Saturday

8:35 – 9:05 am

Session 19 – Contributed Reports

Marquis A

Adaptations of learning glass solutions in undergraduate STEM education

Shawn Firouzian, Chris Rasmussen and Matthew Anderson

One of the main issues STEM faculty face is promoting student success in large-enrollment classes while simultaneously meeting studentsÕ and administratorsÕ demands for the flexibility and economy of online and hybrid classes. The Learning Glass is an innovative new instructional technology that holds considerable promise for engaging students and improving learning outcomes. In this report we share the results of an efficacy study between an online calculus-based physics course using Learning Glass technology and a large auditorium-style lecture hall taught via document projector. Both courses were taught with the same instructor using identical content, including exams and homework. Our quasi-experimental design involved identical pre- and post-course assessments evaluating studentsÕ attitudes and behavior towards science and their conceptual learning gains. Results are promising, with equivalent learning gains for all students, including minority and economically disadvantaged students.

Paper

65

Marquis B

Pre-service teachers' meanings of area

Sayonita Ghosh Hajra, Betsy McNeal and David Bowers

An exploratory study was conducted of pre-service teachersÕ understanding of area at a public university in the western United States. Forty-three pre-service teachers took part in the study. Their definitions of area and their responses to area-units tasks were recorded throughout the semester. We found a wide gap between pre-service teachersÕ meaning of area and their use of area-units. Initially, pre-service teachers had weak definitions of area. Over the semester, these definitions were refined, but misconceptions about area and area-units were illuminated in activities involving non-standard units and areas of irregular regions. We conclude that, despite detailed models of childrenÕs understanding of area, much work is needed to understand the learning trajectories of pre-service teachers, particularly when misconceptions exist.

Paper

33

Marquis C

Personification as a lens into relationships with mathematics

Dov Zazkis and Ami Mamolo

Personification is the attribution of human qualities to non-human entities (Inagaki & Hatano, 1987). Eliciting personification as a research method takes advantage of a naturally occurring means through which (some) people discuss the nuanced emotional relationships they have with those entities. In this paper, we introduce the eliciting personification method for exploring individualsÕ images of mathematics, as well as discuss an initial set of approaches for analyzing the resulting data. Data from both pre-service teachers and research mathematicians are discussed in order to illustrate the method.

Paper

35