"In December, 2011, Ian Waitz, MIT's Dean of Engineering, launched the MIT-K12 project, driven by a series of questions: How can we change the perception of the role of engineers and scientists in the world? What can MIT do, right now, to improve STEM education at the K12 level? What if MIT became a publicly accessible "experiential partner" to the country's K12 educators? What if MIT students generated short-form videos to complement the work those educators are already doing in their classrooms and homes?"
Abstract: Educational videogames can be designed to provide instructional feedback that is responsive to specific actions. However, existing research indicates that students tend to ignore videogame feedback and subsequently use less effective help-seeking strategies. Research on help-seeking in learning environments has primarily focused on the role of cognitive factors, the nature of the help, or issues of timing and frequency. There is a noticeable gap in understanding regarding how to motivate and increase the use of feedback for improved learning. Using a pre-algebra videogame, this study examined the relationship between an incentive to use feedback and math achievement. A randomized-control design was employed, which compared learning outcomes of students who received the incentive to those who did not. Results indicated that students given the incentive to use feedback had significantly higher normalized change scores on math items (d = .53), with stronger effects for students with low academic intrinsic motivation (d = .88 - 1.17).
Your students' future and education needs are not like yours and mine. For the most part, we are a product of an education system heavily influenced by the industrial age - lectures and rote memorization. This style of teaching was primarily designed to produce factory and skilled trade workers.
U.S. Department of Education report including research that "tested the impact of offering an online Algebra I course on students' algebra achievement at the end of grade 8 and their subsequent likelihood of participating in an advanced mathematics course sequence in high school."
Abstract: "The purpose of this chapter is to provide pedagogical strategies and discuss ideas about teaching mathematics using GeoGebra that promote effective use of visualization in a technology-integrated dynamic environment. The author describes his work with prospective secondary mathematics teachers enrolled in a methods course. The results of the study revealed that their perspectives on teaching and learning mathematics with technology were enriched as they worked individually and in small groups to develop and present lessons with GeoGebra, suggesting that creating a collaborative environment for our prospective teachers is as important as incorporating dynamic mathematics software into our teacher education courses." (Full text requires subscription or purchase)
Abstract only online, full text requires subscription or purchase. Results of one study of 10-12 year old children in eight classrooms in three Australian primary schools leads researchers to suggest "educators should carefully consider the application and appropriateness of games before employing them as a vehicle for introducing mathematical concepts. "
"A research team led by Carnegie Mellon University's Robert Siegler has identified a major source of the gap -- U. S. students' inadequate knowledge of fractions and division. Although fractions and division are taught in elementary school, even many college students have poor knowledge of them. The research team found that fifth graders' understanding of fractions and division predicted high school students' knowledge of algebra and overall math achievement, even after statistically controlling for parents' education and income and for the children's own age, gender, I.Q., reading comprehension, working memory, and knowledge of whole number addition, subtraction and multiplication. Published in Psychological Science, the findings demonstrate an immediate need to improve teaching and learning of fractions and division."
first mathematics education seminar: Understanding Abstract Concepts in the Context of Abstract Algebra.
Mathematics is a science of numbers, quantity, and space. All of the listed components are abstract ideas. How do we learn abstraction?"
The Math 2.0 Interest Group is an international network of researchers, educators, families, community leaders and technology enablers. We are collaborating on a variety of research and development projects and conversation threads about social media as it relates to mathematics and mathematics education.
"In this article we introduce the free educational mathematics software GeoGebra. This open source tool extends concepts of dynamic geometry to the fields of algebra and calculus. You can use GeoGebra both as a teaching tool and to create interactive web pages for students from middle school up to college level. Specifically designed for educational purposes, GeoGebra can help you to foster experimental, problem-oriented and discovery learning of mathematics. We will illustrate the basic ideas of the software and some of its versatile possibilities by discussing several interactive examples."
"Bright Spark Education is using Indian teachers trained in the UK curriculum to help British students aged 7 to 16" via Skype; "not looked upon favorably by at least one UK teacher"
" The customized interface creates a one-to-one learning environment with the professor while emphasizing graphical explanations and working through solution steps. Below each lecture video are detailed notes which highlight the most important points to remember as well as common student pitfalls. A powerful search engine also locates the exact time in a lecture your problem topic is discussed. Lastly, student comments are moderated by our instructors make sure any questions you have are answered."
A systematic search of the research literature from 1996 through July 2008 identified more than a thousand empirical studies of online learning. Analysts screened these studies to find those that (a) contrasted an online to a face-to-face condition, (b) measured student learning outcomes, (c) used a rigorous research design, and (d) provided adequate information to calculate an effect size. As a result of this screening, 51 independent effects were identified that could be subjected to meta-analysis. The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction. The difference between student outcomes for online and face-to-face classes-measured as the difference between treatment and control means, divided by the pooled standard deviation-was larger in those studies contrasting conditions that blended elements of online and face-to-face instruction with conditions taught entirely face-to-face. Analysts noted that these blended conditions often included additional learning time and instructional elements not received by students in control conditions. This finding suggests that the positive effects associated with blended learning should not be attributed to the media, per se. An unexpected finding was the small number of rigorous published studies contrasting online and face-to-face learning conditions for K-12 students. In light of this small corpus, caution is required in generalizing to the K-12 population because the results are derived for the most part from studies in other settings (e.g., medical training, higher education).
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A systematic search of the research literature from 1996 through July 2008 identified more than a thousand empirical studies of online learning. Analysts screened these studies to find those that (a) contrasted an online to a face-to-face condition, (b) measured student learning outcomes, (c) used a rigorous research design, and (d) provided adequate information to calculate an effect size. As a result of this screening, 51 independent effects were identified that could be subjected to meta-analysis. ***The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.*** The difference between student outcomes for online and face-to-face classes-measured as the difference between treatment and control means, divided by the pooled standard deviation-was larger in those studies contrasting conditions that blended elements of online and face-to-face instruction with conditions taught entirely face-to-face. Analysts noted that these blended conditions often included additional learning time and instructional elements not received by students in control conditions. This finding suggests that the positive effects associated with blended learning should not be attributed to the media, per se. An unexpected finding was the small number of rigorous published studies contrasting online and face-to-face learning conditions for K-12 students. In light of this small corpus, caution is required in generalizing to the K-12 population because the results are derived for the most part from studies in other settings (e.g., medical training, higher education).
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