Journal of Mathematics Education at Teachers College

Acknowledgements

Journal Editor — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Effect of Mathematical Games on Senior Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Mathematics According to Gender

Olajumoke Salami, Erica Dorethea Spangenberg — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Playing mathematical games helps many senior secondary school students—especially girls—acquire basic mathematical skills, but it can be difficult. Thus, this study examined how gender-related mathematical gameplay affects secondary school students' performance. The design of the study was quasi-experimental. Purposively, a sample of fifty senior secondary school students from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria's Abuja Council Area was chosen. Using a coin toss, the researcher randomly allocated intact classes to the experimental and control groups. An algebraic achievement test administered before and after the treatment determined the students' achievement level. T-tests, means, and standard deviation were used to analyze the data. According to the study, among students who played mathematics games, female students had a higher mean score than male students. The findings imply that mathematical games enhance mathematics teaching and learning and should thus be encouraged and used by teachers to introduce concepts in mathematics to students at different levels, irrespective of their gender.

Considering Opportunities for Mathematical Magic

Miriam Gates, Lillie Albrt — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Mathematical magic, or experiences of beauty and creativity for K-12 mathematics students, can contribute to deepened content understanding. However, creating opportunities for mathematical magic. in mathematics classrooms has been a challenge for classroom practitioners. To support development of these experiences in classrooms, we deployed a bi-directional support program between a college-level mathematician and an early-career secondary teacher. Based on data collected from this project, we have identified four principles that will promote mathematical magic. We conclude that mathematicians and early career teachers can work together to a) leverage understandings of the nature of mathematics, b) apply meta-mathematical reasoning, c) share knowledge of content and students across contexts, and d) recognize students’ mathematical development to design learning experiences for mathematical magic.

Three Ghanaian pre-service teachers’ conceptions of assessment literacy

Justice Enu, Zanele Ngcobo — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Assessment literacy is the knowledge and skills one needs to develop and practice in order to investigate what students know and can do, interpret the results of assessment, and use such results to decide how to improve learning effectively. This study explored pre-service teachers’ assessment literacy and the implications thereof for the teaching and learning of mathematics. Three second year pre-service teachers enrolled for Diploma in education consented to participate in the study. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed while pre-service teachers’ conceive assessment as an ongoing process aimed at gathering information about students’ learning their conception is more grounded on assessment being summative. While the study only focused on pre-service teachers’ conception, we recommend that pre-service teachers’ classroom assessment practice should be investigated, to ascertain how their knowledge of assessment informs their classroom practices.

JMETC S24 Back Cover

Journal Editor — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

JMETC S24 Front Cover

Journal Editor — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

JMETC S24 Notes Preface

James Giff; Emma LaPlace — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Notes Preface

Manipulatives in a Mathematics Classroom: The Case of Frankards

Frankie Fran, Catherine Vistro-Yu — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

There are variety of ways on how to teach mathematics effectively. One of these effective strategies is the use of manipulatives in discussing abstract concepts of mathematics. In this short report, a discussion on the use of a manipulative in a mathematics classroom shall be presented and discussed through illustrative examples. Additionally, feedback from teachers and students about their perceptions and experiences with the manipulatives will also be presented. In general, this short report aims to provide a hands-on experience of teachers and students with manipulatives and how to use it effectively.

A Problem-based Curriculum to Conceptually Develop the Multiplication Principle for Counting

Lioubov Pogorelova, Stephanie Sheehan-Braine, Anthony John, Nicholas Wasserman — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Counting exercises are difficult (e.g., Batanero et al., 1997; Hadar & Hadass, 1981). As a case in point, although multiplication is a relatively simple concept, students often use multiplication incorrectly on counting problems (Batanero et al., 1997). To address this issue, this paper develops a problem-based curriculum to help students learn about the multiplication principle (MP) for counting. In this paper, we outline the important mathematical issues and nuances associated with the MP in our proposed exercise set, and discuss how mathematics educators could implement this sequence of exercises to develop students’ conceptual understanding of the MP. We conclude by discussing how our exercise set aligns with a broader theory of learning – variation theory.

JMETC S24 Preface

James Giff; Emma LaPlace — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000