Friday

1:45 – 2:15 pm

Session 14 – Contributed Reports

Marquis A

Integrating oral presentations in mathematics content courses for pre-service teachers

Sayonita Ghosh Hajra and Abeer Hasan

In this paper we report on a study of assessment-based oral presentation tasks in a mathematics content course for pre-service teachers at a public university in the western United States. We used statistical inference to test for the significance of the observed improvement in pre-service teachersŐ attitudes towards using oral presentation tasks in their mathematical learning and towards teacher preparation. Our results suggest that use of oral presentation improves pre-service teachersŐ attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics learning. Moreover, responses to the post-presentation questionnaire provide insights on the benefits of using oral presentation tasks in mathematics courses for pre-service teachers.

Paper

4

Marquis B

Gender, switching, and student perceptions of Calculus I

Jessica Ellis and Rebecca Cooper

We analyze survey data to explore how studentsŐ reported perceptions of their Calculus I experiences relate to their gender and persistence in calculus. We draw from student free-responses from universities involved in a comprehensive US national study of Calculus I. We perform a thematic analysis on the data, identifying quantitative patterns within themes and analyzed student responses to better understand these patterns. Our analyses indicate that female students report negative affect towards themselves more often than males, and that female students discuss their high school preparation differently than males. We discuss how these potential factors may influence student persistence in calculus.

Paper

76

Marquis C

Mary, Mary, is not quite so contrary: Unless sheŐs wearing HilbertŐs shoes

Stacy Brown

Researchers (Leron, 1985; Harel & Sowder, 1998) have argued that studentsŐ lack a preference for indirect proofs and have argued that the lack of preference is due to a preference for constructive arguments. Recent empirical research (author, 2015), however, which employed a comparative selection task involving a direct proof and an indirect proof of the contraposition form, found no evidence of a lack of preference for indirect proof. Recognizing that indirect proofs of the contradiction form may differ from those that employ the contraposition, this study documents studentsŐ proof preferences and selection rationales when engaging in a comparative selection task involving a direct proof and an indirect proof of the contradiction form.

Paper

81