Young Students’Informal Statistical Knowledge

This article reports some results of an informal study of very young children's reactions to some visual displays of data.     

Getting at the Mathematics: Sara’s Journal

In this paper, we discuss issues in planning and conducting research into mathematics learning. We emphasize two central themes: (a) the learners mathematics (especially the issues and ideas, in given problem situations, that learners choose to think about and to present) and (b) the kinds of knowledge that learners may be building (including their ideas about what mathematics is, and how people do, learn, use, communicate and understand it). While the first theme is at least partly mathematical, the second interweaves cognition and epistemology. Anchored in student data from an extended classroom teaching experiment in the mathematics of change, we focus on key choices needed to build narratives to help researchers capture, in detail, how students engage with mathematics in extended problem explorations.     

Open-Skilled Sport,Sport Intensity,Executive Function,and Academic Achievement in Grade School Children

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: The present study examines connections among participation in open- and closed-skilled sports; the metabolic intensity of each sport; and executive function (EF), literacy, and math achievement in a sample of 3rd-grade children. Utilizing data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we categorized 15 youth sports (e.g., soccer, tennis, swimming, running track) as open or closed skilled and assigned them a metabolic intensity value. Results showed that the connection between sport intensity and EF was curvilinear, with a positive association between EF and sport intensity below 25 metabolic equivalents (METs) and a negative association with METs above 25. For math, results differed for the number of open-skilled sports and the intensity of a sport, with higher intensity associated with lower math scores and playing more open-skilled sports associated with higher math scores. Literacy skills were not significantly related to sport participation. Practice or Policy: The preschool years may offer a promising opportunity to encourage participation in both complex and intense physical activity. These findings highlight domain-specific connections among sports and EF and math achievement and offer insight into connections among sport intensity (METs), the type of sports children play, and cognitive development.     

The mind of a plagiarist

The ease with which material may be ‘copied and pasted’ from the Internet into written work is raising concern in educational institutions, and particularly in those disciplines that use online sources and methods in their curriculum. A case of ‘serial plagiarism’ is discussed, in the work of a graduate student in an online distance education program. The complexity of the student’s thinking is emphasized, and the manner in which the case was handled by the teacher and the university. The use of an online plagiarism‐checking technology (Turnitin.com) and the value of such services are discussed. The case illustrates the importance of explaining the precise nature of plagiarism to students, of providing clear warnings about its consequences and of developing a careful institutional approach to plagiarism detection and prevention.     

Exploring Visual Displays involving Beanie Baby Data

This article describes the learning experiences of young children meeting stem-and-leaf plots for the first time.     

Hearing Homer’s Scream Across Three Thousand Years

This article examines the challenges that faced two storytellers when developing an oral retelling of Homer’s Iliad for use with children aged 9–11. Drawing on evidence from two schools in a deprived area of London the discussion explores the extent to which the storytellers have been successful in creating a version of the story that is both faithful to the original in content and language, and accessible to the widest possible audience. Bob Lister is a lecturer in Education and Classics at the University of Cambridge, England. As Director of the Cambridge School Classics Project from 1996 to 2003, he was responsible for the development of a range of schoolbased resources on the ancient world, including War with Troy: The Story of Achilles. He has read Homer's Iliad and Odyssey with learners of all ages.     

Patterns and predictors of academic dishonesty in Romanian university students

Academic dishonesty in higher education is an increasingly visible problem throughout the world and in Romania in particular. A total of 1127 university students from six public Romanian universities were surveyed for their experiences and beliefs with 22 behaviors that might be considered academically dishonest. A five-factor solution to the frequencies of these behaviors was interpretable and accounted for more than half of the total variance. How acceptable students believed the behaviors were and how often students witnessed other students engage in these behaviors were consistent predictors of the frequency of the behaviors, with small to medium effect sizes. Demographic predictors of these behaviors, including gender, academic specialty, year in school, institution, grade average, and scholarship status, predicted very little variance in the behaviors. Implications and limitations of the study, as well as limitations of research in the field, are discussed.     

Responsiveness and Affective Processes in the Interactive Construction of Understanding in Mathematics

This paper reports on important learning processes emerging during adult mathematics classes that used a teaching approach compatible with a social constructivist theory of knowing. A cyclical teaching model encouraged much discussion about the mathematical problems presented to paired groups. Whole-class student-led sharing sessions allowed students to continue their interactive constitution of meaning and solutions.Comparisons of pre- and post-course scores on attitude and belief questionnaires indicated significant increases in positive attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and about themselves doing mathematics.The overall positive changes in scores on questionnaires are explained in terms of recurrent patterns in thinking inferred from data obtained by observation, interview, and reflective comments. Changes are explained in terms of the interactive effects of affective and heuristic processing during problem solving. Affective processes precipitated students' responsiveness, modifying the immediate learning context which, in turn, influenced the students' thinking, creating a snowballing effect on learning and affect. Changes were clearly facilitated by the interaction between students and by their shared understandings.