Syftet med studien är att undersöka om och hur visuell gestaltning kan användas för att konkretisera, levandegöra och skapa sammanhang och mening i matematik. Utifrån ovanstående syfte har följande forskningsfråga formulerats: Hur beskriver en grupp lärarstudenter sitt lärande och sin förståelse för matematik när de arbetar med matematik genom tredimensionell gestaltning? I studien används en kvalitativ metod med en etnografiskt orienterad studie av ämnesövergripande arbete med laborationer i bils och matematik. Som empiri används observationer och skrivna reflektionstexter knutna till detta ämnesövergripande moment. Även ett kollektivt minnesarbete har genomförts inom kursen som innehåller det undersökta moment. Även ett kollektivt minnesarbetehar genomförts inom kursen som innehåller det undersökta momentet. Intryck fråndetta har gett bilder åt studenternas tidigare matematiska erfarenheter och relationer till matematiksom skolämne. Resultatet presenteras beskrivande i teman kopplade till lärande OM, I, MED och GENOM visuell gestaltning av matematik.

Language development involves the learning of multiple sets of equivalence relations. Research has shown that if certain conditional relations are directly taught for one member of a class of stimuli, then additional conditional relations often emerge for other members of that class, without direct training. There are currently very few studies which have demonstrated this research finding in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The research design used for the present experiment was a single-subject AB cross-over design replicated across five plus five children with ASD and five plus five typically developing children. The children with ASD and the typically developing children were matched on their level of vocabulary development. Participants were randomly assigned to either a teaching order Treatment A+B or a teaching order Treatment B+A. The first experimental treatment (Treatment A+B) involved teaching responses to S1 and S2 in the order Condition A followed by Condition B. The second experimental treatment (Treatment B+A) involved teaching responses to S1 and S2 in the order Condition B followed by Condition A. Condition A involved the teaching of AB and AC (hear-select) relations, and Condition B involved the teaching of BA and CA (see-say) relations. The participants in this study were taught stimulus-response relations that involved six names and numerical representations of quantities in the range 1 to 18. Tests for the emergence of symmetry and transitivity were then conducted. The relationships between the emergence of the untaught equivalence relations and teaching condition, the entering characteristics of the children, and trials to criterion were examined. The results of this study showed that five out of ten participants with ASD demonstrated the emergence of all of the untaught equivalence relations regardless of the treatment condition. The remaining five participants with ASD showed substantial variability. Of the children in the Typically Developing Group nine of the ten demonstrated emergence of all of the untaught equivalence relations. The variables that were most strongly correlated with the emergence of untaught equivalence relations were speed of acquisition of taught relations, functional academics scores, and the chronological age of the participants. The effect of communication ability, pre-academic numeracy skill level, and the experimental treatment (the teaching order conditions) were not strongly related to the emergence of untaught equivalence relations. These findings suggest that outcomes on tests for emergence may have been a function of children’s rate of development and prior learning history. The findings of the current study are best explained by Relational Frame Theory. The implications of these findings for teaching children with ASD and other developmental disabilities, and also teaching in general are discussed.

This study is an investigation into the relationship between numeric cognition and aging. Specifically, older and younger adults engaged in an experimental protocol that allowed observation of number comparison accuracy and response time latencies associated with the SNARC effect, the distance effect, and number format. The experimental protocol featured a computerized magnitude comparison task wherein the participants were prompted to identify the larger of two numbers. Half of the trials featured whole numbers and half featured fractions. The number stimuli were consistently mapped such that half of all trials were at near distance (i.e., difference of 2) or far distance (i.e., difference of 4) and half of all trials had the larger numerosity on the left side of space and the other half with the larger numerosity on the right side of space. Older adults were significantly slower and less accurate than young adults. Both age groups were significantly slower and less accurate when comparing fractions as opposed to comparing whole numbers. The SNARC effect impaired accuracy in both age groups but did not significantly impact response times. The distance effect impacted both age cohorts in accuracy but differentially impacted older adult response times more than young adult response times. The results of this study support the model of numeric cognition as an automatic process when comparing whole numbers at a far distance and this process is not disrupted by the SNARC effect but is when comparing whole numbers at near distance. The results also indicate that fraction comparison is a controlled process even when the fraction stimuli are consistently mapped. Further investigation is necessary to understand the amount of cognitive resources necessitated by fraction processing and if training can improve fraction comparison.

Numeracy is a cross-curricular priority, an intersystemic priority and, of late, a federal government priority. Yet as a priority "numeracy" is inadequately defined and the term is used to describe a wide-range of notions. Many educators are unsure of what constitutes numeracy, unaware of how it differs from mathematics, and uncertain as to how its demands may be met in their planning and teaching. Secondary schools have few models upon which to develop a whole-school numeracy plan. This study describes the journey of a secondary school staff as they developed a shared understanding of numeracy, identified the numeracy demands throughout the curriculum and planned for a whole-school approach to address these demands.

Thesis (MEd (Human Resource Studies))--University of South Australia,1997

Recent research into advanced breast cancer has suggested that young women in general tend to have more aggressive disease, present at a later stage of disease progression and suffer many more issues and concerns than their older counterparts. Whilst breast cancer in women in general has been the target of a vast amount of research and public attention, values and beliefs surrounding advanced breast cancer have not been a focus of concern. The aim of this thesis is to explore scientific journals, the media and to listen to the young women themselves in order to identify the understandings of advanced breast cancer in young women and the ways in which these understandings are perpetuated and sustained over time. The goal is to illuminate the various discourses that are currently being drawn upon to understand this life-limiting illness and the impact these discourses have on the lives of young women concerned. Poststructuralism is the theoretical perspective within which this thesis is located. This approach allowed for a focus on language, power and text. Discourse analysis of three data sets was used. These data sets were drawn from scientific and medical journals (251), medical texts (5), clinical practice guidelines (2), newspaper articles (230) and transcribed conversations with 12 young women diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. The main discourses identified within and across the various data sets were; the discourse of numeracy, the discourse of tragedy and several discourses of the body; the thin body, the declining body, the object body and the gendered body. While the emphasis of each of these discourses varied across the three data sets, they were all present in each to some degree, reflecting broader cultural stories within which the individual stories are located. Young women diagnosed and living with advanced breast cancer are currently being portrayed as living with a tragic disease, controlled and constrained by the statistics and probabilities and played out within and on a body in ‘perpetual disintegration’. The discourses of tragedy, numeracy and the thin, object, gendered and declining body all relate to larger stories of what it is to be dying before one’s time in Western society today.

Thesis (MA--Applied Language Studies) -- AUT University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (x, 123 leaves ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 374.012 HAS)

Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Most journalists readily acknowledge that they cannot be proud at all of their numeracy. The literature also depicts a rather bleak scenario regarding journalists' use and often misuse of numbers. This matter raises concerns especially in the present century, characterised by a rapid development in the area of science and technology. Numeracy is essential to make sense of those developments that are frequently explained by means of numbers or mathematical and statistical concepts.

Magister Educationis - MEd / Systemic evaluation undertaken by the Department of Basic Education as part of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy 2006 – 2016 posed a serious challenge in South African schools. The numeracy and mathematics results in 2009 stated that 35% of learners in Grade 3 achieved the required level of competence in Mathematics. This has, however, improved to 48.3% in 2010 but dropped to 47.6% in 2011. The development of early number concept in countries such as the Netherlands, Singapore and Helsinki has shown that early intervention is essential for reaching mathematical success in schooling. The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) integrates the three learning programmes: Literacy, Numeracy and Life Skills for Grade R into a daily programme of activities. Within this daily programme it specifies that 35% of each day must be used towards Numeracy. The Grade R method of teaching emphasizes the fact that teaching must take place informally but planned formally. The purpose of this study is to examine how early mathematics is taught in an integrated and informal setting to improve number concept. The theoretical framework underpinning this study is based on the constructivist views of Piaget and Vygotsky and how these theories lay the foundation for the development of number concept in Grade R. Number skills to develop number concept were identified in nine lessons to underpin the content area 1, Numbers, Operations and Relationships as determined by the Grade R Mathematics Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). The methodology employed to answer the research question were video-recordings, observations and interviews. The findings identified number skills such as emergent number concepts: distinguishing numerosity, imitating resultative counting and symbolizing by using fingers as well as growing number concepts: discovering different meanings of numbers, oral counting, one- to- one correspondence, rote counting, perceptual subitising, resultative counting, representing and symbolizing numbers, ordinality, place value, emergent object-based counting and calculating and golden moments. The discussion of the findings focused on the CAPS content area and how these number skills were used to achieve the demands of the content area 1. The major findings of this study presented a case of the utilization of number skills to achieve the development of number concept in Grade R, how mathematics should be made fun, and how incidental learning, “golden moments” can be used to introduce key mathematical concepts informally. This study has implications for teachers of Grade R and for the training of pre-service Grade R teachers at tertiary level.

xv, 178 p. : ill. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call number: KNIGHT HM1101 .D54 2007 / The main goal of many political and intelligence forecasts is to effectively communicate risk information to decision makers (i.e. consumers). Standard reporting most often consists of a narrative discussion of relevant evidence concerning a threat, and rarely involves numerical estimates of uncertainty (e.g. a 5% chance). It is argued that numerical estimates of uncertainty will lead to more accurate representations of risk and improved decision making on the part of intelligence consumers. Little work has focused on how well consumers understand and use forecasts that include numerical estimates of uncertainty. Participants were presented with simulated intelligence forecasts describing potential terrorist attacks. These forecasts consisted of a narrative summary of the evidence related to the attack and numerical estimates of likelihood and potential harm. The primary goals were to explore how the structure of the narrative summary, the format of likelihood information, and the numerical ability (numeracy) of consumers affected perceptions of intelligence forecasts. Consumers perceived forecasts with numerical estimates of likelihood and potential harm as more useful than forecasts with only a narrative evidence summary. However, consumer's risk and likelihood perceptions were more greatly affected by the narrative evidence summary than the stated likelihood information. These results show that even "precise" numerical estimates of likelihood are not necessarily evaluable by consumers and that perceptions of likelihood are affected by supporting narrative information. Numeracy also moderated the effects of stated likelihood and the narrative evidence summary. Consumers higher in numeracy were more likely to use the stated likelihood information and consumers lower in numeracy were more likely to use the narrative evidence to inform their judgments. The moderating effect of likelihood format and consumer's perceptions of forecasts in hindsight are also explored. Explicit estimates of uncertainty are not necessarily useful to all intelligence consumers, particularly when presented with supporting narrative evidence. How consumers respond to intelligence forecasts depends on the structure of any supporting narrative information, the format of the explicit uncertainty information, and the numerical ability of the individual consumer. Forecasters should be sensitive to these three issues when presenting forecasts to consumers. / Adviser: Paul Slovic