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 Department "Mathematics"
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Item Development of a Scale to Measure Teachers' Beliefs Toward Struggles in Mathematics(2022-04) Kirmizi, Mehmet; Tarim, KamuranIn this study we are developing a valid and reliable scale to measure teachers’ belief of efficacy of productive struggle. Traditionally, struggles in mathematics is considered something undesirable. However, the recent understanding frames struggles something necessary for gaining deep understanding. The idea that mistakes and errors are necessary for the growth of the brain is well supported by the evidence from different fields. Empirical evidence suggests the idea of that students can transform their unproductive struggles to productive ones. If teachers do not want to support their students struggle; students cannot take full advantage of productive struggles in mathematics. Teachers’ positive beliefs and attitudes toward struggles in mathematics is essential to harness the power of struggles. For this poster, we plan to share our work developing a scale to measure teachers’ beliefs towards struggle. We identified that productive struggle is usually tied with the four components: conceptual understanding, persistence, tasks and times, and joy of teaching. After identifying these four components we exchanged several emails with a leading scholar in the field to make align our understanding with her vision. After that we developed initial pool of items based on theoretical components that is mentioned above. The initial pool contains 52 items, we evaluate each item based on several criteria and then finally the number of items is reduced in 21. We sent initial scale to number of graduate students and pre-service mathematics and elementary school teachers. To this date we are still collecting data to asses the internal reliability of our scale.Item Embracing Student Language as Scaffolding During Mathematical Modeling(2023-04) Quansah, Abigail; Czocher, Jennifer A.No abstract prepared.Item Intersecting Professional Identities and Social Interaction(2022-04) Swartz, Micah; Olarte, RoyceThis study examined how the social interactions that mathematics teaching assistants (TAs) have within their institution influenced their professional identity development as early-career undergraduate instructors. We drew on a sociocultural perspective of professional identity development in higher education to examine TAs’ interactions with students, faculty, and other TAs. We qualitatively analyzed five mathematics TAs’ responses to semi-structured interviews and developed codes to describe the complexity and multidimensionality of their professional identities. We found that some dimensions of TAs' identities were more frequently situated within specific relationships, while others were evident in multiple relationships. Overall, the social interactions of TAs were sites for professional identity development. Identity is a complex construct, and a better understanding of how professional identity is developed can inform higher education institutions on ways to support positive identity development of future mathematics instructors.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 Making Pi and Rethinking Teacher Education Program(2023-04) Bui, MaiThis poster presents four activities specifically designed for prospective elementary and middle school teachers who are taking a content course in geometry and measurement. These activities aim to help prospective teachers deepen their understanding of the formula for the circumference of a circle and the meaning of constant Pi as well as build the necessary skills to become well-prepared beginning teachers of mathematics. The first three activities guide prospective teachers to explore and re-explore the formula using non-standard units, standard units, and technology. Following this, prospective teachers will engage in a group discussion about the affordances and limitations of each activity and consider important factors when designing and selecting mathematical tasks for their future instructional practices. The activities offer opportunities for prospective teachers to deepen their mathematical knowledge and build their professional skills and identity simultaneously. Participants’ reflection evidenced the positive impacts of this approach on their essential knowledge and skills for teaching as well as their dispositions and views toward mathematics education.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.