Graduate Student Research Conference
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10877/8272
The Graduate College invites graduate students from all disciplines to present at the Graduate Student Research Conference (GSRC) (previously known as the International Research Conference) and showcase their original research and creative works!
Graduate Student Research Conference Website: https://www.gradcollege.txst.edu/events/research/graduate-student-research-conference.html
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Browsing Graduate Student Research Conference by Author "Buber, Zafer"
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Item It is Time to Think! Investigating the Impact of Reasoning Time in Precalculus(2022-04) Buber, ZaferCollege-level mathematics courses have always been a gatekeeper for students. High attrition rates in these courses point out a very serious issue. Research has identified various factors contributing to these high attrition rates. To various studies, one of these factors has been observed to be fast-paced instruction in college-level mathematics courses. Also, the research underlines that students who are exposed to fast-paced instruction without conceptual understanding are more likely to drop out. This study focuses on the instructional time and precalculus achievement relationship. More specifically, we investigate how the private reasoning time provided explicitly impacts students’ performance and achievement in college precalculus classes. This study aims to provide college students with more private reasoning time during the instruction and slow down the pace of the instruction. With this purpose in mind, we ask the following research questions: What is the impact of private reasoning time during the instruction on college students’ precalculus achievement? What is the optimal waiting time after students are given private reasoning time in precalculus classes? Students will be provided with a few explicit private reasoning time intervals from 30 sec to 1 min in precalculus classes. During these time intervals, students will be given some tasks designed to support their conceptual transitioning and some guiding questions that are supposed to help students reason about the mathematical concept. Each student is supposed to reason individually first. Then, around their individual thoughts, the instruction is supposed to go on. Students will be provided with a few explicit private reasoning time intervals from 30 sec to 1 min in precalculus classes. During these time intervals, students will be given some tasks designed to support their conceptual transitioning and some guiding questions that are supposed to help students reason about the mathematical concept. Each student is supposed to reason individually first. Then, around their individual thoughts, the instruction is supposed to go on. We will measure the impact of the planned intervention by using pre and post-design tools. Additionally, we will analyze semi-structured interviews with some students before and after the intervention to capture the change in their reasoning attitudes. Due to the highly complex nature of teaching/learning activities, we are not sure to what degree increasing reasoning time might improve the learning of precalculus concepts. However, we conjecture that slowing down the precalculus instruction, together with guiding questions and appropriate tasks, will help students with having: more active learning opportunities more interaction with the instructor more instructors' noticing the students' struggles more feedback from the instructor less math anxiety better achievement Based on the initial observations and the expected results, we hope that this study will improve the teaching/learning of precalculus, especially for the students who need more time to think during the instruction.Item Optimizing Learning: How a Minimal Time Investment in Active Learning Boosts Precalculus Mastery(2024-04-01) Buber, ZaferDespite various efforts and initiatives to improve the success rates in precalculus courses across the United States, the statistics have not shown significant improvement over the last four decades. The research identifies poor instructional practices as one of the main factors contributing to this issue and finds them to be associated with overloaded curricula and fast-paced instruction in precalculus classes. Given that the primary instructional method in most college mathematics courses is direct instruction, this quasi-experimental study aims to investigate the impact of a low-time commitment active learning strategy on students’ achievement and participation in college precalculus classes. The proposed intervention aims to slow down the instructional pace, especially for the students who need more time for conceptual advancement, and create more opportunities to provide students with more time to reason and think. The findings indicate that this intervention has the potential to improve student achievement and increase participation in college precalculus classes.Item Slow Down to Speed Up: Investigating the Impact of a Low-Time-Commitment Active Learning Strategy in Precalculus(2023-04) Buber, ZaferDespite all the efforts, the problem of low levels of success in precalculus courses in the US has not improved significantly over the last four decades. The research identifies poor instructional practices as one of the main factors contributing to this issue and finds them to be associated with overloaded curricula and fast-paced instruction in precalculus classes. Given that the primary instructional method in most college mathematics courses is direct instruction, this quasi-experimental study aims to investigate the impact of a low-time commitment active learning strategy on students’ achievement and participation in college precalculus classes. The planned intervention aims to slow down the instructional pace, especially for the students who need more time for conceptual advancement and create more opportunities to provide students with more time to reason and think. Preliminary results indicate that this intervention has the potential to improve student achievement and increase participation.