Does Time Matter in Improving Mathematical Discussions? The Influence of Mathematical Autonomy

Facilitating students’ transition from less to more mathematically productive engagement in discussions is an important area of investigation. Research on mathematical whole-class discussions has consistently identified facilitating students' mathematical autonomy as a central component of this transition. Additionally, research commonly infers such transitions take time to manifest. The present study examined students' perceived mathematical autonomy and perceived engagement in mathematical discussions over a half year of school. Using hierarchical linear growth-curve modeling, the authors found that although it may take time for students to transition into more mathematically productive engagement in discussions, it may be the development of their mathematical autonomy, rather than mere exposure over time, that facilitates this transition.     

Gender and Performance in Mathematical Tasks: Does the Context Make a Difference?

This study investigates how the context of mathematical tasks affects the performance of young children (ages 5–11). Subjects were 523 children from age 5 to 11. Three contexts of mathematical tasks (stereotypically boys’ contexts, stereotypically girls’ contexts and neutral contexts) are examined in three age groups (young, medium, and old). Boys’ and girls’ mean scores were compared for each age group in each of the three contexts. The data show that girls’ performance is affected by the context of the task while boys’ performance is not. The comparison between boys and girls in the three different contexts showed that in neutral contexts, the scores of boys and girls are similar. In (stereotypically) boys’ contexts, however, boys score significantly higher than girls. In (stereotypically) girls’ contexts, a significant interaction is found between age and gender, showing that the way girls are affected by such contexts depends on their age. The implications of these findings for gender-fair mathematics learning are discussed.     

Analyzing Mathematical Tasks: A Catalyst for Change?

In this study we investigate a strategy for engaging high school mathematics teachers in an initial examination of their teaching in a way that is non-threatening and at the same time effectively supports the development of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge [Shulman (1986). Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14]. Based on the work undertaken by the QUASAR project with middle school mathematics teachers, we engaged a group of seven high school mathematics teachers in learning about the Levels of Cognitive Demand, a set of criteria that can be used to examine mathematical tasks critically. Using qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, we sought to understand how focusing the teachers on critically examining mathematical tasks influenced their thinking about the nature of mathematical tasks as well as their choice of tasks to use in their classrooms. Our research indicates that the teachers showed growth in the ways that they consider tasks, and that some of the teachers changed their patterns of task choice. Further, this study provides a new research instrument for measuring teachers’ growth in pedagogical content knowledge. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 2002.     

“Authentic Tasks” and “Extreme Tasks”: Potential Approaches to Overcoming Incorrect Responses in Conservation Tasks

This study begins the task of mapping out two approaches that may be helpful in overcoming incorrect responses to conservation tasks, focusing on the non-conserved quantity. The incorrect responses, which were the result of over-generalizations of conservation, and gradually increased with age despite formal knowledge and minor perceptual input, were explained as being consistent with the intuitive rule “same A–same B.” The following paper presents initial findings, involving 60 students (5th, 7th, 9th grade), who were presented with “authentic tasks” and 40 9th grade students who were presented with “extreme tasks.” As data show, in both “authentic tasks” and extreme tasks, the percentage of participants’ correct responses was higher compared to students’ responses to formal analogue tasks, although there was no difference in participants’ declarative judgments. Indeed, further research is needed to improve students’ responses and judgments not only in analogous and everyday tasks but also on how learning tasks can be designed, and to understand the observed gap between the students’ performance and their declarative knowledge.     

Student Learning Groups: Does Group Composition Matter?

There has been a shift in university teaching over the past decades to emphasize student achievement and persistence through high-impact practices and collaborative learning. While research supports the efficacy of these pedagogical strategies, it can be difficult to implement them on large campuses. Yet, many criminal justice professors assign students to work in small groups. This study, conducted at a university with a large underrepresented student population, found that the composition of student groups in one criminal justice class can affect the perceived benefits students receive in that class, in other classes, and in general. We found that students placed in a small group with classmates who shared some criminal justice classes reported more student-initiated collaborative learning, expanded support networks, and improved grades in shared courses compared to students in small groups with classmates who shared no classes. This simple intervention has the potential to mimic learning-communities with similar benefits.     

Racial Identity From Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Does Prior Neighborhood Experience Matter?

This study examined the influence of earlier neighborhood experiences on trajectories of racial centrality and regard among Black youth. Data were drawn from a sample of Black 11‐ to 14‐year‐old youth (N = 718) in the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study, a data set that permits the examination of structural and subjective neighborhood influences. Results suggest that centrality increases, whereas public regard remains relatively stable, across the transition to adulthood. Seventh graders who resided in neighborhoods in which adults were less willing to intervene or respond to problematic situations reported lower public regard in 11th grade. In addition, the trajectory of private regard varied according to the types of neighborhoods youth experienced in early adolescence.     

Comparability within Computer-Based Assessment: Does Screen Size Matter?

Due to increased use of computer-based assessments, comparability studies are moving beyond paper-and-pencil versus computer-based assessments to analyze variances with computers. It is therefore practically important to determine whether screen size and definition of the device affect students’ performance. Using data from a large school district giving tests on either Macs with large, high-definition screens or Chromebooks with standard 14-inch screens, this study compared assessment results between devices by grade, subject, and item type. Results showed no significant evidence supporting a large and high-definition screen’s positive impact on students’ performance. Likewise, there was no relationship between the impact of screen size and grade level as well as item types. Limitations and future studies were discussed.     

Student Death Penalty Attitudes: Does New Information Matter?

This study examines the effects of information about the death penalty on the attitudes of university students. Using an experimental design and a stratified cluster sampling procedure, this study addresses some of the limitations of previous research. Changes in death penalty attitudes at post-test were modest; however, it was also found that the degree of attitude change at post-test did not differ significantly between the experimental and control groups. The results of this study, in conjunction with the findings of previous studies of this nature, indicate that, while students tend to have limited knowledge of the death penalty, exposure to new information about it may not be sufficient to elicit change in their attitudes about the punishment.     

Does Adolescents' Disclosure to Their Parents Matter for Their Academic Adjustment?

The role of adolescents' disclosure to their parents in their academic adjustment was examined in a study of 825 American and Chinese adolescents (mean age = 12.73 years). Four times over the seventh and eighth grades, adolescents reported on their spontaneous disclosure of everyday activities to their parents, the quality of their relationships with their parents, and their parents' autonomy support and control. Information about multiple dimensions of adolescents' academic adjustment (e.g., learning strategies, autonomous vs. controlled motivation, and grades) was also obtained. Both American and Chinese adolescents' disclosure predicted their enhanced academic adjustment over time. However, when American adolescents disclosed in a negative context (e.g., a poor parent–child relationship or controlling parenting), their autonomous (vs. controlled) motivation was undermined.     

Executive Compensation in Public Higher Education: Does Performance Matter?

Executive evaluation and compensation are central to organizational accountability and governance. Driven by increasing public demand on justifications and accountability for substantial salary increases for public university presidents, this paper is intended to shed light on the linkage between performance and executive compensation in public universities by examining the determinants of university presidents’ pay from 2004/2005 to 2008/2009 academic years. The central question is whether presidential compensation is related to a wide array of newly developed university performance measures or is independent of performance, i.e., university presidents are paid like bureaucrats in line with the widely supported conclusion in Jensen and Murphy (1990b) suggesting corporate CEOs are really paid like bureaucrats. Methodologically, Arellano–Bond dynamic panel model is applied to control for serial autocorrelation in the compensation data, i.e., university presidents’ pay in the current period is dependent to a great extent on that in the prior period. With extensive individual, institutional, and performance characteristics examined, it is concluded that performance related variables play a very limited role in determining public university presidents’ executive remuneration, when temporal autocorrelation is properly controlled, and presidential pay is strongly and persistently associated over time. The statistically insignificant pay-performance relationship together with the temporally persistent increases of presidential compensation may provide initial evidence supporting that public university presidents are paid like bureaucrats.     

Teachers Avoiding Learners' Avoidance: Is it Possible?

Dealing with learners who prefer to take the back seat and avoid classroom participation can be every teacher's nightmare. This lack of participation may cause teacher frustration, and possibly the only way to reduce this lack of participation is to access the concept of avoidance strategy. Avoidance strategy is the abandonment of a classroom task by learners due to causes such as the task difficulty, topical knowledge, shyness, anxiety, face-saving, fear of negative evaluation, and peer pressure. This article provides an enhanced understanding of the notion of avoidance strategy, presents factors resulting in avoidance behavior, and offers strategies teachers can employ to reduce student use of avoidance behaviors. Reducing student anxiety, motivating learners, teacher support, group work, and pushing toward production are among the possible paths that may help reduce avoidance strategy use in the classrooms.     

Student Graduation in Spain: To What Extent Does University Expenditure Matter?

Graduation rates (GRs) remain one of the most frequently applied measures of institutional performance. This paper analyzes the relationship between university characteristics and GRs in Spain, using a dataset for the entire public university system over the period 1998–2008. Since we observe the same university over several years, we address the problem of institutional unobserved heterogeneity for the first time. The main findings that can be drawn from our results are that university features, such as expenditure, student–teacher ratio and financial-aid to students are important in accounting for GRs. Surprisingly, student ability has no significant impact explaining graduation, a result that can be justified given the features of the Spanish university system.     

Solving arithmetic problems in first and second language: Does the language context matter?

Learning mathematics in a second language is a challenge for many learners. The purpose of the study was to provide new insights into the role of the language context in mathematic learning and more particularly arithmetic problem solving. We investigated this question in a German–French bilingual educational setting in Luxembourg. Participants with increasing bilingual proficiency levels were invited to solve additions in both their first and second instruction languages: German and French. Arithmetic problems were presented in two different conditions: preceded by a semantic judgment or without additional language context. In the French session we observed that additions were systematically performed faster in the condition with an additional language context. In contrast no effect of the context was observed in the German session. In conclusion, providing a language context enhanced arithmetic performances in bilinguals' second instruction language. This finding entails implications for designing optimal mathematic learning environments in multilingual educational settings.     

Care or Control?: Defining Learners' Needs for Lifelong Learning

Concerns about non-participation in lifelong learning may indicate an emerging moral authoritarianism arising from pessimism about the future. Low expectations of potential for social progress, human agency and learners' motivation to take part in formal learning, exacerbate moves towards a 'minimalist pedagogy' regulated by government agencies and encourages the idea that lifelong learning should be compulsory for adults 'at risk'.     

Does Merit Aid Program Design Matter? A Cross-Cohort Analysis

Twenty-one US states currently offer some form of merit-based postsecondary financial aid, although the generosity and eligibility requirements of merit aid programs varies from state to state. This article uses nationally representative data from high school students in the early 1990s and the early 2000s to evaluate the relationship between the design of merit aid programs and their effects on student achievement and college trajectories. The findings suggest that programs that guarantee full tuition to recipients have greater effects on students’ high school course-taking and college choice than less generous programs. Further, I find provisional evidence to suggest that programs with relatively simple merit-based eligibility requirements are more effective than programs with more complex means-tested eligibility requirements.     

Does Teacher Education Matter? An Analysis of Relations to Knowledge among Norwegian and Finnish Novice Teachers

This article examines relations to knowledge among novice teachers educated in a research-based program in Finland and a general professional program in Norway. The curricula of the 2 programs differ in distinct ways with regard to selection and organization of knowledge. We ask whether such differences also play out in the relations to knowledge of the 2 groups of teachers. Bernstein's concepts of knowledge discourses, classification, and framing are employed to analyze in-depth interviews with 12 teachers. The analysis revealed many similarities on the surface, but a closer examination of the teachers' use of professional language revealed significant differences. The Finnish teachers used more specialized language to frame their conceptions, and their knowledge relations reflected a stronger classification and framing than those of the Norwegian teachers. We discuss how these differences may be related to their educational programs, and the possible implications for the teachers' professional identities.