published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Learning Mathematics in English is proved to have posed considerable challenges for many Hong Kong students who enroll in an EMI (English as the medium of instruction) curriculum. Solving Math word problems in English, still less, poses even greater challenges due to the high language demand involved for ESL students to understand the verbal text and conduct problem solving. Studies have shown that students generally perform worse in solving Math word problems than in solving problems with purely mathematical form. And this difficulty is even more pronounced for English learners. To help Hong Kong ESL students enhance their Math problem-solving skill in English, the current study conducts a genre analysis of the Math word problems chosen from four EMI mathematics textbooks most widely used in junior secondary classrooms. The analysis is a corpus-based one consisting of a linguistic analysis of the language moves and linguistic features in verbal text and a visual analysis of the Math visual presentations as to how they work with verbal text in meaning making. In the study, the linguistic analysis identifies 6 language moves and move patterns commonly used in the word problems, with move-specific linguistic features also examined to help students better distinguish each move. Since linguistic features vary greatly among content areas, linguistic features associated with each content area are also examined to cater to content-based difference. On the other hand, the visual analysis identifies 5 types of visual presentations in the word problems examined. By quantitatively calculating the number of each visual type, the study identifies the dominant visual type(s) in different content areas and further investigates each visual type’s visual-linguistic relationship according to the extent to which these visual take on the role of verbal text in meaning making. With the above findings of the linguistic and visual analysis of Math word problems, the study generates important pedagogical implication for the EMI Math learning and teaching in the junior secondary context and contributes to the development of language across curriculum in Hong Kong schools. Limitations of the study are discussed at the end of dissertation, followed by a list of implications for future research. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this study was to determine whether fourth-, sixth-, and eighth-grade students used rational number reasoning to solve comparison of area tasks, and whether the tendency to use such reasoning increased with grade level. The areas to be compared were not similar and therefore, could not directly be compared in a straightforward manner. The most viable solution involved comparing the part-whole relationships inherent in the tasks. Rational numbers in the form of fractional terms could be used to express the part-whole relationships. The use of fractional terms provided a means for students to express the areas to be compared in an abstract manner and thus free themselves from the perceptual aspects of the tasks. The study examined how students solve unique problems in a familiar context where rational number knowledge could be applied. It also noted the effect of introducing fraction symbols into the tasks after students had indicated how they would solve the problems without any reference to fractions. Data were gathered through individual task-based interviews which consisted of 21 tasks, conducted with 36 elementary and junior high school students (12 students each in the fourth, sixth, and eighth grades). Each interview was video and audio taped to provide a record of the students' behavioral and verbal responses. The student responses were analyzed to determine the strategies the students used to solve the comparison of area tasks. The student responses were classified into 11 categories of strategies. There were four Part-Whole Categories, one Part-Whole/Direct Comparison Combination category and six Direct Comparison categories. The results of the study indicate that the development of rational number instruction should include: learning sequences which take students beyond the learning of a set of fraction concepts and skills, attention to the interaction of learning and the visual aspects of instructional models, and the careful inclusion of different types of fractions and other rational number task variables. This study supports the current national developments in curriculum and evaluation standards for mathematics instruction which stress the ability of students to problem solve, communicate, and reason.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain those services and resources generally considered to be the essential parts of a mathematics learning center for students in two-year colleges by determining perceptions held by mathematics students and instructors toward these services and resources. A questionnaire sent to the mathematics department chairperson in all two-year colleges revealed 25 colleges had comprehensive mathematics learning centers (offer tutoring, testing, calculators, counseling, computer terminals, reference books, and filmstrips/slides/tapes services). Questionnaires for algebra students and their instructors were then sent to the names supplied by 19 colleges with comprehensive mathematics learning centers. Of the 837 student respondents, 38% indicated they had used the center. The most number of students had used the tutoring service. Each service was rated for the student feelings about the amount of time they used it and the help they received for satisfying their mathematical needs. The students ranked tutoring, testing, calculators, counseling, reference books, computer terminals, and filmstrips/slides/tapes services from highest to lowest respectively, for helpfulness in learning mathematics. Students gave various reasons for not using the center with 48% of the nonusers stating they knew about it but did not need to use it. The nonusers also checked the services they assumed would be of worth to them in their study of mathematics. All student responses were compared by age, college load, and outside job hours groups. Of the 33 instructor respondents, 94% recommended the tutoring service to students. The instructors rated the services for their feelings about the amount of input into each service and the support they received from each service in teaching algebra. Many instructors felt they had no input. They ranked the services for overall support provided in teaching algebra. Guidelines were formulated for the development of a college mathematics learning center. Based on this study, the conclusions were: (1) Tutoring is the most essential service. (2) Testing and calculators are very essential services. (3) The other services were less essential with computer terminals next to lowest and filmstrips/slides/tapes lowest. (4) Filmstrips/slides/tapes were more essential to instructors than to students.

The present study was an investigation of the effects of a CBA model on mathematical achievement of middle school students. Nine subjects in the seventh and eighth grades were selected to participate in the study. A multiple baseline single subject design was used. Results indicated that a CBA model designed in the form of a pullout program can be very effective in identifying and remediating problems in mathematics for middle school students who are at-risk for failing mathematics. Implications of the current findings for the use of a CBA model were discussed. The use of a CBA model for students identified as at-risk for failing mathematics in middle school was supported.

The twenty-first century society demands a high level of mathematical literacy. This drove Korean educators to evaluate their students using international mathematics tests such as TIMSS, PISA and IMO. In these tests, Korean students ranked highly among the participating countries. Korean students, however, had done poorly in the application of mathematics in daily life situations as well as in their interest in mathematics in comparison to those of other countries. Based on these observations, the present study was an investigation on the contexts which Korean grade 8 to 10 students would prefer to deal with mathematics, in order to improve these weak points and thus increase their mathematical power. The aim of the study was to investigate mathematical literacy in connection with the relevance of mathematics and mathematical modelling. The study paid more attention to mathematics education in real life situations.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Master of Technology Degree: Education, Durban University of Technology, 2007. / The use of web based learning in primary schools has been neglected. The aim of the study is the design of a hybrid web based learning model for primary school mathematics especially in the teaching and learning of perimeter and areas. It is indicated in a study in I calculus teaching and learning at a higher institution by Naidoo (1998) that students have fundamental problems in understanding pre-concepts such as perimeter and areas which are taught in primary schools and that the Piagetian pre-formal and formal stages have not been developed. ti Primary school learners' first encounters with mathematics in a traditional learning environment often create lifelong 'math phobia' (Papert, 1980). The situation in a country I emerging from an oppressive education system designed to educationally disempower the I majority of the population is much worse. The typical scenario in a previously disadvantaged South African primary school is a classroom filled beyond capacity with the educator struggling to establish an effective learning environment. Thus the educator I resorts to rote learning, drill and practice and 'chalk and talk' methods of teaching. The I individual needs and levels of learners are disregarded and blanket assessment methods I are employed (Naidoo and Naidoo, 2006b). Collaborative learning is minimal or nonexistent. These traditional teaching strategies often disregard cultural and social factors, and pre-knowledge frames of learners. Furthermore there is a dire shortage of qualified mathematics educators in the South African schooling system. Therefore there is an urgent need for alternative teaching and learning strategies to address the teaching of mathematics in primary schools. The introduction of networked computer laboratories to / M

The problem of this study was to investigate and compare the current status of mathematics programs in large, medium, and small high schools in North Central Texas in relation to selected factors.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the value, as determined by student achievement, of using a discovery method of teaching mathematics in a college freshman mathematics course for non-mathematics and non-science majors.

The problem of the study was to examine the effectiveness of using supplementary materials in the teaching of eighth grade mathematics. The study considered the effect that supplementary materials had on students in terms of the following variables--attitude toward mathematics, mathematical concepts, problem solving ability, understanding common fractions, computation of common fractions, decimal fractions and per cent, concepts of numbers and numerals (number system and operations), and concepts of numbers and numerals (decimal place value).