No description available.

Numeracy skills are vital for a child with diabetes as they need to be able to manage their diabetes effectively, in order to protect one from the complications that come with diabetes. There have been numerous studies that illustrate the poor numeracy skills in children with diabetes. A numeracy intervention specifically related to diabetes was put into place to illustrate whether or not such an intervention is effective in improving a child’s diabetic numeracy ability, which will lead to the improvement of diabetes self-management in the future. A Quantitative quasi-experimental pre-test - post-test non equivalent control group design was conducted to explore the efficacy of an applied numeracy intervention in a South Africa type 1 diabetic child population. The study group comprised of 58 children with type 1 diabetes, each group consisted of 29 participants, and each participant in the experimental group was closely matched according to their level of formal education, grade, age and sex to a research participant in the control group. Both groups were measured before and after the intervention. The children were between the ages of 8 and 13. All participants were in formal education between Grades 3 and Grade 8. Results revealed that participants in both groups had lower ‘functional’ grades as compared to their ‘actual grade’ level which suggests that they performed below their expected grade level. Participants performed better in areas assessing basic mathematical skills than areas which assessed applied diabetes mathematical skills. The intervention was shown to be effective as analyses revealed that there was a highly significant difference (p<0.001) between the Pre and Post Test (applied mathematical sections) of the experimental group which took part in the intervention. This research is only the starting point for the assessment of the effectiveness of a numeracy component in diabetes related education in South Africa, and through this one would hope that more research in South Africa will be done in this area.

No description available.

This thesis explores the perceptions and experiences of twenty four Year 9 students from two schools in New Zealand who had participated in the Secondary Numeracy Project. The two schools were in their first year of SNP at the time of data collection. The main focus was on four areas of mathematics learning: group work, equipment, communication and teachers. Data was collected mainly by using semi-structured and clinical interviews. Findings revealed that equipment was particularly important and were used more frequently by students in Low ability group. Students liked using equipment, working in groups and sharing multiple solutions. However, communication was not used much as a means of making sense of mathematics in these classrooms. Furthermore the students' responses depended on the ability groups. These findings complemented the work of other researchers who have explored students' perspectives at the primary level. These findings suggest that the SNP would be more successful if students were explicitly taught good communication and cooperative learning skills.

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This thesis explores how creating and performing digital numeracy texts, affords students learning opportunities in Mathematics that demonstrate their numerical social practice. In an environment that celebrates performance before competence, students explore how to design and engineer their digital understanding of social justice issues, such that they begin to connect their numeracy to socio-­‐cultural issues in both local and global communities. / UOIT

Introduction: Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer among Canadians and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. In this age of chronic disease and shared decision-making, individuals are encouraged and expected to contribute to decisions about healthcare. Increasingly, Canadians rely on the Internet as an access point to healthcare information. Health literacy, particularly adequate numeracy skill, occupies a central role within cancer care communication and is requisite to meaningful participation in risk-based decision-making. Despite this, numeracy has attracted little research attention. Consequently, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the influence of health numeracy skills, health prose literacy, math anxiety, attained education, and context of information on participant ability to comprehend Internet based colorectal cancer risk information. Method: Demographic details were collected on 140 older Canadian volunteers. Health literacy (prose and numeracy), and math anxiety scores were also obtained. Prose literacy was measured by the STOFHLA whereas numeracy was assessed using three instruments (general context numeracy, health context numeracy, and the STOFHLA). Math anxiety was measured by the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS). The assessment of participant risk comprehension was based on two web pages of colorectal cancer information. The two web pages were chosen from the Canadian Cancer Society; one represented ‘common’ information and the other represented ‘uncommon’ information. Multiple regression analysis was employed to determine the influence of explanatory variables on participant risk comprehension. Results: The majority of older adults (91%) in this convenience sample had ‘adequate’ functional health literacy as measured by the STOFHLA. Participants revealed wide variation of numeric competency with high STOFHLA numeracy scores, moderate levels of health context numeracy and math anxiety, but poorer general context numeracy skill. The mean score for participant comprehension of colorectal cancer risk was 16.8/22. There was a significant difference between risk comprehension scores on ‘common’ (9.14/11) and ‘uncommon’ (7.64/11) web-based cancer information with better comprehension of the ‘common’ information. Approximately 60% of the variation in participant risk comprehension scores was explained by the prose health literacy, general context numeracy, health context numeracy, STOFHLA numeracy, math anxiety, and level of education. Additional regression modeling highlighted the significance of health context numeracy skill for both ‘common’ and ‘uncommon’ cancer information and the need for the combined skills of prose health literacy and numeracy for comprehension of ‘uncommon’ web-based cancer risk information. Conclusion: Adequate health numeracy skill is a necessary component for understanding online cancer information. A spectrum of health numeracy skill ranging from basic to more advanced proficiency is needed for comprehension of cancer risk information. For comprehension of less familiar subject matter, ‘content’ knowledge or enhanced prose health literacy skill, jointly with health numeracy skill, is required. This research underscores the need for continued investigation of the role of health literacy (prose and numeric) in the comprehension of online cancer information among diverse groups of healthcare consumers. These findings highlight the need for continued research directed at concept clarification and concept modeling of prose health literacy and numeracy. Research focusing on the development of a comprehensive health numeracy assessment instrument is recommended. Also, these findings have important implications for health educators in designing online cancer information. Cancer information specialists and web designers are encouraged to exploit the versatility of the Internet in order to construct web-based cancer information to accommodate the continuum of health literacy/numeracy skill that currently exists.

Introduction: Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer among Canadians and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. In this age of chronic disease and shared decision-making, individuals are encouraged and expected to contribute to decisions about healthcare. Increasingly, Canadians rely on the Internet as an access point to healthcare information. Health literacy, particularly adequate numeracy skill, occupies a central role within cancer care communication and is requisite to meaningful participation in risk-based decision-making. Despite this, numeracy has attracted little research attention. Consequently, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the influence of health numeracy skills, health prose literacy, math anxiety, attained education, and context of information on participant ability to comprehend Internet based colorectal cancer risk information. Method: Demographic details were collected on 140 older Canadian volunteers. Health literacy (prose and numeracy), and math anxiety scores were also obtained. Prose literacy was measured by the STOFHLA whereas numeracy was assessed using three instruments (general context numeracy, health context numeracy, and the STOFHLA). Math anxiety was measured by the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS). The assessment of participant risk comprehension was based on two web pages of colorectal cancer information. The two web pages were chosen from the Canadian Cancer Society; one represented ‘common’ information and the other represented ‘uncommon’ information. Multiple regression analysis was employed to determine the influence of explanatory variables on participant risk comprehension. Results: The majority of older adults (91%) in this convenience sample had ‘adequate’ functional health literacy as measured by the STOFHLA. Participants revealed wide variation of numeric competency with high STOFHLA numeracy scores, moderate levels of health context numeracy and math anxiety, but poorer general context numeracy skill. The mean score for participant comprehension of colorectal cancer risk was 16.8/22. There was a significant difference between risk comprehension scores on ‘common’ (9.14/11) and ‘uncommon’ (7.64/11) web-based cancer information with better comprehension of the ‘common’ information. Approximately 60% of the variation in participant risk comprehension scores was explained by the prose health literacy, general context numeracy, health context numeracy, STOFHLA numeracy, math anxiety, and level of education. Additional regression modeling highlighted the significance of health context numeracy skill for both ‘common’ and ‘uncommon’ cancer information and the need for the combined skills of prose health literacy and numeracy for comprehension of ‘uncommon’ web-based cancer risk information. Conclusion: Adequate health numeracy skill is a necessary component for understanding online cancer information. A spectrum of health numeracy skill ranging from basic to more advanced proficiency is needed for comprehension of cancer risk information. For comprehension of less familiar subject matter, ‘content’ knowledge or enhanced prose health literacy skill, jointly with health numeracy skill, is required. This research underscores the need for continued investigation of the role of health literacy (prose and numeric) in the comprehension of online cancer information among diverse groups of healthcare consumers. These findings highlight the need for continued research directed at concept clarification and concept modeling of prose health literacy and numeracy. Research focusing on the development of a comprehensive health numeracy assessment instrument is recommended. Also, these findings have important implications for health educators in designing online cancer information. Cancer information specialists and web designers are encouraged to exploit the versatility of the Internet in order to construct web-based cancer information to accommodate the continuum of health literacy/numeracy skill that currently exists.

Ämnet neurodidaktik bygger på hjärnforskning och etablerade teorier inom det pedagogiska området. Syftet med vår studie är att dra slutsatser av de rön vi finner inom hjärnforskningen som studerar hur hjärnan fungerar i inlärningssammanhang. Vi har lyft fram ett antal förutsättningar för lärande i vår studie som alla får stöd i aktuell hjärnforskning. Dessa förutsättningar har vi kopplat samman med hur hjärnan utvecklas ur ett matematiskt perspektiv. Litteratursökningen har ägt rum i faktaböcker och databaser och för att få vägledning har vi kontaktat experter inom området. De slutsatser vi drar av våra sammanställda texter visar att kunskaper inom neurologin kan vägleda pedagoger i undervisningen. Vår slutsats är att neurodidaktik bidrar med viktig kunskap om hjärnan som kan lämna värdefulla tillskott för pedagoger i undervisningssammanhang i ämnet matematik och även i övriga ämnen.

From Memory to Mastery charts the development of commercial numeracy and accounting in America and the English-speaking Atlantic world between 1750 and 1880. Over this period, accounting evolved from a system of recordkeeping into a multifaceted instrument of control and analysis—from an aid to memory to an instrument of mastery. The traditional story of modern management begins in the factories of England and New England, extending only much later to the American South. This dissertation draws on textbooks and manuscript account books to argue that southern and West Indian plantations also influenced the development of bookkeeping. Scientific planters adopted sophisticated accounting practices, foreshadowing the rise of scientific management in the late nineteenth century. Their sophistication was not just incidental to the use of forced labor. Rather, the control of planters over their slaves made data easier to collect and more profitable to use. New methods were, in a sense, a byproduct of bondage. By contrast, the mobility of labor in the North made detailed recordkeeping necessary for keeping track of wages but relatively futile for detailed benchmarks and comparisons. Early northern factories distinguished themselves not by analyzing productivity but by mediating between firms and the market. They developed hybrid practices that bridged management hierarchies and market exchange. Commercial colleges educated clerical workers, accountants, and bookkeepers, providing the staff for a revolution in the organization of information. Though the rise of accounting helped planters and manufacturers to organize and control their expanding workforces, numeracy was not always class-biased. Textbooks and common schools spread numerical knowledge across a wide range of people, enabling them to turn the language of accounts to their own purposes. Account books reflect the power of their keepers, but bookkeeping is also a creative language that can be used by all kinds of people. This study bridges history and economics, blending qualitative and quantitative methods. The dissertation closes with a statistical analysis of accounting practices among Massachusetts corporations in the 1870s. Both these data and close readings of account books elsewhere in the dissertation suggest that practices were incredibly diverse but also fundamental to firm survival. Keeping accounts was a creative, narrative process that helped eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Americans to navigate the increasingly complex world around them.