For effective educational reform, a teacher must be aware of students' views of their role in the classroom culture, and only then may a teacher assist students to become aware of their own prejudices and resistance to change in the classroom structure. This paper discusses a study that investigated the changing student role, particularly from the…

This case study investigates an experienced secondary school mathematics teacher's understanding of mathematics ("her" math) and decisions she makes about her students' classroom experiences ("their" math). This report focuses on the competing roles of the teacher's growing understanding of novel technology-rich mathematics and her decisions about…

Basic algebra at Robert Morris College (RMC) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a remedial course for students with virtually no algebra background, and for students whose previous experiences with algebra have created math blocks and math anxiety. A study was conducted in an effort to measure quantitatively the benefits of using linguistic methods…

To better understand the effect of student background, work load, and attitudes on performance in intermediate algebra, a study was conducted in summer 1990 among students at a central Texas community college using pre- and post-course questionnaires completed by 124 of 157 students in 8 sections of intermediate algebra. Respondents were…

The purpose of this study was to examine the discourse in two different group-work contexts in a diverse Algebra 1 class to better understand what and how students working in small groups learn through talking about mathematics. The researcher gathered data in four categories: participant observation, interviews, collection of artifacts, and…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in math achievement of students taught in an interactive television (ITV) class setting with the instructor present (host site), students receiving instruction via television at an off-campus location (remote site), and students taught in a traditional classroom setting. The…

Reports the results of a teaching experiment involving like terms and equations in algebra. Seventh-grade students (n=6) experienced difficulties in decomposing an additive term into a difference. (Author/MKR)

Discussed are the philosophy and procedures behind the introduction of algebra to students in grade 7 in Australia. Included are the importance of concrete experiences, language development, and the consequences involved in this procedure. (CW)

In fall 1996, California's Saddleback Community College began enforcing a prerequisite mathematics course for the college's Algebra (Math 8), Statistics (Math 10), and Trigonometry (Math 124) series. The 11 memoranda collected in this report present results from a study of the effects of enforcing the prerequisite on successful completion of the…

This study sought to provide an explanation of (n=13) university students' understanding of the concept of linear inequality as presented in a problem-solving setting. In the course of the analysis of the data, the transition from arithmetic to algebra emerged as a critical issue. Therefore, the study examines the differences in the…

How the self-explanation process relates to learning and subsequent problem-solving performance was studied in two experiments with college students to examine whether students taught to self-explain during a study phase show greater test gains than control group counterparts; this is an attempt to replicate the results of M. T. H. Chi and others.…

Observations focusing on classroom discourse, uses of graphing calculators, nature of instructional tasks, and instructor-questioning patterns in a high school algebra course found that the teacher modified his teaching strategies and curriculum to accommodate the teaching strategies and topics that arose from the use of the graphing calculator.…

In the attempt to improve the quality of geometry instruction in schools, researchers and teachers alike have given considerable attention to the van Hiele theory of geometry learning and development, which proposes a series of cognitive levels through which every geometry student passes. This paper reports a study to determine the extent to which…

This study examined the benefits to teachers who used impromptu writing prompts in first- and second-year algebra classes. Interpretive research methodology was used to collect and analyze data. Concluded that teachers' assessment of students' understanding was enhanced by reading their students' responses to impromptu writing prompts, thus…

The Educational Testing Service studied the status of calculator use in high school classrooms. Responses were received from 4,568 high schools. Thirty-eight percent of those who were mailed a survey participated, and 12% of those who received e-mail invitations responded. Results indicate that the prevailing policy in U.S. high schools is to…