An evaluation of interactive tabletops in elementary mathematics education

This research examined the effect that a relatively new Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) device, specifically an interactive tabletop, has on elementary students’ attitudes toward collaborative technologies, mathematical achievement, and the gender gap in mathematics. Prior research has shown many positive effects of CSCL technologies on mathematics education, such as increased math performance and an increased interest in math. Further, previous research has shown inconsistent results regarding gender differences in mathematics and has not examined the effect that CSCL technology has on the gender gap. Therefore, the effects of interactive tabletops on math performance, attitudes, and gender differences were examined. This study was conducted using a sample of 53 elementary students. The technology was brought to the classroom twice each week for an entire academic semester. To obtain a more accurate understanding of the influence of the CSCL technology, both self-report data and performance data were collected. Specifically, changes in students’ attitudes and reactions and changes in cognitive learning were measured. The results show that students learn and react favorably towards interactive tabletops. Implications for future research are discussed.     

八年级学生数学认知水平的性别差异

学习成就的性别差异是国际教育界的关注点之一.数学认知水平的测试调查、比较表明:初二学生在总成绩上男、女生的差异不显著,但女生在分水平(计算、概念、领会、分析)上的表现几乎都呈现略比男生差的现象;访谈的结果也加强了这一观念.     

Special education and subject teachers’ self‐perceived readiness to teach mathematics to low‐performing middle school students

Educational reforms during the last decade have led to a more inclusive environment for students with different needs and have placed demands on teachers’ readiness to instruct diverse students in the general classroom. Previous research has ascertained that student achievement is correlated with teacher quality and teachers’ efficacy beliefs. Today, basic competence in mathematics is more important than ever for managing routine day‐to‐day activities and therefore, identifying and educationally supporting students with low performance in mathematics is necessary. The aim of the study was to investigate the perceived teacher efficacy beliefs of special education and mathematics teachers when teaching mathematics to low‐performing middle school students. Results indicated that special education teachers had higher teacher efficacy beliefs than mathematics teachers. Teacher experience, certification or gender had no effect on teachers’ efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, subject teachers reported high pedagogical knowledge for teaching low‐performing students, and special education teachers reported having moderate mathematical subject knowledge.     

Self-efficacy,mathematics’ anxiety and perceived importance: an empirical study with Portuguese engineering students

The accomplishment in mathematics has gained attention from educators and arises as an emerging field of study, including in engineering education. However, in Portugal, there is still incipient research in the area; so it is high time to explore factors that might enlighten the gap in the study of the relationship between Portuguese engineering students and the learning of mathematics. The main purpose of this study is to explore three factors identified in the literature as influencing the learning of mathematical concepts – self-efficacy, anxiety towards mathematics and perceived importance of mathematics – and search for differences by gender and by type of engineering course, a dimension not much reported in the literature but which was revealed as important in the team's previous research. Based on a sample of 140 undergraduate students of different engineering courses from University of Minho, results only identify differences in the type of course and not in gender. These results constitute a contribution and open new paths for future research in the engineering education.     

Modelling of factors influencing gender difference in mathematics achievement using TIMSS 2011 data for Singaporean eighth grade students

Numerous studies have attributed gender difference in mathematics achievement to various sociocultural influences. Singapore is a country of higher gender equality as represented in the Global Gender Gap Index and Singaporean girls perform as well or higher than boys in international mathematics assessments. This study develops a conceptual model to examine the relationship and effects of parental involvement in education, teacher efficacy, and students’ attitudes towards mathematics on mathematics achievement for Singaporean eighth grade students using Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 data. The study finds that there is no significant gender difference in parental involvement in education and teacher efficacy and there is no gender difference in the attitude of like learning mathematics among Singaporean eighth grade students. The attitude of confidence in mathematics has positive and significant effect on mathematics achievement and the effect is greater for girls than boys. Parental involvement in education and teacher efficacy were found to have greater effect on girls’ confidence in mathematics than on boys’. As such, increasing involvement in mathematics education and providing positive reinforcement to raise girls’ self-confidence in mathematics by parents and teachers should be an integral part of any initiative to reduce gender gap in mathematics achievement.     

The Influence of Culture on Students’ Mathematics Achievement Across 51 Countries

The results of international large-scale assessments have shown that countries vary considerably in their mathematics performance. Culture has been suggested as a possible cause for the national difference, but insufficient empirical research has been conducted to investigate the effect of culture on mathematics achievement. Based on Hofstede’s conceptualization of culture, the present study examined the relationship between national culture and students’ mathematics achievement by analyzing data from 51 countries using two-level hierarchical linear modeling. The results showed that national culture played an important role in shaping mathematic achievement. It accounted for 23.89% of the country differences in mathematics performance after controlling for student gender, family socioeconomic status, and national GDP per capita. One cultural dimension “long-term orientation” had a strong positive association with mathematics achievement. The implication of the findings is discussed, followed by a discussion of issues regarding employing culture dimensions theory in mathematics education.     

Protagonist gender as a design variable in adapting mathematics story problems to learner interests

Junior-high students solved mathematics story problems featuring a male protagonist, a female protagonist, or both. A total of 252 eighth-graders from a rural school and a suburban school participated. Females and especially males strongly preferred own-gender over opposite-gender protagonists. Female performance exceeded male performance overall, regardless of protagonist gender. For the rural sample only, and more so for high-ability than low-ability students, performance was higher for those who received preferred-protagonist problems. Problem-solving performance was strongly related to standardized mathematics achievement scores, but was not significantly related to race or socioeconomic status. The implications of the findings for using preferred contexts as a basis for instructional adaptation in mathematics education are discussed.     

Test anxiety in mathematics among early undergraduate students in a British university in Malaysia

The level of test anxiety in mathematics subjects among early undergraduate students at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus is studied in this article. The sample consists of 206 students taking several mathematics modules who completed the questionnaires on test anxiety just before they entered the venue for midterm examinations. The sample data include the differences in the context of academic levels, gender groups and nationality backgrounds. The level of test anxiety in mathematics is measured using seven Likert questionnaire statements adapted from the Test Anxiety Inventory describing one's emotional feeling before the start of an examination. In general, the result shows that the students who had a lower score expectation were more anxious than those who had a higher score expectation, but that they obtained a better score than the expected score. In the context of academic levels, gender groups and nationality backgrounds, there were no significant correlations between the level of test anxiety and the students’ academic performance. The effect size of the correlation values ranged from extremely small to moderate.     

An analysis of Differential Item Functioning on INVALSI tests,designed to explore gender gap in mathematical tasks

This study presents a quantitative approach based on Differential Item Functioning analysis within the Item Response Theory framework, to quantify gender differences in tackling specific mathematical items. We use this approach to explore two crucial topics in mathematics education (misconceptions in decimal numbers, and estimation) by analysing answers given by Italian students to specific mathematical items taken from a sample of 1400 items administered in INVALSI tests since 2008. For each item, we have a sample of 30,000 students per year, statistically representative of the entire Italian student population. The results section presents a didactic interpretation of the statistical evidence and shows how interdisciplinarity between statistics and mathematics education, with a mixed-method approach (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004), represents a good approach to exploring the gender gap in relation to specific constructs of math education. This approach, common in many disciplines, can also make an interesting contribution to mathematics education research.     

Interpreting unproblematic high achievement in mathematics: towards theoretical reflexivity

This article contributes to the long-running discussion about the gendering of mathematics learning by exploring the social biographies of six exceptionally high-attaining mathematics students, four women and two men. In contrast to some prior studies, these students appeared to feel no need to downplay being ‘good at maths’ in order to maintain social credibility with their socially privileged peers. I attempt to make sense of their stories from two theoretical standpoints: (1) a post-structuralist approach that emphasises discourses that position mathematics as masculine and (2) an approach, based on Bourdieu, that asks how mathematics is valued in different school and peer group settings. I show how, as I worked with the data, my emphasis moved from the former to the latter, and suggest that research in gender and education has much to gain from theoretical reflexivity alongside personal and methodological reflexivity.     

National Assessment of New Standards for Mathematics in Elementary Education in Flanders

A baseline assessment of the new curriculum standards of mathematics for elementary education in Flanders is presented and discussed. A total of 24 measurement scales, each representing a cluster of standards, covered the whole mathematics curriculum. A total of 5,763 6th-grade students participated in the study. Performance on each scale was summarized by estimating the proportion of students who were nonmasters, intermediate, and good masters. Overall, the more innovative curriculum standards were mastered worse. Few gender differences in performance were observed.     

Mathematics and science inequalities in the United Kingdom: when elitism,sexism and culture collide

An examination of gender, social class and ethnicity performance and participation patterns in different UK countries shows that inequities occur in relation to gender, class and ethnicity but that the patterns of inequity look quite different in the three domains. Achievement is equal for different genders but many more males take mathematics forward to advanced levels; social class differences persist in both achievement and participation; and ethnicity shows a varied pattern with some groups performing and participating at particularly high levels and some particularly low. This paper identifies some critical issues that we face in making mathematics and science equitable and begins to analyse some of the barriers that stand in the way of students who are female, and from some ethnic and social groups.     

中国小学生解决国外数学试题分析

通过中国小学生解决国外数学试题的分析 ,探讨中国基础教育现状 ,为数学教学改革提供实证研究基础。我们从国外数学测试中筛选、改编了一套小学五年级数学试卷 ,在全国九个省、市做了测验。结果显示 ,中国学生在考察基础知识的项目中表现出色 ;但在考察利用已有的生活经验解决问题的项目中 ,存在着相当的问题。因此 ,中国数学教育在重视基础知识的同时 ,应该引导学生有意义地理解数学、灵活自主地选择数学方法解决问题。     

初中生集合概念发展特点的研究

初中生集合概念的发展水平特点主要表现为:初中3个年级学生集合概念的发展并非是上升的趋势,而是在初二有所下降;性别差异不显著;虽然年级、学校单独作用,或者是性别与年级交互作用时,对学生集合概念的发展具有显著影响.采用多重比较分析进行年级间的差异检验结果表明,只在初二与初三之间存在显著差异(P<0.05),初一与初二之间不存在显著差异;学生所受教育的质量,直接影响初中生集合概念的发展状况.     

Effectiveness of bilingual education in Cambodia: a longitudinal comparative case study of ethnic minority children in bilingual and monolingual schools

There is little research in the developing countries of South East Asia on the effectiveness of bilingual education programmes that use first language instruction for ethnic minority children. This study investigated the effectiveness of a bilingual education programme involving ethnic minority children in Cambodia by comparing their performance in mathematics, Khmer literacy and oral Khmer to their ethnic minority peers whose education is in the national language only. The findings show that students in the bilingual schools performed better in mathematics than their peers in the monolingual schools, but the differences in Khmer literacy and oral Khmer test scores were statistically insignificant. The study suggests that bilingual education using first language instruction could benefit academic development among ethnic minority students in Cambodia, at least in terms of mathematics achievement.     

Got math attitude? (In)direct effects of student mathematics attitudes on intentions,behavioral engagement,and mathematics performance in the U.S. PISA

Academic performance is predicted by a multitude of demographic, contextual, cognitive, and noncognitive factors. The noncognitive factors predicting achievement in mathematics that have previously been investigated in depth are study skills, confidence, self-efficacy, and personality traits (Kyllonen, 2012). Limited applied research has explored the predictive value of attitudes and beliefs in mathematics achievement using representative data of U.S. students. The current study uses the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explain high school students’ performance in mathematics in large-scale assessment data by using the PISA 2012. Along with key demographic factors, results indicated that students’ attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control beliefs explained 21.1% of the variability in intentions to pursue and major in mathematics in the future, 59.4% of the variability in behavioral engagement with mathematics learning, and 30.7% of the variability in mathematics performance.The study results have implications on: (1) the applicability of an attitude-behavior framework in educational research for understanding academic performance, (2) the importance of perceived control and self-efficacy beliefs for predicting behavioral engagement in mathematics (e.g., paying attention in class, completing homework, studying for exams) and subsequent mathematics performance, and (3) the practical significance of students’ attitude towards mathematics on their intentions to pursue mathematics coursework in post-secondary education and possess math-relevant career aspirations.     

Modeling achievement in mathematics: the role of learner and learning environment characteristics

This study examined a structural model of mathematics achievement among Druze 8th graders in Israel. The model integrates 2 psychosocial theories: goal theory and social learning theory. Variables in the model included gender, father's and mother's education, classroom mastery and performance goal orientation, mathematics self-efficacy and self-regulated learning, mastery and performance goals, and mathematics achievement. Data on learner and learning environment variables and achievement in mathematics were collected from 273 boys and girls. Results indicate appropriate fit of the model for the entire sample. Invariance analysis across gender indicated that only 2 of the 11 path coefficients, mother's education on mathematics achievement and classroom mastery goal orientation on self-regulation, were not invariant across gender. The same pattern of relationships accounted for different amounts of variance in mathematics achievement for boys and girls.     

An awareness of epistemological assumptions: the case of gender studies

Perceptions of differences in the participation and achievement of girls and boys in school science and mathematics have given rise to considerable curriculum research and professional development. This research, and the practices arising from it, has aimed at increasing the participation of girls in ‘non‐traditional’ school subjects, with the ultimate goal of enhancing girls’ post‐school options. Mathematics and science have been seen as critical in this respect, particularly the higher levels of mathematics and the physical sciences.

This research and professional development have contributed to our understanding of the issues and have no doubt affected the post‐school options of some girls. However, there is also dissatisfaction at the lack of significant change that has flowed from this work. A more critical analysis is now emerging, leading to a deeper questioning of the assumptions that underlie research and development in the field. Ironically, at the same time there are reports that funding for research into aspects of gender issues is now taking an even lower profile than in recent years (Tisdall 1992).

This paper has emerged from debates relating to gender issues from the perspective of two teachers, one of science and the other of mathematics. The debates were precipitated by a move from work as school teachers to work in higher education, where there is an explicitly stated responsibility for research as well as teaching. The change in our labour served to highlight personal questions about the legitimation of different accounts of education in research, science and mathematics education and gender issues. It was in the process of grappling with the apparent plethora of research methods that we began to look at the epistemological assumptions of research into gender issues in science and mathematics education.

For us then, there are three major interrelated and overlapping areas of concern. One is related to the epistemological assumptions that pervade science and mathematics in schools. The second also concerns epistemological assumptions, those relating to educational research, particularly into gender issues. The third raises the ontological question of the conceptualization of gender within the research. We needed a conceptual framework to enable us to critique the normalization of the debates and uncover the problematics within each of these three concerns. At the same time, the framework had to allow an examination of the interrelatedness and continuities between them. It was the normalization and apparent consensus surrounding these issues that was disturbing for us. This we recognized as a depoliticization of social institutions which are essentially political. It was against this background, and in acknowledgement of some feminist critiques (Fraser 1989), that we use a framework developed by Habermas (1972), which recognizes the political dynamic of epistemological positions, and allows us to make explicit the politics of educational research.

Our starting point, in this paper, is Habermas's work. We outline the three ‘knowledge‐constitutive’ interests of this schema, and describe their implications for education. We then explore the dominant perspective within science and mathematics education. Having described this context, we examine the gender research with particular attention to the conceptualization of gender. With reference to Habermas's framework the epistemological and ontological assumptions of this research are explored, and the possibilities and limitations are discussed. This is used to examine the epistemological basis of different research methodologies.

We contend that there is a relationship between the scientific paradigm, the organization of education and the framing of research. Further this relationship has constituted the field of research about gender and science and mathematics and limited its potential for explanation.     

Teaching strategies and differential effectiveness across learning contexts: Evidence from PISA 2012

Modern educational theories emphasise effectiveness enhancing factors at the classroom level and differential effectiveness for sub-groups of students and across different learning contexts. Theoretical developments, however, are generally based on national evidence and have been criticised for lacking cross-cultural perspectives. This study used PISA 2012 data to examine how subject-specific teaching strategies related to mathematics performance of students across education systems whilst considering curvilinear associations and interactions with the socio-economic and instructional context. The results provide consistent evidence of a positive curvilinear relationship between cognitive activation strategies and mathematics performance. The association tends to be stronger in schools with a positive disciplinary climate and for students from advantaged socio-economic backgrounds, but not in every education system. Teacher-directed strategies are positively related to mathematics performance, but the association tends to become negative for high levels of teacher-directed instruction. Associations of student-oriented strategies with mathematics performance are inconsistent. The cross-national evidence contributes to the knowledge base of educational theory.