Middle

Exploring Differences in Practicing Teachers’ Knowledge Use in a Dynamic and Static Proportional Task

Mathematics
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Professional Development
Middle

Teachers’ knowledge of proportional reasoning is important, particularly in the middle grades in the USA. This exploratory study investigated 32 teachers’ use of knowledge resources in two mathematically similar tasks (one a paper and pencil task, the other a dynamic task) around proportional reasoning. The two tasks invoked different knowledge resources by the same teachers. Results suggest questions to the field around how we access or invoke teacher knowledge and the need to more purposefully explore the potential benefits of using a dynamic task to invoke knowledge resources.

Access Link: 
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13394-020-00350-x
Author/Presenter: 
Rachael Eriksen Brown
Chandra Hawley Orrill
Jinsook Park
Lead Organization(s): 
Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (UMass Dartmouth)
Year: 
2020
Short Description: 

This exploratory study investigated 32 teachers’ use of knowledge resources in two mathematically similar tasks (one a paper and pencil task, the other a dynamic task) around proportional reasoning.

Design Considerations in Multisite Randomized Trials Probing Moderated Treatment Effects Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics

Mathematics
Elementary
Middle
High
Past research has demonstrated that treatment effects frequently vary across sites (e.g., schools) and that such variation can be explained by site-level or individual-level variables (e.g., school size or gender). The purpose of this study is to develop a statistical framework and tools for the effective and efficient design of multisite randomized trials (MRTs) probing moderated treatment effects.
Access Link: 
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/1076998620961492
Author/Presenter: 
Nianbo Dong
Benjamin Kelcey
Jessaca Spybrook
Lead Organization(s): 
University of Cincinnati (UC)
Western Michigan University (WMU)
Year: 
2020
Short Description: 

The purpose of this study is to develop a statistical framework and tools for the effective and efficient design of multisite randomized trials (MRTs) probing moderated treatment effects.

Teachers’ Abilities to Make Sense of Variable Parts Reasoning

Mathematics
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Middle

The purpose of this study was to investigate how teachers understand one specific aspect of proportional reasoning. We were interested in understanding the extent to which practicing teachers were able to make sense of reasoning that involved the fixed number of variable-sized parts perspective. We used two items, drawn from a larger dataset, that encouraged teachers to reason about proportional situations using a variable parts perspective.

Access Link: 
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10986065.2020.1795567
Author/Presenter: 
Chandra Hawley Orrill
John E. Millett
Lead Organization(s): 
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (UMass Dartmouth)
Year: 
2020
Short Description: 

The purpose of this study was to investigate how teachers understand one specific aspect of proportional reasoning - the extent to which practicing teachers were able to make sense of reasoning that involved the fixed number of variable-sized parts perspective.

The Price of Nice: How Good Intentions Maintain Educational Inequity

Broadening Participation
Elementary
Middle
High
Undergraduate
Graduate

Being nice is difficult to critique. Niceness is almost always portrayed and felt as a positive quality. In schools, nice teachers are popular among students, parents, and administrators. And yet Niceness, as a distinct set of practices and discourses, is not actually good for individuals, institutions, or communities because of the way it maintains and reinforces educational inequity.

Access Link: 
https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-price-of-nice
Author/Presenter: 
Angelina E. Castagno, Editor
Lead Organization(s): 
Northern Arizona University
Year: 
2019
Short Description: 

In The Price of Nice, an interdisciplinary group of scholars explores Niceness in educational spaces from elementary schools through higher education to highlight how this seemingly benign quality reinforces structural inequalities.

The Anthropology of Educational Policy: Ethnographic Inquiries into Policy as Sociocultural Practice

Broadening Participation
Systems Reform
Elementary
Middle
High

Access Link: 
https://www.routledge.com/The-Anthropology-of-Education-Policy-Ethnographic-Inqu...
Author/Presenter: 
Angelina E. Castagno
Teresa McCarty
Lead Organization(s): 
Northern Arizona University
Year: 
2018
Short Description: 

This book provides a single "go to" source on the disciplinary history, theoretical framework, methodology, and empirical applications of the anthropology of education policy across a range of education topics, policy debates, and settings.

Making Critical Thinking Visible for Student Analysis and Reflection: Using Structured Documentation to Enhance Effective Reasoning and Communication

Science
Educational Technology
Middle

Butcher, K. R., Runburg-Larson, M., & Lane, M. (2019). Making critical thinking visible for student analysis and reflection: Using structured documentation to enhance effective reasoning and communication. Science Scope, 42(8), 44-53.

Access Link: 
https://www.nsta.org/making-critical-thinking-visible-student-analysis-and-refle...
Author/Presenter: 
Kirsten R. Butcher
Madlyn Larson
McKenna Lane
Lead Organization(s): 
University of Utah (U of U)
Year: 
2019
Short Description: 

This Science Scope article discusses how to foster critical-thinking skills in middle school science.

The Joys of Teaching Ecology in K–12 and Informal Settings

Biology
Earth Science
Environmental Science
Science
Elementary
Middle
High

Esposito, R. M. M, Harris, C., Berkowitz, A. R., & Pregnal, M. (2019). The joys of teaching ecology in K-12 and informal settings. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 17(9), 538-539. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2122

Access Link: 
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.2122
Author/Presenter: 
Rhea M  M Esposito
Cornelia Harris
Alan R Berkowitz
Maribel Pregnall
Lead Organization(s): 
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Year: 
2019
Short Description: 

This article describes opportunities for primary and secondary ecology education in formal and informal settings.

Designing in Context: Reaching Beyond Usability in Learning Analytics Dashboard Design

Mathematics
Educational Technology
Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Pedagogy
Middle

Researchers and developers of learning analytics (LA) systems are increasingly adopting human-centred design (HCD) approaches, with growing need to understand how to apply design practice in different educational settings. In this paper, we present a design narrative of our experience developing dashboards to support middle school mathematics teachers’ pedagogical practices, in a multi-university, multi-school district, improvement science initiative in the United States.

Access Link: 
https://learning-analytics.info/index.php/JLA/article/view/6344
Author/Presenter: 
June Ahn
Fabio Campos
Maria Hays
Daniela Digiacomo
Lead Organization(s): 
University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine)
Year: 
2019
Short Description: 

In this paper, authors present a design narrative of our experience developing dashboards to support middle school mathematics teachers’ pedagogical practices, in a multi-university, multi-school district, improvement science initiative in the United States.

Webinar Resources: Strengthening Educators’ Practices for Engaging and Empowering Students with Disabilities and Difficulties as Mathematics Learners

Mathematics
Professional Development
Elementary
Middle

Access Link: 
https://youtu.be/u_PKaGJSk2w
Author/Presenter: 
Amy Brodesky
Jessica Hunt
Karen Mutch-Jones
Judy Storeygard
Year: 
2020
Short Description: 

Amy Brodesky, Jessica Hunt, Karen Mutch-Jones and Judy Storeygard shared key components, successes, and challenges of asset-based PD in mathematics. The webinar focused on the pressing question: What are ways to support educators in providing high-quality, inclusive instruction that empowers students with disabilities/difficulties as mathematics thinkers and doers?

Resource(s): 
PDF icon Strengthening Math Webinar Slides.pdf

“Approximate” Multiplicative Relationships between Quantitative Unknowns

Algebra
Mathematics
Middle

Three 18-session design experiments were conducted, each with 6–9 7th and 8th grade students, to investigate relationships between students’ rational number knowledge and algebraic reasoning. Students were to represent in drawings and equations two multiplicatively related unknown heights (e.g., one was 5 times another). Twelve of the 22 participating students operated with the second multiplicative concept, which meant they viewed known quantities as units of units, or two-levels-of-units structures, but not as three-levels-of-units structures.

Access Link: 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0732312317301402
Author/Presenter: 
Amy J. Hackenberg
Robin Jones
Ayfer Eker
Mark Creager
Lead Organization(s): 
Indiana University (IU)
Year: 
2017
Short Description: 

Three 18-session design experiments were conducted, each with 6–9 7th and 8th grade students, to investigate relationships between students’ rational number knowledge and algebraic reasoning. Implications for teaching are explored in this article.

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