High Fidelity Teaching: Understanding the Significance of Stereotype Threat in Mathematics

Engagement is an essential element to learning. Why is it so difficult to engage some learners --especially in mathematics? This interactive session will focus on strategies for engaging all learners for optimal learning with special consideration given to ‘stereotype threat’ and ‘fixed mindset’ as potential barriers to engagement in mathematics, particularly for diverse learners.

Why do students not engage with mathematics in the U.S.? Many explanations exist:

• Students just don't care and/or aren't motivated
• Parents don't care
• Students lack ability
• Poor teaching methods in schools/universities
• Foundational knowledge is lacking

I provide an alternative to the common themes above: Stereotype Threat and explore the following:

• What is Stereotype Threat Theory?
•  Fascinating research
• Who is affected? 
• What are the effects of Stereotype Threat?
• What can we do about it?

Here is the link to my presentation for Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics 2014:

http://bit.ly/MCTMStereotype
 

High Fidelity Teaching

High Fidelity Teaching: Fine-tuning for Engaging Learners in Mathematics

It's Math in Action time again! This year my presentation theme is High Fidelity Teaching: Fine-tuning for Engaging Learners in Mathematics and looks at Stereotype Threat and Mindset. The slide deck is at the bottom of this post. Here is a link to a Google Drive folder with resources:  http://bit.ly/MIA14-hft

We know engaging students with mathematics in the United States is difficult. According to Jo Boaler and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 50% of students are in 2 year colleges and 70% of those students are in remedial math classes, essentially repeating high school math. Only 1 in 10 complete those remedial math courses, the other 90% leave college.

We can't wait until college; we must engage students as early as possible!

How can we work to engage students at an early age with mathematics? My presentation addresses three topics that can help with "fine-tuning" instruction to impact student engagement:

1) Intentional teaching practices that work to develop positive mathematical dispositions, such as implementing the CCSS-M Standards for Mathematical Practice (developed from the NCTM Process Standards & Adding It Up--if you don't like the CCSS-M, use one of those sources);

2) Awareness and prevention of Stereotype Threat; and

3) Intentional teaching that promotes a Growth Mindset.

Click to view 

Resources for Developing Number Sense

I just finished "How to Learn Math", my first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) with Dr. Jo Boaler, a math education specialist from Stanford University, and author of What's Math got to do With It? I'll be writing more about what I learned in future posts, but wanted to share these links first. Below are some resources that Jo shared for developing number sense from one of her graduate students, Dan Meyer: 

motion math
Conceptua Math
Buzz Math
ST Math
Refraction
Link to Maria Anderson's blog post for more great resources
Center for Game Science

Here are a few more that I found yesterday:

TERC  If you click on the "Products and Publications" page, there are several dozen more links to amazing resources. I've posted the link to one of them "Mixing in Math", because it's great for parents.
Mixing in Math
Contexts for Learning
Beyond Facts & Flashcards

If you have additional resources, I invite you to post them in the comments.

MCTM 13 Playing with the Common Core

Wonderful, flexible participants!

This week I had the opportunity to revise my presentation "Playing with the Common Core", and present it at the Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Conference (MCTM) in Traverse City. One of those revisions was co-presenting with my husband and GVSU mathematics educator, David Coffey.

Other revisions included changing the schema activation, refining the focus on the Standards for Mathematical Practice from the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, reducing the number of games during the activity, and adjusting the final organizing and integrating activity. And, since I just finished Thinking Collaborative's Adaptive Schools training, I added some things I learned about being a better facilitator.

Luckily, my worst fears--that no one would attend our session, the desks in the room would be the old fashioned slanted type, and that Dave would talk too long--did not come to pass. Instead, we planned for 30 participants and had 70+ in a room designed for about 32! We made some on-the-spot adjustments and were so thankful that our participants were all extremely flexible and understanding. I thank all of you again.

Here is the link to my Dropbox folder for this presentation. Directions for all three games are in the folder, as well as my PowerPoint slides, CCSSM Content Standards for K-2 and the CCSSM Standards for Mathematical Practice. Several of the game items used in the session are copyrighted and therefore are not in the folder. Links for additional games can be found in my original post Playing With the Common Core. If you have any questions about any of the games, please contact me directly via email.

Early Number Sense

One in five adults in the United States is functionally innumerate; they do not possess the mathematical competencies needed for many modern jobs.  (Geary,  Hoard, Nugent, & Bailey,  2013).

In the three sections of MTH 222, Mathematics for Elementary Teachers II, that I'm teaching this semester at Grand Valley State University, my students are learning about research-based games that help elementary students develop number sense and gain a conceptual understanding of place value. An article in the Education Week blog Inside School Research features the results of a longitudinal study published in the current edition of the online journal, PLoS ONE. The study found that number sense is a better predictor of students' later math achievement than counting or other speed-based measures. The authors go on to conclude that "first grade number system knowledge predicts seventh grade functional numeracy" (Geary et al., 2013). As teachers, we must be prepared to assess and evaluate our student's early number sense. And, more importantly, provide appropriate intervention experiences that immerse our students in rich experiences that expand their early understandings of the relationships between numbers.

So, tonight I was doing a Google search for games that promote number sense--in particular a game called Part-Whole Bingo from Contexts for Learning Mathematics Investigating Number Sense, Addition and Subtraction. I came across a blog post I wrote on 'Mrs. Coffey's Classroom Blog' a few years ago when I was teaching 1st grade at Edgewood Elementary school at Fruitport Community Schools. What a wonderful surprise!

Here is the photo I posted on that blog on February 26, 2010.

I'll be using this game, as well as a few others, in my presentation at the  Math In Action 2013 Conference this Saturday at GVSU and introducing it to my pre-service teachers in class next week.

Geary DC, Hoard MK, Nugent L, Bailey DH (2013) Adolescents’ Functional Numeracy Is Predicted by Their School Entry Number System Knowledge. PLoS ONE 8(1): e54651. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054651

Nitpicking??

Really?? Do Sal Khan and his supporters really understand where the word "nitpicking" came from? I know it's used informally as an adjective to suggest that one is looking for small or unimportant errors or faults. But I also know nitpicking, literally, is critical for student success.

Almost a month ago two math education professors from Grand Valley State University released a video they made satirizing one of the Khan Academy videos on multiplying and dividing integers. They highlight both mathematical and pedagogical concerns.

If you want to see the entire history, check out this Storify page by Audrey Watters. If you're wondering "what were these guys thinking??", check out these blog posts by Dave Coffey*.

Khan's initial response was to pull the video in question and post an updated video. He also commented on Justin Reich's Education Week blog post entitled Don't Use Khan Academy without Watching this First:

We at the Khan Academy really appreciate the feedback from you and your colleagues regarding videos that could use improvement.

But, a few days later he was quoted in a piece by the Chronicle of Higher Education:

. . . so it's kind of weird when people are nitpicking about multiplying negative numbers.

What really struck me in Khan's comments to the Chronicle, was the word "nitpicking". He's not alone in suggesting that those who find errors in his videos are nitpicking. Many comments made by Khan supporters also suggest these two professors are nitpicking and, just today, Teach for America had a blog post that also dismissed critiques of Khan Academy videos as "nitpicking".

Picture Courtesy: Medline Plus

Nitpicking is, unfortunately a very common occurrence in elementary schools. Over the years, I have had a number of students who reported to the office daily for nitpicking. It was the only way we were able to keep them in school, because in Michigan, students can be in school with nits, but not with live lice. If you don't get rid of the nits, AKA nitpicking, the live bugs hatch, multiply and spread to others.

So, maybe it's a good idea that someone is "nitpicking" Khan Academy videos. If Khan doesn't find and correct the little, seemingly unimportant errors (nits), the millions of viewers that he reports watch his videos from around the world may find they've developed critical misconceptions, kind of like having the nits hatch into live bugs.

*Full disclosure, I am married to Dave Coffey. Don't let the lame satire fool you, he's really a nice guy. :)