student completes and the likelihood that the student will be college ready after high school graduation.