scholarly journals Promoting Exploratory Teaching in Mathematics: A Design Experiment on a CPD course for Teachers

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 905-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henna Heikkinen ◽  
Peter Hästö ◽  
Vuokko Kangas ◽  
Marko Leinonen
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Mathematical Thinking ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Mathematical Problem ◽  
Substantial Effect ◽  
Design Experiment ◽  
Exploratory Learning ◽  
High School Mathematics ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Main Research

In this paper we present a design experiment on a continued professional development (CPD) course for mathematics teachers. It consisted of three teaching cycles. Between them we analyzed the collected data in order to discover the factors affecting the course’s effectiveness and improve the next implementation. The general themes of the course, Introduction to Exploratory Learning in Mathematics, are teaching methods that promote active learning and exploratory learning environments. The course consists of one-day, on-site training and is aimed at elementary, middle and high school mathematics teachers. It is the first part of a larger CPD unit. We were especially motivated by the recent study of Stylianides & Stylianides (The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 33 (1), 8–29) who proposed that even a very short intervention can impact positively on mathematical problem solving (attitudes) in initial elementary teacher training. Our main research question is thus to replicate and expand on their study: Can we impact positively on in-service teachers’ mathematical thinking over the course of a one-day seminar? In this article we describe the goals and implementation of our one-day course, some observations made during the implementations and conclusions. We replicate the findings of Stylianides and Stylianides (2014) that their “blond hair problem” makes a great impression on the participants. However, we found that the intervention did not have a substantial effect, at least in the short term, on what were considered good problems to use in an exploratory setting.

scholarly journals TEACHERS EXPECTATION OF STUDENTS’ THINKING PROCESSES IN WRITTEN WORKS: A SURVEY OF TEACHERS’ READINESS IN MAKING THINKING VISIBLE

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-424
Author(s):  
Abdur Rahman As'ari ◽  
Dian Kurniati ◽  
Subanji Subanji
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Mathematical Thinking ◽  
Mathematical Problem ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Trial Data ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Thinking Processes

The trends of teaching mathematical thinking and the existence of two thinking skills (critical dan creative thinking) the required by 21st-century skills have created needs for teachers to know their students’ thinking processes. This study is intended to portray how mathematics teachers expect their students showing their thinking processes in students’ written work. The authors surveyed Whatsapp and Telegram group of mathematics teachers. First, the authors shared the result of the literature review and the governmental regulations about the need to develop thinking skills. Second, the authors stated that the potentials of students’ written works as a tool for knowing students’ thinking processes. Third, the authors sent a simple mathematical problem with the topic of algebra and asked the mathematics teachers how should their students answer that problem such that they can easily monitor and assess their students’ thinking processes. A total of 25 teachers participated voluntarily in this survey. Results of the survey were triangulated with direct trial data in lecture classes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The result indicates that participating mathematics teachers do not expect too much for their students to show their thinking processes in written work. Teacher’s focus is mostly on the accuracy and the correctness of their students’ mathematics answer.

Factors Affecting Counseling Services in Social Service Structures Providing Support to Women Who Are Victims of Violence: A Qualitative Research in Greece

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (21-22) ◽  
pp. 4741-4755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katerina Flora ◽  
Anthi Argyroudi
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Counseling Services ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Professional Counselors ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Victims Of Violence

This qualitative study examines the factors that affect counseling services in structures aimed to provide support to women who are victims of violence. What has created the need to investigate the above issues is the increase in events of violence against women in Greece, and the subsequent development of relevant support and accommodation structures. Despite the clinical experience accumulated, research data from Greece are incomplete. The main research question concerns the factors that affect counseling in violence counseling structures. The participants were 10 professional counselors employed in violence counseling structures. The research data were collected through semi-structured interviews and their analysis followed the interpretative phenomenological method. The results designate two main axes: the personal and that of the others. The main categories of factors on the “personal” axis highlighted the importance of prior as well as continuing training for the counselor’s work with the specific population; the crucial role of experience, which is characterized as dense and very rich; and the necessary presence of unfailing supervision. Regarding the axis of “the others,” the main categories that emerged are cooperation with colleagues—in the light of interdisciplinarity as well as support—and cooperation with the local authorities and the central responsible body, as an important determinant of the operation of the structure. The results are discussed on the basis of the factors’ importance and of possible implications for finding solutions.

scholarly journals A practice for using Geogebra of pre-service mathematics teachers’ mathematical thinking process

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-116
Author(s):  
Tuğba Hangül ◽  
Ozlem Cezikturk
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Mathematical Thinking ◽  
Mathematical Problem ◽  
Dynamic Geometry ◽  
Dynamic Geometry Software ◽  
Instructional Technologies ◽  
Geometric Concepts ◽  
Academic Year

We aim to examine the pre-service mathematics teachers' mathematical problem-solving processes by using dynamic geometry software and to determine their evaluations based on experiences in this process. The design is document analysis, one of the qualitative research approaches. In the fall semester of the 2019–2020 academic year, a three-problem task was carried out in a classroom environment where everyone could use geogebra individually. A total of 65 pre-service mathematics teachers enrolled in the course of educational technology. This task includes questions that they would use, their knowledge of basic geometric concepts to construct geometrical relations and evaluations related to this process. Besides the activity papers of the prospective teachers, geogebra files were also examined. The result is pre-service mathematics teachers who are thought to have a certain level of mathematical background are found to have incorrect/incomplete information even in the most basic geometric concepts and difficulties with regard to generalisation. Keywords: Dynamic geometry, geogebra, instructional technologies, mathematical thinking, teacher education.

Identifying Barriers to Integration of Technology into Traditional Approach of Teaching: A Case Study of Mathematics Teachers in Former Transkei in the Eastern Cape

10.31355/12 ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 063-071
Author(s):  
Agyei Fosu
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
High School Education ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
High School Mathematics ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Integration Of Technology ◽  
Teaching Of Mathematics

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED WITH THE INFORMING SCIENCE INSTITUTE. Aim/Purpose................................................................................................................................................................................................. The main aim of the study is to identify some of the barriers to the integration of technology into the teaching of mathematics in high schools. Background................................................................................................................................................................................................. Writing on chalkboards as a method of transferring knowledge is a key feature of traditional approach to teaching may have been successful in the past, but the minds of the current generation vary from those of the previous generation. Today’s students are immersed in technology. They are much more up-to-date on the latest technology and gadgets. Technology has certainly changed how students access and integrate information, so it plausible that technology has also changed the way students thinks. Growing up with cutting-edge technologies has left them thinking differently than students of past generations. This call for new innovative approaches to teaching that will cater to the students of today. Of course it is not wise to discard the traditional way of teaching that the past teachers have painstakingly created because of its past and some current success. This is why it is recommended to use this approach as a base for the new ones. Thus, if there is a way to transfer the advantages of this approach of teaching to new innovative approach then teachers should do everything in their power to merge the past and the present into one innovative teaching approach. Methodology................................................................................................................................................................................................. Purposeful sampling was used to survey a total of 116 high school mathematics teachers in the former Transkei Homelands. But only 97 questionnaires were deemed usable because of the way they have answered the questions. Microsoft excel was used in the descriptive statistics Contribution................................................................................................................................................................................................. To identify some barriers that need to be addressed by stakeholders, policy makers in high school education so that high school mathematics teachers will be able to integrate technology into their classroom teaching to meet today students’ learning needs. Findings...................................................................................................................................................................................................... The results indicated that the participating teachers need to be trained and supported in the use of the new technologies applicable to teaching mathematics. Recommendations for Practitioners.......................................................................................................................................................... The Eastern Cape department of education needs to consider the lacked of technology training as a barrier to the integration of technology into the teaching of mathematics and take necessary steps to address it. Recommendation for Researchers........................................................................................................................................................... There is the need to explore in depth whether the factors of gender and age also act as barriers. Impact on Society....................................................................................................................................................................................... The research will assist stakeholders, policy makers of high school education to identify the needs of mathematics teachers. That is to say, the skill sets, experience and expertise, as well as teaching equipment and classroom design and environment required by mathematics teachers. Future Research........................................................................................................................................................................................... More work needs to be done to check whether gender, age of the teachers have some effects on their attitude towards technology integration as well as evaluate the role played by choice of teaching methodology and teaching objectives.

INITIAL STEP OF SPECIALIZED CORPORA BUILDING: CLEANING PROCEDURES

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Yakubson ◽  
Victor Zakharov
Keyword(s):  
Text Processing ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Linguistic Annotation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Cleaning Procedures ◽  
Unique Source ◽  
Future Work

This paper deals with the specialized corpora building, specifically academic language corpus in the biotechnology field. Being a part of larger research devoted to creation and usage of specialized parallel corpus, this piece aims to analyze the initial step of corpus building. Our main research question was what procedures we need to implement to the texts before using them to develop the corpus. Analysis of previous research showed the significant quantity of papers devoted to corpora creation, including academic specialized corpora. Different sides of the process were analyzed in these researches, including the types of texts used, the principles of crawling, the recommended length of texts etc. As to the text processing for the needs of corpora creation, only the linguistic annotation issues were examined earlier. At the same time, the preliminary cleaning of texts before their usage in corpora may have significant influence on the corpus quality and its utility for the linguistic research. In this paper, we considered three small corpora derived from the same set of academic texts in the biotechnology field: “raw” corpus without any preliminary cleaning and two corpora with different level of cleaning. Using different Sketch Engine tools, we analyzed these corpora from the position of their future users, predominantly as sources for academic wordlists and specialized multi-word units. The conducted research showed very little difference between two cleaned corpora, meaning that only basic cleaning procedures such as removal of reference lists are can be useful in corpora design. At the same time, we found a significant difference between raw and cleaned corpora and argue that this difference can affect the quality of wordlists and multi-word terms extraction, therefore these cleaning procedures are meaningful. The main limitation of the study is that all texts were taken from the unique source, so the conclusions could be affected by this specific journal’s peculiarities. Therefore, the future work should be the verification of results on different text collections

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S APPROACH TO ENERGY SECURITY IN POLAND AND THE BALTIC STATES

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1/2020) ◽  
pp. 33-67
Author(s):  
Olga Stevanovic
Keyword(s):  
Energy Security ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Realist Theory ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Baltic

The subject of this paper encompasses US policy towards Poland and the Baltic States regarding energy security during Donald Trump’s presidency. It is discernible that vast domestic energy resources have created an opportunity for the US to project more power to these countries, and the surrounding region. We argue that Trump and his administration’s perceptions have served as an intervening variable in that opportunity assessment, in accordance with the neoclassical realist theory. The main research question addressed in this paper is whether US has used that opportunity to contribute to energy security in countries it has traditionally deemed as allies. Two aspects of US approach to energy security of the designated countries are taken into consideration: liquified natural gas exports and support for the Three Seas Initiative. The way Trump presented his policy and its results in his public statements has also been considered in this paper. The article will proceed as follows. The first subsection of the paper represents a summary of energy security challenges in Poland and the Baltic States. The second subsection is dedicated to the opportunity for the US to project energy power and to Trump’s perceptions relevant for the opportunity assessment. The third subsection deals with American LNG exports to these countries as a possible way for contributing to energy security in Poland and the Baltic States. The last part of the paper addresses the Three Seas Initiative and US approach to this platform.

scholarly journals Effects of exposure to immersive videos and photo slideshows of forest and urban environments

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fariba Mostajeran ◽  
Jessica Krzikawski ◽  
Frank Steinicke ◽  
Simone Kühn
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Jail Inmates ◽  
Forest Environment ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Hospital Patients

AbstractA large number of studies have demonstrated the benefits of natural environments on people’s health and well-being. For people who have limited access to nature (e.g., elderly in nursing homes, hospital patients, or jail inmates), virtual representations may provide an alternative to benefit from the illusion of a natural environment. For this purpose and in most previous studies, conventional photos of nature have been used. Immersive virtual reality (VR) environments, however, can induce a higher sense of presence compared to conventional photos. Whether this higher sense of presence leads to increased positive impacts of virtual nature exposure is the main research question of this study. Therefore, we compared exposure to a forest and an urban virtual environment in terms of their respective impact on mood, stress, physiological reactions, and cognition. The environments were presented via a head-mounted display as (1) conventional photo slideshows or (2) 360$$^{\circ }$$ ∘ videos. The results show that the forest environment had a positive effect on cognition and the urban environment disturbed mood regardless of the mode of presentation. In addition, photos of either urban or forest environment were both more effective in reducing physiological arousal compared to immersive 360$$^{\circ }$$ ∘ videos.

The Interplay Between Mathematical and Computational Thinking in Primary School Students’ Mathematical Problem-Solving Within a Programming Environment

2021 ◽  
pp. 073563312097993
Author(s):  
Zhihao Cui ◽  
Oi-Lam Ng
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Mathematical Thinking ◽  
Mathematics Learning ◽  
Mathematical Problem ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Programming Environment ◽  
Primary School Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
Mathematical Concepts ◽  
Block Based

In this paper, we explore the challenges experienced by a group of Primary 5 to 6 (age 12–14) students as they engaged in a series of problem-solving tasks through block-based programming. The challenges were analysed according to a taxonomy focusing on the presence of computational thinking (CT) elements in mathematics contexts: preparing problems, programming, create computational abstractions, as well as troubleshooting and debugging. Our results suggested that the challenges experienced by students were compounded by both having to learn the CT-based environment as well as to apply mathematical concepts and problem solving in that environment. Possible explanations for the observed challenges stemming from differences between CT and mathematical thinking are discussed in detail, along with suggestions towards improving the effectiveness of integrating CT into mathematics learning. This study provides evidence-based directions towards enriching mathematics education with computation.

Directionality of cross-linguistic influence: Which referring choices do bilingual Ukrainian–English children make?

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roksolana Mykhaylyk ◽  
Elinor Ytterstad
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Object Language ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Null Object ◽  
Significant Difference

Aims and research questions: This paper presents a new study addressing the issue of cross-linguistic influence in acquisition of referring expressions. The main research question is how to predict directionality of this influence in a dual language development. Methodology: The method is an elicited production task. We consider the phenomenon of direct object referring choices, i.e. noun, pronoun and null element, in a ‘null-object’–‘overt-object’ language pair (Ukrainian and English). Data and Analysis: Participants of the experiment are 4–6-year-old Ukrainian–English bilinguals (N20) and Ukrainian monolinguals (N21). The data are analyzed in the statistical program R, utilizing the R-library function lme4. The results are presented as odds ratios (ORs) of each direct object type. Findings: Our data reveal that while there is no significant difference in Ukrainian object types in most of the age groups, there is a considerable amount of null object usage in English at the ages of four to five. Originality: The innovative nature of this study lies in: (i) the consideration of a licit object omission at a later stage of language development (from 4 to 6 years of age); (ii) the examination of an under-investigated language combination (i.e. English and Ukrainian); and (iii) the innovative approach to linguistic data analysis (e.g. comparing OR values). Implications: Our findings suggest that the directionality of influence in dual language acquisition depends on the developmental stage, language-specific means of syntax–pragmatics interaction, and extra-linguistic input-related factors. At the early stages of development, the null-object language is likely to influence the overt-object language, especially under conditions of limited exposure to the latter.

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