This study investigated the effect of instructional videos and real-life activities on the mathematical achievement and attitude of developmental students. The study also investigated the attitude of developmental students towards learning mathematics through instructional videos and real-life activities. The study was conducted at an urban community college with transitional mathematics classes. The four mathematics classes in the study received various combinations of real-life activities, instructional videos, and traditional teaching while studying basic concepts such as decimal place value, percentages, and fractions. Pre-and post-tests were conducted to measure student achievement. Attitude scales, surveys, and interviews were used to measure attitude changes. Results showed that, overall, the mathematics achievement of the classes receiving consistent exposure to videos and real-life activities was greater than classes receiving only some of the special instructional treatments. Students interviewed believed that instructional videos and real-life activities improved their understanding of the mathematical concepts involved in the study.

This study explored the relationship between (1) parent mathematical mindset and student mathematical experience (as determined by student mathematical mindset, student mathematical achievement, and student mathematical grit), (2) participant general mindset and participant mathematical mindset, and (3) student general grit and student mathematical grit. Participants included 14 high school seniors and their active parent(s) or guardian(s) (N=38). The research followed a hermeneutical phenomenological approach - a qualitative research methodology characterized by finding meaning through the subjective interpretation of participants. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to describe the phenomenon of student mathematical experience, as well as the internal consistency of mindsets as applied to general intelligence and mathematical intelligence. A moderate positive association was found between participants' general mindsets and mathematical mindsets. Despite the consistencies, 37% of participants had mathematical mindsets that were in tension with their general mindset. The present study advocates that general mindsets and mathematical mindsets are not as closely associated, thereby supporting the theory that mindsets can vary by subject domain. In contrast, a strong positive association was found between students' general grit and their mathematical grit. To that effect, the study contributed to the field in two ways: (1) by exposing further variability in mindsets dependent on subject domain; and (2) by exposing grit as more fundamentally consistent than mindset when applied to different subject domains. Additionally, parent mathematical mindset is not associated with student mathematical mindset. It's possible that (1) parents' mathematical mindsets are not visible to their children, (2) parents suppress their beliefs regarding mathematical intelligence, or (3) external factors, such as cultural influences, compete in shaping students' mindsets. Finally, although no relation was found between parent mathematical mindset and both student GPA and SAT score, an inverse relationship was observed between parent mathematical mindset and student highest-level mathematics course taken. Markedly, students of parents with a mathematics-fixed mindset appear to take more advanced mathematics courses, whereas students of parents with a mathematics-growth mindset appear to take lower-level courses. This suggests that student effort may be in tension with the evaluation of effort by their parents.

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The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of management practices of principals on implementation of an elementary mathematics program. Sixty-three elementary teachers, one-half of the population, representative of the seven elementary schools of the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation, St. Joseph County, Indiana were used for the study.A focused interview was used to determine an overall Level of Use for each teacher and the critical components of the mathematics program being utilized. A 90 item inventory was used to assess the perceptions of teachers regarding management practices of principals. Significance of 15 management practices dimensions at the .05 level of significance was tested using chi-square.Findings1. After a two and one-half year implementation effort, 76 percent of the teachers in the total sample (100 percent in three schools, 80 percent in two schools, and 20 percent in two schools) were using the mathematics program as operationally defined.2. The degree of implementation of the mathematics program ranged across seven discrete use or nonuse levels for the total sample of teachers and across two to six levels in individual schools with users and nonusers in six schools clustered into two or. four levels. 3.There were no significant differences among the management practices of the seven elementary principals relative to any of the 15 management dimensions observed.Conclusions1. Use of the mathematics program and the degree of skill and sophistication with which teachers were using the program varied more among schools than within.2. There were no perceived differences in the management practices of the seven elementary principals.

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published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This dissertation reports case studies conducted at two secondary schools in Durban. With the introduction of the Further Education and Training (FET) curriculum in 2006, learners who terminate their study of Mathematics at the end of grade nine will have to study Mathematical Literacy, an applications-based mathematics course. In South Africa the Mathematics results at the grade twelve exit examination are generally poor and learners are known to underachieve in the field of geometry. This study was aimed at determining the readiness of learners in studying geometry under the Learning Outcome, Space, Shape and Measurement in the Mathematical Literacy curriculum. Questionnaires were administered to grade nine learners who had elected not to study, or were excluded from studying, Mathematics from grade ten onwards. Data was sought to determine what factors influence the decision to discontinue mathematics, and to gauge attitudes to the study of mathematics. Learners were given a test to measure geometry skills and knowledge that they ought to have acquired by the end of the senior phase in geometry. Data was also obtained from focus group interviews with both of learners and educators. This study indicates that learners do not continue mathematics because of the difficulties they experience. Furthermore they do not have the requisite skills and knowledge in Space, Shape and Measurement to cope with the Mathematical Literacy curriculum. Nevertheless, the attitudes of learners to the study of this new subject are positive. It is suggested that educators need to conduct baseline assessments to determine learners' abilities so as to plan appropriate revision measures before continuing with the teaching of Mathematical Literacy. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

This research considers specific strategies that would enhance teaching and learning of fractional concepts in mathematics at a secondary school. The notion of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) ~ Vygotskian view, is invoked as one of the fundamental frameworks for explaining fractional knowledge. This view is contested on the bases of that "human thinking is inherently social in its origin" (Goos, 2004: 259). Another theory that bears testimony to mathematics education especially abstract concepts like fractions is that of constructivism, drawn from the works of, Lave (1996), Steffe (1990) and others. Learners' informal knowledge is investigated for the purposes of highlighting what learners know and can do. Therefore, the study examined the development of learners' understanding of fractions during instruction with respect to the ways their prior knowledge of whole numbers influenced the meanings and representations they construct for fractions as they build on their informal knowledge. There were 30 participants (15 School A and 15 from School B) that were engaged in worksheets. Thereafter, 6 cases of the participants were carefully selected for clinical interview purposes. The overall methodology of this study is participatory action research (Kemmis & Mctaggart, 2000). / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

The present project is part of a larger research programme focussed on the analysis of change; one aspect being educational transformation and in particular an emphasis on the explication of the contentless processes (eg. logical operations, reasoning styles, analysis and synthesis) which underlie both learning and teaching at university level. The present project is aimed at an analysis of the teaching-learning dialectic in mathematics courses. This analysis has two major focal points, that is, making explicit the often tacit and mostly inadequate and/or inappropriate rules for engaging in mathematical tasks which the under-prepared learner brings to the teaching-learning situation, and secondly the teaching strategies which may enable these learners to overcome their past (erroneous) knowledge and skills towards the development of effecient, autonomous mathematical problem-solving strategies. In order to remedy inadequate and inappropriate past learning and/or teaching, the present project presents a set of mediational strategies and regulative cues which function both for the benefit of the teacher and the learner in a problematic teaching-learning situation and on the meta and epistemic cognitive levels of information processing. Furthermore, these mediational strategies and regulative cues fall on a kind of interface between contentless processes and the particular content of the teaching-learning dialectic of mathematics in particular, as well as between the ideal components of any instructional process and the particular needs and demands of under-prepared learners engaged in mathematical tasks. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Durban, 1988.

The integration of technology into teaching and learning has come as new in education. It is a shifting of paradigm from one way of educational thinking to the other. Before entering their classrooms for the first time students already have been using technology devices and educators’ cannot ignore this facts. The South African Ministry of Education has responded to this issue by designing implementation strategies and has mandated all schools in the country to have integrated Technology in the curriculum by 2013. The study anticipated to understand how Educational Video (EV) is used to facilitate learning of mathematics in two Secondary schools in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province. The underlying principle was to ascertain the challenges educators encounter in facilitating teaching and learning of mathematics, using EV in two secondary schools in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province. A qualitative research approach and case methodology were used to explore these experiences of educators in mathematics instruction. Semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and documents review methods were used to collect data that were analysed and discussed, using the principles of Engagement and Activity theories. Four purposively selected educators and ten grade ten students were interviewed and their mathematics lessons observed. The findings indicated that the integration of video in teaching and learning appears to assist both learners and educators in two schools, and the educators from the two Secondary Schools in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province have shown to be comfortable with its use in facilitating mathematics instruction for it enables authentic and higher order thinking in learners by engaging them in complex tasks within collaborative learning contexts. Issues of professional empowerment financial support, and lack of materials, delay the integration of EV in two schools. This would be solved easier if all stakeholders in the education sector were effective in their individual roles for the betterment of education in the whole country. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.