Courtney Donovan , Heather Lynn Johnson , Robert Knurek , Kristin A. Whitmore , Livvia Bechtold
{"title":"Validating a measure of graph selection and graph reasoning for dynamic situations","authors":"Courtney Donovan , Heather Lynn Johnson , Robert Knurek , Kristin A. Whitmore , Livvia Bechtold","doi":"10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101137","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101137","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Using a mixed methods approach, we report results from the evaluation and validation stages of a fully online Measure of Graph Selection and Reasoning for Dynamic Situations, implemented with undergraduate college algebra students across three U.S universities. The measure contains six items; each includes a video animation of a dynamic situation (e.g., a fishbowl filling with water), a declaration of understanding, four Cartesian graphs from which to select, and a text box for explanation. In the evaluation stage, we demonstrate usability and content validity, drawing on individual cognitive interviews (n = 31 students). In the validation stage (n = 673 students), we use Rasch modeling to evidence reliability and internal structure, establishing a continuum of item difficulty and confirming the viability of a partial credit scoring approach for graph selection. Rasch results provide statistical support that the theorized graph reasoning framework (Iconic, Motion, Variation, Covariation) from Johnson et al. (2020) forms a hierarchical scale.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47481,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mathematical Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101137"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312324000142/pdfft?md5=b5c87e78e611f37e30088a81c2c26173&pid=1-s2.0-S0732312324000142-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140062332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Diana Sosa-Martín , Josefa Perdomo-Díaz , Alicia Bruno , Rut Almeida, Israel García-Alonso
{"title":"The influence of problem-posing task situation: Prospective primary teachers working with fractions","authors":"Diana Sosa-Martín , Josefa Perdomo-Díaz , Alicia Bruno , Rut Almeida, Israel García-Alonso","doi":"10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101139","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This research presents a study on the problems posed by pre-service primary school teachers by focusing on the problem-posing tasks situation as the research variable. The investigation was carried out with 205 students of a bachelor’s degree in Primary Education Teacher in Spain. They were asked to pose problems with fractions based on two given initial situations: numerical and contextualized. For each problem, we analyze its plausibility, the meanings of fractions, the mathematical structure, and the reasonability of the context. Results indicate that mostly posed problems use part-whole or operator meaning of fractions, as well as the additive or multiplicative structure. There are no differences between the plausibility and reasonability of the problems based on the initial situation, although it has shown better results when the given situation is contextualized. In addition, in contextualized situations, teachers show greater ability in formulating problems with a wide variety of structures and meanings of fractions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47481,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mathematical Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101139"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312324000166/pdfft?md5=e4d4a4cfb3243fa073b224aa6097a76d&pid=1-s2.0-S0732312324000166-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140030286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How mothers’ mathematical positioning relates to their images of mathematics and interactions with children","authors":"Sam Prough","doi":"10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101141","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Few studies have considered the relationship between what families recognize as mathematical and their mathematical identities despite attention to forms of informal mathematical learning. The trends in what goes unrecognized as mathematical for families reflect larger societal expectations about who and what can count as mathematics, rendering mathematical practices at home invisible. Limited views of mathematics as centered in school and tied to algorithms lead many rich and informal practices to go unrecognized by families, contributing to negative images of their mathematical selves. This study looks at the practices and activities mothers engage in with their young children that involve mathematics, specifically focusing on how they frame mathematics and their activity within it.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47481,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mathematical Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101141"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140069422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Parental support for mathematical problem solving: Proximal and distal influences within the religious practice of tithing","authors":"Edd V. Taylor , Tracy E. Dobie","doi":"10.1016/j.jmathb.2023.101102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2023.101102","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study examined the relation of mathematical learning and problem-solving to influences close to the child (proximal) and social structures more removed (distal). A socio-ecological lens enables examination of multi-level influences within the religious practice of tithing (giving 10% of one’s earnings to the church). Distal influences (e.g., tax law) and proximal influences (e.g., norms for payment, parental practices) are investigated to explain the emergence of mathematical problems during the practice of tithing. Exploration of children’s success and strategy use as a function of problem context found differential success and strategy use when children solved problems of tithing, as compared to a mathematically similar school context. This research demonstrates how proximal and distal factors can illuminate the contours of everyday mathematical performance.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47481,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mathematical Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101102"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139941689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Investigating boundaries and boundary crossing between mathematics and visual art teaching in a collaborative setting","authors":"Chrysoula Choutou, Despina Potari","doi":"10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101138","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Our study explores boundaries and boundary crossing between communities of mathematics teaching (MT) and visual art teaching (AT). We focus on teacher collaboration, draw on communities of practice and examine the existing boundaries and the way collaborating members handle them. We present data from 17 group meetings of secondary school art and mathematics teachers who try to develop ways of linking ΜΤ and ΑΤ. Results indicate the emerging boundaries by means of discontinuities regarding mathematical practices and tools used in MT and AT, and the disciplines’ teaching and curriculums. Via analysis of the central boundary – the analytical or visual ways of thinking – we present members’ boundary handling that indicates the development and developmental process of integrated practice. The study incorporates boundary crossing processes and learning mechanisms in which the two separate ways of thinking are gradually transformed into an integrated one and reveals possible ways of integration in teaching and learning.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47481,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mathematical Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101138"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139935998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Analogical structure sense: A case study of students’ analogical reasoning between groups and rings","authors":"Michael D. Hicks , Kyle Flanagan","doi":"10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101136","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101136","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Analogical reasoning is an important mathematical process for undergraduate students. However, it is unclear how students understand analogies that are presented to them, and more importantly, how students understand and create their own analogies. In this paper, we present a case study of four students as they reason analogically about several structures in abstract algebra. In particular, we expand on the notion of structure sense to include a wider range of structures in advanced mathematics and attend to each students’ <em>analogical structure sense</em> associated with each structure. Findings suggest that although students may possess a strong structure sense for group-theoretic structures, it is not necessarily the case that they possess a comparatively strong analogical sense of structure for ring-theoretic structures. In addition, those students with weaker senses of structure for group-theoretic structures are still able express productive reasoning about ring-theoretic analogies. Implications for future research and instructional practice are discussed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47481,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mathematical Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101136"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139737443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Constantinos Christou, Demetra Pitta-Pantazi, Maria Chimoni
{"title":"Teachers' mathematical problem posing: The role of processes and complexity levels in posing problems on the fraction part-whole concept","authors":"Constantinos Christou, Demetra Pitta-Pantazi, Maria Chimoni","doi":"10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101134","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101134","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study contributes to understanding the influence of different problem posing tasks on the performance of in-service teachers in posing important and worthwhile mathematical problems. The problem posing tasks pertain to the part-whole concept of fraction which presents ongoing challenges for teachers and students. The study sample was comprised of 40 in-service primary school teachers who completed an electronic problem posing test. The problem posing tasks included different problem situations and prompts that addressed: (a) four types of problem posing processes (editing, selecting, comprehending, and translating), and (b) four levels of complexity (uni-structural, multi-structural, relational, extended abstract). The results suggested that in-service teachers’ performance is mainly influenced by the process involved in a problem posing task, being higher in problem situations that are more closed structured compared to more open structured. The level of complexity was not found to influence in-service teachers’ performance.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47481,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mathematical Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101134"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139699346","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marilyn P. Carlson , Alan E. O’Bryan , Jeremy F. Strayer , Timothy H. McNicholl , Jess E. Hagman
{"title":"Considering, piloting, scaling and sustaining a research-based precalculus curriculum and professional development innovation","authors":"Marilyn P. Carlson , Alan E. O’Bryan , Jeremy F. Strayer , Timothy H. McNicholl , Jess E. Hagman","doi":"10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101126","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101126","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We report a case study of scaling a <em>research-based curriculum and professional development innovation</em>. We describe the <em>Pathways Precalculus Curriculum and Professional Development</em> (PPCPD) project and provide an overview of its development and components. In doing so, we detail how research informed its development and refinement, illustrate why we claim the PPCPD innovation is research-based, and document ways in which it is educative for both instructors and students. We describe results from a case study in which the PPCPD scaled to 13 sites that piloted the innovation, 12 of which locally scaled the innovation and attempted to sustain its use. We report findings from survey and interview data that reveal key variables that led to the sites’ sustaining or not sustaining the PPCPD innovation. We further highlight the importance of conceptualizing curricular scaling as an opportunity for continuous learning among the project leaders, local leaders, and precalculus instructors during all phases (considering, piloting, locally scaling, and sustaining) of the PPCPD.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47481,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mathematical Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101126"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139699347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The road to “good” problems goes through initial responses to stimulating socio-mathematical situations","authors":"Igor’ Kontorovich","doi":"10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101135","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101135","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Despite its almost four-decade history, research remains in the early stages of understanding the phenomenon of mathematical problem posing. In particular, the quality of problems created by beginning posers has been recognized as a persistent challenge. In this conceptual paper, I endorse an approach that identifies posing and solving as co-emergent components of steps learners take in a mathematically problematic situation. I further argue that some of the initial responses to the situation may constitute productive ingredients for creating problems that are personally meaningful and interesting to the learners. Drawing on the literature, I offer two principles through which the process of transitioning from initial responses to fully-fledged problems can be supported: making the didactical contract of the problem-posing activity transparent and immersing learners in socio-mathematical settings that are conducive to “good” problems. The approach is illustrated with fragments from a workshop for in-service teachers. The concluding discussion focuses on how the presented approach addresses some common issues in problem posing research.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47481,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mathematical Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101135"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732312324000129/pdfft?md5=6f7b2832ff36264620d46f3c40b96a07&pid=1-s2.0-S0732312324000129-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139694460","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Erik S. Tillema , Andrew M. Gatza , Weverton Ataide Pinheiro
{"title":"Combinatorial and quantitative reasoning: Stage 3 high school students’ reason about combinatorics problems and their representation as 3-D arrays","authors":"Erik S. Tillema , Andrew M. Gatza , Weverton Ataide Pinheiro","doi":"10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101125","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Researchers have identified three stages of units coordination that influence a range of domains of student reasoning. The primary foci of this research have been students’ reasoning in discrete, non-combinatorial whole number contexts, and with fractions, ratios, proportions, and rates represented using length quantities. This study extends this prior work by examining connections between eight high school students’ combinatorial reasoning and their representation of this reasoning using 3-D arrays. All students in the study were at stage 3 of units coordination. Findings include differentiation between two student groups: one group had interiorized three-levels-of-units, but had not interiorized four-levels-of-units; and the other group had interiorized four-levels-of-units. This differentiation was coordinated with differences in how they reasoned to produce 3-D arrays. The findings from the study indicate how combinatorics problems can support quantitative reasoning, where combinatorial and quantitative reasoning are framed as a foundation for algebraic reasoning.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47481,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mathematical Behavior","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101125"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139674665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}