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The primary focus of this study examines the effectiveness of the CRIOSAT (Computerized Rotational Isometric and Orthographic Spatial) spatial ability treatment on a random sample of middle school students’ (n=137) spatial ability as measured by the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations Test (PSVT-ROT) (Guay, 1977). The secondary focus of this study investigates the relationships between mathematical achievement, problem solving preferences, and spatial ability. The secondary focus was tested on a subsample (n=41), with the problem solving preferences measured via the Mathematical Processing Instrument (MPI) (Suwarsono, 1982). Findings indicated no significant gains in spatial ability scores after students’ use of the CRIOSAT treatment; while some increases in spatial ability took place in males. Significant positive correlation was identified between mathematics achievement and spatial ability; while conversely, a significant negative correlation was found between mathematics achievement and level of visual problem solving used by students.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Bibliography: pages 75-82. / This dissertation is concerned with teachers' beliefs regarding boys, girls and mathematics. The present study is a partial replication of a study conducted by Fennema et al (1990) and the results are compared. The present study extended the work of Fennema et al (1990) through an exploration of the structure of the data. Forty female teachers in the Western Cape region were interviewed. They were asked to identify their two most and least successful boys and girls in mathematics and to attribute causation for success and failure. They _were also asked to respond to 20 characteristics on a "Likert type" response format. The results generated from the present study concluded that teachers believed their female students to be their more successful mathematics students. They attributed the most successful girls' achievement mainly to effort whereas with the most successful boys, achievement was attributed to ability and effort. Both the most successful boys and girls failures on mathematics tasks were attributed to the difficulty of the task. Achievement of the least successful girls was attributed mainly to teacher's help and for the boys it was attributed to teacher's help and task. For both these groups, ability and to a lesser extent, effort, are given as the main reasons for failure on mathematics tasks. Very little difference was found between teachers' responses regarding the characteristics of their best boy and best girl mathematics students. When exploratory factor-analysis was performed a difference was found in the factor-solutions for the boys and the girls. This study suggests that there might be a difference in teachers' beliefs regarding boys and girls achievement in mathematics that is worthy of further exploration.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This study investigated the effect of an eight-step cognitive strategy on verbal math problem solving performance of six learning disabled adolescents. The research was conducted in an applied setting by the investigator, the students' learning disabilities teacher. The cognitive strategy was designed to enable students to read, understand, carry out, and check verbal math problems that are encountered in the general math curriculum at the secondary level. A multiple baseline across individuals design permitted demonstration of the effectiveness of the strategy. Conditions of the experiment included baseline, treatment, generalization, maintenance, and, for two students, retraining. During treatment, students received strategy acquisition training over three sessions. When the students demonstrated verbalization of the eight strategy steps from memory, strategy application practice and testing commenced. Utilization of the strategy and improved performance were measured by scores on tests of two-step verbal math problems. The number of correct responses and the number of minutes taken to complete each test were recorded on graphs. Visual analysis of the data indicated that this eight-step cognitive strategy appeared to be an effective intervention for this sample of students who had deficits in verbal math problem solving. Overall, the students demonstrated improved performance on two-step verbal math problems with four of the six students generalizing the use of the strategy to three-step problems. Four students maintained improved performance over a two-week lapse in instruction and practice. Substantial increases were noted for the amount of time required to complete the verbal math problem solving tests immediately following strategy acquisition training. Completion time rapidly stabilized to an acceptable level. This study has implications for an alternative teaching methodology that focuses on cognitive strategy training to improve verbal math problem solving for learning disabled youngsters. Future research could offer evidence of the applicability of cognitive strategy training to other populations and further delineate the characteristics of students who do and do not benefit from cognitive strategy intervention.