Saturday

4:50 – 5:20 pm

Session 29 – Contributed Reports

Marquis A

How should you participate? Let me count the ways

Rachel Keller, Karen Zwanch and Steven Deshong

Retention of students in STEM majors is an issue of national stability because government projections indicate our nation to need one million additional STEM majors by 2022 (PCAST, 2012); thusly, the current trends in attrition are alarming. Students leave STEM for various reasons, but poor experiences in Calculus I seem to be a significant contributing factor for many switchers, especially female students. Using data situated within a larger study (Characteristics of Successful Programs in College Calculus), the present report looks specifically at student participation and its influence on Calculus I success. Results indicate that while participation is significantly correlated with success, this effect is not uniformly distributed across types of participation or gender groups. Interestingly, overall success rates were equal, but gender differences were noted in frequency of participatory behaviors and distribution of grades; specifically, males (who earned more A grades) preferred in-class participation and females preferred out-of-class participatory activities.

Paper

22

Marquis B

Probabilistic Thinking: An initial look at studentsÕ meanings for probability

Neil Hatfield

Probability is the central component that allows Statistics to provide a useful tool for many fields. Thus, the meanings that students develop for probability have the potential for lasting impacts. Using ThompsonÕs (20015) theory of meanings, this report shares the results of examining 114 undergraduate studentsÕ conveyed meanings for probability after they received instruction.

Paper

61

Marquis C

Fostering teacher change through increased noticing: Creating authentic opportunities for teachers to reflect on student thinking

Alan O'Bryan and Marilyn Carlson

This paper reports results from a case study focusing on a secondary teacherÕs sense-making as she was challenged to reinterpret her meanings for algebraic symbols and processes. Building from these opportunities, she redesigned lessons to gather information about how her students conceptualized quantities and how they thought of variables, terms, and expressions as representing those quantitiesÕ values. She then used this information to respond productively to her understanding of individual studentsÕ meanings and reasoning elicited during these lessons. We argue that this case study demonstrates the potential for coordinating quantitative reasoning with teacher noticing as a lens to support teacher learning and we recommend specific mathematical practices that can help teachers develop more focused noticing of studentsÕ mathematical meanings during instruction.

Paper

71