Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item Formative assessment to teach math concepts in high school chemistry(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Bay, Clarissa Kristine; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesCalculations relating to unit conversions in high school chemistry typically pose difficulty for students. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of using consistent methods of formative assessment as daily check-ins to improve student success on this type of work as well as improve the overall score on the related college level unit exam. At the beginning of the unit students in the treatment group completed a pretest and survey to determine their skill level and comfort with unit conversions in chemistry. During the unit, these students completed a different type of formative assessment after each lesson to assist the instructor for how to prepare for the following lesson. After six lessons, students completed a posttest, survey, and college level unit exam. Students in the non-treatment group did not receive consistent formative assessment during the unit. From gathered data, students' comfort levels improved over the course of the study. Student achievement on the posttest was significantly greater than on the pretest and there was a noticeable increase in the overall percentage of students that earned a C or better on their college level unit exam. Where the non-treatment group had 70% of students score a C or better on the college exam, the treatment group percentage rose to a 76% of students earning a C or better on the same exam. This shows that intentional formative assessment does prove to be a useful tool to increase student performance on math-based topics in chemistry.Item Integrating universal design for learning in online math education: the Desmos experience(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2023) Wiehe, Blake Skyler; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Nick LuxThe Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework is a modern neuroscientific approach to creating learning experiences that are highly accessible and engaging for all students. Despite the growing evidence supporting the theory of UDL, the literature significantly lacks examples of the practical application of UDL principles in curricular resources. This study was designed to investigate an online math learning platform that claims to be developed according to the UDL Guidelines. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the practical application of various UDL Guidelines within the Desmos middle school math platform. The UDL Guidelines served as the basis for this analysis, mapping the data collection and analysis according to the checkpoints that substantiate the nine UDL Guidelines. Through the analysis of six randomly chosen Desmos units from sixth through eighth grade, the results suggest that Desmos substantiates their claim to UDL-alignment through a host of interactive, customizable, and highly relevant learning experiences. The Desmos platform lacks certain features like layout customization, hyperlinked vocabulary support, and activation of background knowledge that could further bolster its alignment to the UDL Guidelines. However, the alignment examples discovered offer a window into UDL-aligned design thinking that can serve as inspiration for external curriculum developers and educators looking to create their own UDL learning experiences. This study was a pilot attempt at characterizing UDL design thinking found within an existing curriculum. Future studies analyzing other curricular resources for UDL alignment are warranted, along with further investigations into the impact of those platforms on student achievement.Item Exploring the impact of standards-based learning on lesson planning in an undergraduate math methods course(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2022) Day, Corinne Thatcher; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Fenqjen LuoThe study examines the performance of pre-service K-8 mathematics teachers on lesson planning assignments using the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE) 2017 Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics as a reference for evaluation. In addition to contributing to the literature on pre-service mathematics teachers' pedagogical content knowledge, the study aims to evaluate the impact of standards-based learning (SBL) on student growth in a higher education setting, where SBL has not been widely implemented or studied. A case study research design is utilized to identify strengths and weaknesses in planning for mathematics instruction in a cohort of 21 PSTs enrolled in a math methods course at a small public university, with comparisons made between first and final drafts of two lesson-planning assignments on which PSTs received extensive instructor feedback. Interviews were also conducted with four participants who student taught during the subsequent semester. Findings indicated growth in performance between drafts of the lesson-planning assignments in terms of designing student-centered math lessons but also revealed gaps in PSTs' mathematical content knowledge. Specifically, most PSTs lacked an ability to link procedures to their underlying concepts, resulting in less than proficient performance on mathematics lesson planning. Contributions of the study include the development of an AMTE-aligned tiered rubric for evaluating both PST and mathematics teacher educator (MTE) performance in mathematics instruction and for potential use in framing and evaluating Standards-based practicum experiences in mathematics teacher preparation.Item Hispanic ELL middle-school students and their teachers: perceptions of three mathematics teaching practices(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2022) Roberts, Christi Szulczewski; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jayne DowneyEven though Hispanic English Language Learners (ELL) are one of the fastest growing student demographics in the United States, limited research exists exploring how Hispanic ELLs benefit from mathematics teaching practices that have been determined to be highly effective. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the perceptions of Hispanic ELL middle-school students regarding the efficacy of research-informed instructional practices, as embodied in the Mathematics Teaching Practices described by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2012). Capturing Hispanic ELL student perceptions is of great importance due to the challenging situations that many Hispanic ELL students and their families face (Schneider et al., 2006) in the United States. Additionally, the concerning differences have been observed in achievement data for Hispanic and non-Hispanic students and for ELL and non-ELL students. To address the layered challenges that Hispanic ELL students face daily in school, teachers, school leaders, and researchers can turn to student consultation as one way to gather information to inform teaching practices and develop positive mathematical identities. Findings from this multi-phased qualitative case study suggest that both students and teachers value and find benefit in the use of mathematical discourse, posing of purposeful questions, and attention to multiple representations. Additional insights were uncovered as alignments and divergences between perceptions were analyzed. Recommendations for practice include promoting mathematical discourse, posing purposeful questions for multiple purposes, emphasizing multiple representations, including student voice, building mathematical identity through instruction, and leveraging alignments and divergences in perceptions.Item K-8 preservice teachers's preparedness for technology integration in mathematics: examining perspectives, anticipated practices, and abilities(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2022) Meyerink, Monte Shane; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Fenqjen Luo; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.Research on the use of technological resources--such as virtual manipulatives and mathematical games--in kindergarten through eighth-grade mathematics has highlighted numerous benefits to students' achievement in and attitudes toward mathematics. However, studies have also highlighted preservice teachers' lack of preparedness to integrate technology into their future classrooms. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to examine kindergarten through eighth-grade preservice teachers' preparedness to integrate technology into mathematics by analyzing their perspectives on technology integration, their anticipated technology integration practices, and their technology integration abilities. In this three-manuscript dissertation, qualitative analyses employed a social constructivist paradigm and utilized an ethnographic approach to examine preservice teachers' preparedness to integrate technology. By using the PICRAT model as a guiding theoretical framework in each study, preservice teachers' perspectives and abilities were examined in relation to how their anticipated uses of technology would impact mathematics instruction in respect to both students' learning and teachers' pedagogical practices. Findings showed that preservice teachers' tended to report a lack of knowledge in relation to technology integration and both ask questions and express concerns related to how to appropriately integrate technology into mathematics. Nevertheless, preservice teachers also reported an intent to integrate technology into their future classrooms at a relatively frequent basis. When examining preservice teachers' abilities to either evaluate an existing geometry activity or create a geometry activity that utilizes a technological resource, preservice teachers tended to evaluate or create activities that integrated technology in a way that both enabled interactive learning on behalf of the students and amplified teachers' pedagogical practices. Activities that used technological resources to either promote students' passive learning or replace teachers' practices were less frequent, and activities that used technology to either foster students' creative learning or transform teachers' practices were rare. Additionally, preservice teachers' activities tended to align with PICRAT levels that are associated with higher degrees of impact on mathematics instruction when preservice teachers evaluated activities rather than created activities. To conclude, implications for teacher education programs and areas of future research are presented and discussed.Item Game based learning in middle school math classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Velez, Hernando Oswald; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisEducational research has identified student enjoyment and self-efficacy as key aspects of student motivation, and as major contributors to student attitudes toward a particular subject. In addition, increases in both enjoyment and self-efficacy have been linked to game play participants in both recreational game play and game-based learning (GBL). This study investigated the effects of allowing student choice of game play format during GBL treatment sessions. For this action research study students in a math intervention course were allowed to choose their format of engagement in a GBL treatment. The treatment asked students to engage, in the game play format of their choosing, competitive, cooperative, or individually, with an online game designed to facilitate a gamified review tool and a gamified formative assessment tool. The researcher hypothesized that allowing students to repeatedly engage with the same game in the gameplay format of their own choosing would improve student attitudes about their enjoyment and confidence while learning math. Likert-type survey on attitudes about GBL and gameplay formats, student engagement metrics, and facilitator observations were utilized to capture quantitative and qualitative data throughout the treatment period. Analysis of data revealed that student attitudes improved in terms of their sense of enjoyment and self-efficacy while engaging in GBL during math class.Item Bridging the gap between math and science: does the use of simple math instruction tools produce growth in the physical science classroom?(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Doyle, Irene Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisIt was observed that students struggle with making connections between math and science, especially in a physical science class. Research shows that this is not a behavioral issue, but a cognitive one. This is very problematic because it has been shown that making cross curricular connections is the foundation to critical thinking, and critical thinking is a highly desired skill in any field of study or career. As a potential solution to this problem, three treatments were administered to two different advanced physical science classes with two different trials. The treatments included math warm-ups at the start of a lesson, scaffolded guided practice problems at the conclusion of a lesson, and the use of graphic organizers when new formulas were introduced. Most students claimed the treatments were helpful, and there was growth in students' assessment scores.Item The effects of direct instruction of metacognitive skills through self-regulated learning and self-efficacy development in the mathematical sciences(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Larsen, Karin Camille; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter WoolbaughThis study explored how direct instruction of metacognitive processes through self-efficacy and self-regulated learning skills impacts student ability to independently and intrinsically drive academic growth to move through the novice to mastery continuum. This goal was to provide students with the skills and practices to foster perseverance, confidence, self-regulation, and sense of agency throughout the learning process. The treatment was implemented with a sixth-grade study skills class with a contextual practice component integrated in math. Content mastery changes were assessed through math topic assessments. Self-efficacy and metacognition changes were evaluated through interviews, open-response questions, interactive notebook entries and self-confidence surveys for growth mindset and self-regulated learning. Results were statistically insignificant. Even though there was minimal or arguable quantitative evidence of change in student practice and behavior, there were positive results. There is some evidence suggesting an improvement in student ability to articulate areas of weakness and utilize strategies to improve academic performance. While average test scores did not increase, there was an improvement in normalized gains, especially in the lower to mid-performing sub-groups. This indicates movement toward content mastery.Item The effects of explicit math instruction before chemistry content instruction at the high school level(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Lopreiato, Timothy; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisStudents struggle with the mathematical nature of chemistry coursework. This study looks to examine how the performance of high school students taking chemistry is affected by a curricular change to include mini math units between traditional chemistry units of study. Students were exposed to approximately a day and a half of explicit instruction on the mathematical concepts that would appear in the upcoming chemistry unit. Student confidence in mathematics, pre and post mathematics test scores, and chemistry unit test scores were analyzed to determine if the treatment improved student performance or not.Item The design process in an eighth grade science class(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Joslyn, Pamela Jo; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisEngineering provides a framework in which students can test their own developing scientific knowledge and apply it to practical problems. There are many parallels to the application of science principles and engineering practices. Both rely on developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, using mathematical and computational thinking, engaging in arguments from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating and communicating information. While some students become engaged in the design process, scientific principles can be excluded from the engineering aspects. One unit of study was compared - a nontreatment group using no mathematics and computational thinking to facilitate the design process and a treatment group relying upon mathematics and computational thinking to the design process. The treatment unit required students to collect data and define scientific principles within the design process. Students were given pre-, mid-, and post-tests for the unit of study, an interest survey, and interviews were conducted. Both groups of students indicated the importance of using data in the design process. When students were required to use mathematics and computational thinking in the design process, the results suggested that students exhibited a slight improvement in test scores on the multiple choice and short answer responses. In the students' final reflections, many students expressed a greater appreciation for engineering.