Transcript Mathematical Literacy Survey Results

OUTCOMES FOR
M AT H E M AT I C A L
LITERACY: DO
AT T I T U D E S A B O U T
M AT H C H A N G E ?
M A RT H A B . M A KOW S K I & E R I N W I L D I N G - M A RT I N
N OV E M B E R 1 9 , 2 0 1 5
A M AT Y C 2 0 1 5
SESSION S023
MATH EMATICAL
LITERACY AT
PARKL AND COLLEGE
E R I N W I L D I N G - M A RT I N
E M A R T I N @ PA R K L A N D . E D U
ALGEBRA AT PARKLAND
• Approximately 67-75% of incoming freshmen
place into developmental math
• Success rates of about 50% in beginning,
intermediate, and college algebra
• Approximately 75% of developmental math
students are on a non-STEM path!
OLD COURSE SEQUENCE
Pre-Algebra
Beginning
Algebra
Intermediate
Algebra
Gen Ed
Math or
Intro to
Stat
College
Algebra or
PreCalculus
REDESIGN GOALS
• Create a new track for gen-ed bound students
– Keep core algebra content, add data literacy
– De-emphasize by-hand algebraic simplification
– Add more applications, exploration, and writing
– Use technology
COURSE SEQUENCE – FIRST
REVISION
Intro to
Statistics or
Gen Ed Math
Math
Literacy
Pre-Algebra
Beginning
Algebra
Intermediate
Algebra
College Algebra
or Pre-Calculus
COURSE SEQUENCE –
CURRENT VERSION
Intro to
Statistics or
Gen Ed Math
Pre-Algebra
Math
Literacy
Intermediate
Algebra
College Algebra
or Pre-Calculus
http://dm-live.wikispaces.com/
MATH LITERACY
DESIGN
• Alternate but still challenging path
• Math in context, focus on numeracy, data analysis,
and functions
• Develop critical thinking and conceptual
understanding
THIS CLASS IS DIFFERENT!
• Little to no lecture
• Group work, active participation required
• Reading, writing, technology
• Online skills work outside of class
PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
• Collaboration as a tool for problem solving and
thinking.
• Keep calm and carry on: Mathematicians don’t
know how to solve every problem immediately.
They just know how to start thinking about it.
PRODUCTIVE STRUGGLE
• Real problems don’t follow cookie-cutter patterns;
they take work
• Take responsibility
• Persistence will pay off
GROUP STRUCTURE
• Assigning groups
– 3-4 students per group
– Mix of abilities
• Full participation required
– Students may not opt out of group work
– Points given for quality participation
• Assignments
– Daily lessons
– Unit projects
OUTCOMES: DO
ATTITUDES
CHANGE?
M A RT H A M A KOW S K I
U N I V E R S I T Y O F I L L I N O I S AT U R B A N A - C H A M PA I G N
M M A KOW S 2 @ I L L I N O I S . E D U
QUESTION
• Do Mathematical Literacy students change their
attitudes towards math while taking the class?
SURVEY STRUCTURE
• Surveyed twice:
– First week of the semester
– Once during the last two weeks of the semester
• Asked about:
– Math attitudes (pre and post)
– Preferred learning methods (pre and post)
– Nature of mathematics (pre and post)
– Demographics (pre)
– A few other things…
SURVEY SAMPLE
• 96 students took the pre-survey
• 67 took the post survey (69.8% retention)
Race
Male
Female
Total
White
23
(25.0)
29
(31.5)
52
(56.5)
Black
19
(20.7)
10
(10.9)
29
(31.5)
Hispanic
0
(0.0)
5
(5.4)
5
(5.4)
Asian
0
(0.0)
5
(5.4)
5
(5.4)
Other
1
(1.1)
0
(0.0)
1
(1.1)
Total
43
(46.7)
49
(53.3)
92
MEASURED ATTITUDES
• Mathematical attitudes measured along 4 dimensions:
– Motivation (9 items)
– Value (8 items)
– Confidence (15 items)
– Enjoyment (8 items)
• Attitudes were measured with 5 point Likert scale items
– 5 = Strongly Agree
– 4 = Agree
– 3 = Neither agree nor disagree
– 2 = Disagree
– 1 = Strongly disagree
MATH ATTITUDES
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Motivation
Enjoyment
Pre-survey mean
Value
Post-survey mean
Confidence
.5
.4
.3
0
.1
.2
Density
0
.1
.2
Density
.3
.4
.5
THOSE KIND OF LOOK LIKE
SMALL CHANGES…
1
2
3
pre_confid_sc
4
5
1
2
3
post_confid_sc
5
Attitude Scale
N
Pre-survey
mean
Motivation
60
2.822
2.926
0.104 (0.063)
0.1068
Enjoyment
59
2.919
3.100
0.180 (0.071)
0.0143
Value
54
3.734
3.831
0.097 (0.059)
0.1063
Confidence
49
2.869
3.052
0.182 (0.085)
0.0366
Post-survey mean
Average difference
(s.e.)
4
p-value (diff ≠
0)
MATH ATTITUDES - DETAILS
Attitude
Attitude
Scale
Scale
N*
N
Pre-survey
Pre-survey
mean
mean
Post-survey
Post-survey
mean
mean
Average
Average
difference
difference (s.e.)
(s.e.)
p-value
p-value
(diff
(diff ≠≠ 0)
0)
Motivation
Motivation
60
2.822
2.822
2.926
0.104
0.104 (0.063)
(0.063)
0.1068
Enjoyment
Enjoyment
59
59
2.919
2.919
3.100
3.100
0.180 (0.071)
0.180
(0.071)
0.0143
0.0143
Value
Value
54
3.734
3.734
3.831
0.097
0.097 (0.059)
(0.059)
0.1063
Confidence 49
49
Confidence
2.869
2.869
3.052
3.052
0.182 (0.085)
0.182
(0.085)
0.0366
0.0366

So, significant, POSITIVE attitude changes for
enjoyment and confidence! Positive attitude shifts
for motivation and value, although not significant.
ATTITUDES: ADDITIONAL
RESULTS

Men had a significantly higher shift in motivation
compared to their female counterparts.

There were no significant differences in attitudes
on the pre-survey between the students who
took both surveys (almost-completers) to those
who only took the first one (non-completers).
WHICH ATTITUDES
CHANGED?
120.00
100.00
80.00
60.00
40.00
20.00
0.00
Motivation
Enjoyment
Negative Change
No Change
Value
Positive Change
Confidence
WHOSE ATTITUDES
CHANGED?
• 21 of the 67 students who took both surveys increased
their attitude on three or four of the scales (31.3%)
• 6 students decreased their attitudes on three or four of
the scales (9.0%)
• Some students did not change
their attitudes on some of the
subscales.
NATURE OF MATH/LEARNING
N
Presurvey
mean
Postsurvey
mean
Average diff
(s.e.)
p-value
Learning mathematics is
mostly memorizing facts
63
3.000
2.937
-0.063 (0.128)
0.621
There is only one way to
solve a mathematics
problem
66
2.379
1.955
-0.424
(0.143)
0.004
I enjoy working in small groups
in math class
64
3.656
3.719
0.063 (0.126)
0.621
I learn mathematics best when
I get to work in a group
66
3.515
3.455
-0.061 (0.151)
0.689
I learn mathematics best when
I work by myself.
66
2.833
2.894
0.061 (0.140)
0.666
The math I learn in school
rarely helps me when I use
math in my daily life.
64
3.125
2.891
-0.234 (0.117)
0.050
NATURE OF MATH/LEARNING
N
Pre-survey
mean
Post-survey
mean
Average diff
(s.e.)
p-value
Learning mathematics is
mostly memorizing facts
63
3.000
2.937
-0.063 (0.128)
0.621
There is only one way to solve
a mathematics problem
66
2.379
1.955
-0.424 (0.143)
0.004
I enjoy working in small groups
in math class
64
3.656
3.719
0.063 (0.126)
0.621
I learn mathematics best
when I get to work in a
group
66
3.515
3.455
-0.061 (0.151)
0.689
I learn mathematics best
when I work by myself.
66
2.833
2.894
0.061 (0.140)
0.666
The math I learn in school
rarely helps me when I use
math in my daily life.
64
3.125
2.891
-0.234 (0.117)
0.050
THANK YOU!
Come see our other talks!
Making Math Literacy Work:
Managing Groups and
Student Expectations
Student Experiences in a
Problem-Centered
Developmental Math Class
S139
Research Session
Saturday, November 21
10:45 – 11:35
Thursday, Nov 19
7:00-9:50 pm
Erin Wilding-Martin & Brian
Mercer
Martha Makowski
[email protected]
[email protected]
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Average
Attitude Scale N: Male N: Female difference (s.e.)
p-value (diff≠0)
Motivation
22
38
0.283
(0.127)
0.030
Enjoyment
24
35
0.276
(0.142)
0.057
Value
21
33
0.211
(0.119)
0.082
Confidence
22
27
0.148
(0.171)
0.392
COMPLETERS VS. NONCOMPLETERS
Motivation
Enjoyment
Value
Confidence
N: Pre-survey
only*
28
27
24
25
N: Both pre- &
post-survey*
62
63
61
57
Average difference (s.e.)
0.261 (0.175)
0.236 (0.170)
0.052 (0.144)
0.363 (0.198)
p-value (diff ≠0)
0.1391
0.1682
0.7194
0.0707
* Each subscale was composed of multiple items for which a student needed complete data in order to
have a valid subscale score. As a result, the sample size for each subscale varies depending on how many
individuals had complete data on that subscale.
COURSE EVALUATION
ITEMS
• There were also a few evaluation items on both the pre-post surveys asking about previous math class
experiences and about how they like the class. The first three questions were on the pre-survey; the rest
were on the post-survey.
• Here, low scores (1 or 2) correspond with “Agree” and high scores (4 or 5) correspond with “Disagree.”
Item statement
In my previous math classes, the teacher usually lectured
for most of the class period.
In my previous math classes, we worked in groups almost
every day.
I liked how my previous math classes were taught.
This course made me think about mathematics differently
than I had before
I enjoyed this course more than most of my prior math
classes.
I found the format of this class frustrating
I would take another mathematics class that was taught
the way this one was.
In this class, the teacher usually lectured for most of the
class period.
In this class, we worked in groups almost every day.
I like how this math clas was taught.
N
Average Item Score
(s.d.)
95
2.337
(1.058)
93
3.699
(1.101)
94
2.660
(1.103)
67
2.388
(0.953)
65
2.415
(1.044)
67
3.254
(1.078)
67
2.761
(1.715)
66
4.076
(0.950)
67
67
1.299
3.149
(0.551)
(4.797)
SOME OTHER SURVEY
DEMOGRAPHICS

The table below compares the demographics of those who took only the pre-survey
(with the assumption that this group closely overlaps with the students in the class who
did not complete it) and those who took both surveys (assuming this group closely
matches those who did complete the class).
Race
White
Black
Hispanic
Asian
Other
Total
White
Black
Hispanic
Asian
Other
Total
Took pre-survey only
Male (%)
Female (%)
4 (13.8)
4 (13.8)
15 (51.7)
6 (20.7)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
19 (65.5)
10 (34.5)
Took both surveys
Male (%)
Female (%)
19 (30.2)
25 (39.7)
4 (6.3)
4 (6.3)
0 (0.0)
5 (7.9)
0 (0.0)
5 (7.9)
1 (1.6)
0 (0.0)
24 (38.1)
39 (61.9)
Total %
(27.6)
(72.4)
(0.0)
(0.0)
(0.0)
Total %
(69.8)
(12.7)
(7.9)
(7.9)
(1.6)
• The differences between those who
only took the pre-survey and who
took both surveys is note-worthy in
that the students who don’t make it
to the end are more likely to be
male or black.
• I’m not sure if these are significant
differences—trying to program the
correctly into the stats program I
am using is taking longer than some
of the other tests I have done.