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Wilson, Boyd L. Plantholt Michael. "The development and evaluation of an instructional program in statistical literacy for use in post-secondary education." Normal, Ill. Illinois State University, 1994. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ilstu/fullcit?p9521347.
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Thesis (D.A.)--Illinois State University, 1994.<br>Title from title page screen, viewed April 18, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Michael J. Plantholt (chair), Kenneth N. Berk, John A. Dossey, Graham A. Jones, Patricia H. Klass. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-96) and abstract. Also available in print.
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Chedister, Matthew. "The effects of a professional development program on teachers' beliefs and teaching of mathematical proofs." Thesis, Boston University, 2013. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/10961.
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Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University<br>Although proof is a primary way that people communicate mathematically, it is not a strand of mathematics that is well taught in schools. Little research has been done on how professional development programs might improve this teaching. This study investigated the effects of a professional development program on in-service geometry teachers' beliefs and teaching practices of proof. Six participants in a high school participated in a 20 hour professional development program. All participants took part in pre- and post- interviews. In addition, two participants had their classes observed before and after the professional development program when they were teaching proof.
In order to describe how the participants' beliefs and teaching practices changed after the professional development, the interviews were coded using a frame work from Knuth (2002a, 2002b). Classroom observations were coded using the Instructional Quality Analysis Rubric (Junker, 2006). Changes were then mapped onto the Interconnected Growth Model (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002). Results showed that after the professional development program, the participants stated they felt that it was important to include inductive reasoning components in proof tasks to create insight and provide motivation for formal proof writing. Classroom observations showed that the participants were attempting to implement such tasks in their classrooms but their level of implementation varied and depended highly on their beliefs prior to the professional development program.
Future research will use the results of this study to modify the professional development program and implement it with a new cohort of teachers. Also, future research will analyze similar professional development programs in other courses of mathematics such as Algebra 1 and middle school mathematics.
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Sriwiriyarat, Tongchai. "Computer Program Development for the Design of IFAS Wastewater Treatment Processes." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/32065.
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The Integrated Film Activated Sludge Process (IFAS) was developed to reduce the cost of additional facilities required to complete year round nitrification in the design of new or retrofit wastewater treatment plants. The purpose of this project was to develop a computer-based mechanistic model, called IFAS, which can be used as a tool by scientists and engineers to optimize their designs and to troubleshoot a full-scale treatment plant. The program also can be employed to assist researchers conducting their studies of IFAS wastewater treatment processes. IFAS enables the steady-state simulation of nitrification-denitrification processes as well as carbonaceous removal in systems utilizing integrated media, but this current version supports only sponge type media. The IFAS program was developed by incorporating empirical equations for integrated biofilm carbonaceous uptake and nitrification developed by Sen and Randall (1995) into the general activated sludge model, developed by the International Association on Water Quality (IAWQ, previously known as IAWRC), plus the biological phosphorus removal model of Wentzel et al (1989). The calibration and evaluation of the IFAS model was performed using existing data from both an IFAS system and a conventional activated sludge bench-scale plant operated over a wide range of Aerobic Mean Cell Residence Times (Aerobic MCRT's). The model developed provides a good fit and a reasonable prediction of the experimental data for both the IFAS and the conventional pilot-scale systems. The phosphorus removal component of the model has not yet been calibrated because of insufficient data and the lack of adequately defined parameters.<br>Master of Science
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Ackerman, Charlotte Christene. "Providing mechanical support for program development in a weakest precondition calculus." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/79317.
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Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 1993.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Formal methods aim to apply the rigour of mathematical logic to the problem ofguaranteeing that the behaviour of (critical) software conforms to predetermined requirements. The application of formal methods during program construction centers around a formal specification of the required behaviour of the program. A development attempt is successful if the resulting program can be formally proven to conform to its specification. For any substantial program, this entails a great deal of effort. Thus, some research efforts have been directed at providing mechanical support for the application of formal methods to software development. E.W. Dijkstra's calculus of weakest precondition predicate transformers [39,38] represents one of the first attempts to use program correctness requirements to guide program development in a formal manner.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Formele metodes poog om die strengheid van wiskundige logika te gebruik om te waarborg dat die gedrag van (kritiese) programmatuur voldoen aan gegewe vereistes. Die toepassing van formele metodes tydens programontwikkeling sentreer rondom a formele spesifikasie van die verlangde programgedrag. 'n Ontwikkelingspoging is suksesvol as daar formee1 bewys kan word dat die resulterende program aan sy spesifikasie voldoen. Vir enige substansiële program, verteenwoordig dit ‘n aansienlike hoeveelheid werk. Verskeie navorsinspoging is gerig op die daarstelling van meganiese ondersteuning vir die gebruik van formele metodes tydens ontwikkeling van sagteware. E. W. Dijkstra se calculus van swakste voorkondisie (“weakest precondition”) predikaattransformators [39,38] is een van die eerste pogings om vereistes vir programkorrektheid op ‘n formele en konstruktiewe wyse tydens programontwikkeling te gebruik.
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Hayata, Carole Anne. "The Development of Algebraic Reasoning in Undergraduate Elementary Preservice Teachers." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2012. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc177211/.
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Although studies of teacher preparation programs have documented positive changes in mathematical knowledge for teaching with preservice teachers in mathematics content courses, this study focused on the impact of a mathematics methods course and follow-up student teaching assignment. The presumption was that preservice teachers would show growth in their mathematical knowledge during methods since the course was structured around active participation in mathematics, research-based pedagogy, and was concurrent with a two-day-per-week field experience in a local elementary school. Survey instruments utilized the computer adaptive test version of the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) measures from the Learning Mathematics for Teaching Project, and the Attitudes and Beliefs (towards mathematics) survey from the Mathematical Education of Elementary Teachers Project. A piecewise growth model analysis was conducted on data collected from 176 participants at 5 time-points (methods, 3 time-points; student teaching, 2 time-points) over a 9 month period. Although the participants' demographics were typical of U.S. undergraduate preservice teachers, findings suggest that initial low-level of mathematical knowledge, and a deep-rooted belief that there is only one way to solve mathematics problems, limited the impact of the methods and student teaching courses. The results from this study indicate that in (a) number sense, there was no significant change during methods (p = .392), but a significant decrease during student teaching (p < .001), and in (b) algebraic thinking, there was a significant decrease during methods (p < .001), but no significant change during student teaching (p = .653). Recommendations include that the minimum teacher preparation program entry requirements for mathematical knowledge be raised and that new teachers participate in continued professional development emphasizing both mathematical content knowledge and reform-based pedagogy to continue to peel away deep-rooted beliefs towards mathematics.
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Bowers, Stephen. "The development of a mathematical model and computer program for simulating the injection moulding of thermosetting elastomer materials." Thesis, Loughborough University, 1990. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/10440.
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A mathematical model for the simulation of the injection moulding of thermosetting elastomers has been developed. The model uses suitably reduced forms of the fundamental equations of continuity, momentum and energy as a basis, with a constitutive equation to describe how the elastomer viscosity varies with local flow conditions. A cure model is used to calculate cure levels during the injection phase, and the time taken for the final moulded component to reach a specified minimum cure level during the subsequent cure cycle. Moulds are defined by splitting the various elastomer flowpaths into a network of end to end connected geometric entities of simple cross section, for instance circular, rectangular and annular. The moulds elements are discretised using a finite difference mesh and the equations which comprise the model are cast into a suitable finite difference form for solution. Solution of the continuity and momentum equations involves numerical integration using the trapezoidal rule and the energy equation is solved using a fully implicit Crank Nicholson method, since this gives unconditional stability. The model also allows for a wall slip boundary condition. The flow model has been experimentally validated by simulating an extrusion rheometer and comparing predicted capillary pressure drops with measured ones. It has also been validated by comparing real injection moulding pressure drops with corresponding predictions. The cure simulation has been validated by comparing predicted cure times with measured cure times taken during the injection moulding trials. The effect of the variation of material properties, heat transfer coefficient and finite difference mesh geometric parameters on simulated results have been assessed. The effect of wall slip on simulated injection results has been investigated.
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Gill, Mandeep Singh. "Application of software engineering methodologies to the development of mathematical biological models." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:35178f3a-7951-4f1c-aeab-390cdd622b05.
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Mathematical models have been used to capture the behaviour of biological systems, from low-level biochemical reactions to multi-scale whole-organ models. Models are typically based on experimentally-derived data, attempting to reproduce the observed behaviour through mathematical constructs, e.g. using Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) for spatially-homogeneous systems. These models are developed and published as mathematical equations, yet are of such complexity that they necessitate computational simulation. This computational model development is often performed in an ad hoc fashion by modellers who lack extensive software engineering experience, resulting in brittle, inefficient model code that is hard to extend and reuse. Several Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) exist to aid capturing such biological models, including CellML and SBML; however these DSLs are designed to facilitate model curation rather than simplify model development. We present research into the application of techniques from software engineering to this domain; starting with the design, development and implementation of a DSL, termed Ode, to aid the creation of ODE-based biological models. This introduces features beneficial to model development, such as model verification and reproducible results. We compare and contrast model development to large-scale software development, focussing on extensibility and reuse. This work results in a module system that enables the independent construction and combination of model components. We further investigate the use of software engineering processes and patterns to develop complex modular cardiac models. Model simulation is increasingly computationally demanding, thus models are often created in complex low-level languages such as C/C++. We introduce a highly-efficient, optimising native-code compiler for Ode that generates custom, model-specific simulation code and allows use of our structured modelling features without degrading performance. Finally, in certain contexts the stochastic nature of biological systems becomes relevant. We introduce stochastic constructs to the Ode DSL that enable models to use Stochastic Differential Equations (SDEs), the Stochastic Simulation Algorithm (SSA), and hybrid methods. These use our native-code implementation and demonstrate highly-efficient stochastic simulation, beneficial as stochastic simulation is highly computationally intensive. We introduce a further DSL to model ion channels declaratively, demonstrating the benefits of DSLs in the biological domain. This thesis demonstrates the application of software engineering methodologies, and in particular DSLs, to facilitate the development of both deterministic and stochastic biological models. We demonstrate their benefits with several features that enable the construction of large-scale, reusable and extensible models. This is accomplished whilst providing efficient simulation, creating new opportunities for biological model development, investigation and experimentation.
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Miles, Sandra Jennifer. "Sensory and Motor Interventions for Very Early School-age Children: a Cluster Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial Examining Effect on Development, Behaviour and Academic Learning Outcomes." Thesis, Australian Catholic University, 2018. https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/download/7a01e0af69ee176b895a5b0693e2e0868cef838dbdaa90830a779a2994c8d835/2059817/MILES_2018_Sensory_and_motor_interventions_for_very.pdf.
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Sensory and motor interventions are implemented in schools with the aim to improve children's development, behaviour and academic learning outcomes, albeit with limited research evidence of effect. These are particularly used as an early intervention with very early school-age children in an effort to ease the transition to formal schooling and enhance school readiness. This thesis presents a six-phase study undertaken to examine the effect of one such intervention. The aim of this study was to determine any effect from a mixed sensorimotor and sensory integration group intervention, on early academic skills and cognitive, behavioural and socioemotional development of very early school-age children in the school setting, by using a two-year, un-blinded, cluster randomized controlled trial.
A scoping exercise undertaken in Phase 1 determined the nature and extent of intervention use within schools in the study setting. A literature review, undertaken as Phase 2, identified a variety of intervention types and approaches, narrowing the focus to those using an impairment-orientation approach to intervention, with particular focus on those using a sensory integration frame of reference or mixed sensorimotor approach. A scoping review of published and unpublished research trials of interventions, undertaken in Phase 3, identified a suitable intervention to use in a research trial. The Learning Connections School Program is classifiable as a mixed sensorimotor and sensory integration group intervention using an impairment-orientation approach, where some type of learning, behavioural or developmental impairment is assumed for many children within the general school population.
In Phase 4, an evaluative literature review determined suitable measurement instruments to use in a trial. The Astronaut Invented Spelling Test (2nd ed.) and the Sutherland Phonological Awareness Test – Revised were selected for their Australian norms, low cost and high usability to measure early language skills. The Draw a Person test met suitability requirements to measure cognition, with universal norms, use in international research, high usability and low cost. The Behavior Assessment System for Children (2nd ed.) - Teacher Rating Scales was selected for its high technical adequacy, excellent computerised scoring and familiarity to members of the research team. Two sets of brief, multiple-proficiency mathematics measures, Early Mathematics Concepts A and B (EMCA, EMCB), were specifically developed for this study. These included mathematical computation concepts suitable to the two age-groups in the trial. A pilot study undertaken in Phase 5 enabled pilot-testing of the selected instruments and intervention in the study setting, to confirm the suitability and feasibility of their use within the study setting for a research trial.
In Phase 6, a two-year cluster pragmatic un-blinded randomised controlled trial was conducted in 2012 and 2013. Schools (n = 116) in one large Catholic Church Archdiocese in Brisbane, Queensland with at least one Prep class, the first year of formal schooling, were eligible to participate in the research trial, with recruitment via email invitation to School Principals. Ethical approval was obtained from the Australian Catholic University Human Research Ethics Committee and further approval for a research trial was obtained from Brisbane Catholic Education. School principals, teachers and parents provided consent to participate, while assent from children was also sought as a form of respect and engagement. Following consent, 480 children across ten schools participated. The intervention, The Learning Connections School Program, was implemented for 20 minutes daily in the classroom by the trained class teacher for the intervention arm (n = 286), while children in the control arm (n = 194) attended schooling as usual (no intervention).
Multivariable analysis using the Generalized Estimating Equations modelling approach and accounting for the effects of clustering and time, showed a positive effect for intervention on two mathematics skills measures (EMCA, EMCB). Children in the intervention arm were significantly more likely to have higher scores in mathematics compared to those in the control arm (p < 0.05). Despite a relatively large incidence-rate ratio for EMCA (3.9, 95%CI 1.45-11.02), the crude effect of the intervention on math scores was small (Cohen’s d=0.21). No effect was seen for gender, location, school socioeconomic/educational advantage score, or on measures of early language development, drawing or developmental and behavioural outcomes, despite anecdotal teacher reports of enhanced school-readiness. This study adds Level 1.c evidence in regard to such interventions in school settings. The practical significance of small absolute differences in test scores needs to be considered with regard to intervention funding in each school setting. Despite being a group, low-cost, easy-to-implement early intervention, it is difficult to recommend sensorimotor interventions based on such limited evidence of effect. Further research should focus on visuospatial integration, which may influence mathematical achievement, and specific school-readiness intervention effects.
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Richman, Jessica. "Quantitative approaches to the network problem in program design and evaluation : case study, entrepreneurship." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:6b454558-e7db-4e40-ac90-2fce912c916f.
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Many billions of dollars each year are spent in pursuit of economic and social development goals. The field of program evaluation aims to measure the efficacy of these programs and allocate funds to achieve optimal results. However, current research on program design and evaluation tends to focus on determining causality through complex statistical methods, neglecting intermediate measures of data, such as network metrics. Similarly, research in computational social science has focused on generating hypotheses and validating theory rather than economic development applications. This thesis develops a novel technique for using computational social science to design and evaluate social and economic programs. A framework for program design and evaluation using network metrics is presented, along with two case studies that illustrate the use of this technique. In the first, we consider Start-Up Chile, an economic development program whose goal is to foster networks between Chileans and international entrepreneurs, using network metrics to evaluate its ability to facilitate connection between Chilean and non- Chilean entrepreneurs. Second, an agent-based model for designing entrepreneurial incubators is developed, with novel conclusions for more efficient design of economic development programs.
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Thames, Geoffrey, and Geoffrey Thames. "Effects of Peer Tutoring on Passing Developmental Mathematics." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/624554.
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The cost of remediation is high, for both postsecondary institutions (Pain, 2016) and the students who are enrolled in developmental math courses (Attewell et al., 2006). Academic support services such as tutoring, have been associated with positive student outcomes in developmental math (Bonham & Boylan, 2012). The Learning Center is a fee for service program at a four-year postsecondary institution that provides comprehensive academic support services for students with learning and attention challenges. Little is known, however, if these types of support services are effective for students with learning and attention challenges. Thus, a program evaluation study was conducted on the effectiveness of tutoring services at the Learning Center. Specific research questions are (a) What is the effect of peer tutoring on the incidence of passing developmental math? (b) How do students with learning and attention challenges engage with on-campus academic support services?
Four cohorts of developmental math students from fall semesters 2012 through 2015 were examined in this cross-sectional study, which consisted of 182 complete cases. Variables to conduct this program study included a binary outcome of passing the developmental math course, and the primary independent variable of math tutoring usage at the Learning Center. Controls variables included student demographic information, prior academic achievement in mathematics, and student usage of additional available academic support services on campus and at the Learning Center.
A logistic regression analysis revealed that usage of math tutoring at the Learning Center was not an effective intervention. Nearly half of the students did not engage in math tutoring services at the Learning Center. Engagement with tutoring for other subjects at the Learning Center was significantly related to the outcome with an eight percent increase in the likelihood of passing the developmental math course for each additional hour of usage χ2 (1, n = 182) = 10.43, p = .001. Prior academic achievement in math also was significantly related with the likelihood of passing developmental math χ2 (1, n = 182) = 10.1, p = .001 with an increased odds of 78 percent for every one standard deviation increase in math performance on a standardized math exam. Thus, student characteristics such as prior academic achievement in math and engagement with other academic support services were indicators of passing developmental mathematics. Recommendations for adjusting future academic support intervention efforts at the Learning Center for developmental math based upon the unique characteristics of these students are provided as a result of these findings.
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Bishop, Courtney Alexandra. "Development and application of image analysis techniques to study structural and metabolic neurodegeneration in the human hippocampus using MRI and PET." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:2549bad2-432f-4d0e-8878-be9cce6ae0d2.
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Despite the association between hippocampal atrophy and a vast array of highly debilitating neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration, tools to accurately and robustly quantify the degeneration of this structure still largely elude us. In this thesis, we firstly evaluate previously-developed hippocampal segmentation methods (FMRIB’s Integrated Registration and Segmentation Tool (FIRST), Freesurfer (FS), and three versions of a Classifier Fusion (CF) technique) on two clinical MR datasets, to gain a better understanding of the modes of success and failure of these techniques, and to use this acquired knowledge for subsequent method improvement (e.g., FIRSTv3). Secondly, a fully automated, novel hippocampal segmentation method is developed, termed Fast Marching for Automated Segmentation of the Hippocampus (FMASH). This combined region-growing and atlas-based approach uses a 3D Sethian Fast Marching (FM) technique to propagate a hippocampal region from an automatically-defined seed point in the MR image. Region growth is dictated by both subject-specific intensity features and a probabilistic shape prior (or atlas). Following method development, FMASH is thoroughly validated on an independent clinical dataset from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), with an investigation of the dependency of such atlas-based approaches on their prior information. In response to our findings, we subsequently present a novel label-warping approach to effectively account for the detrimental effects of using cross-dataset priors in atlas-based segmentation. Finally, a clinical application of MR hippocampal segmentation is presented, with a combined MR-PET analysis of wholefield and subfield hippocampal changes in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. This thesis therefore contributes both novel computational tools and valuable knowledge for further neurological investigations in both the academic and the clinical field.
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Merry, Alexander. "Reasoning with !-graphs." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:416c2e6d-2932-4220-8506-50e6b403b660.
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The aim of this thesis is to present an extension to the string graphs of Dixon, Duncan and Kissinger that allows the finite representation of certain infinite families of graphs and graph rewrite rules, and to demonstrate that a logic can be built on this to allow the formalisation of inductive proofs in the string diagrams of compact closed and traced symmetric monoidal categories. String diagrams provide an intuitive method for reasoning about monoidal categories. However, this does not negate the ability for those using them to make mistakes in proofs. To this end, there is a project (Quantomatic) to build a proof assistant for string diagrams, at least for those based on categories with a notion of trace. The development of string graphs has provided a combinatorial formalisation of string diagrams, laying the foundations for this project. The prevalence of commutative Frobenius algebras (CFAs) in quantum information theory, a major application area of these diagrams, has led to the use of variable-arity nodes as a shorthand for normalised networks of Frobenius algebra morphisms, so-called "spider notation". This notation greatly eases reasoning with CFAs, but string graphs are inadequate to properly encode this reasoning. This dissertation firstly extends string graphs to allow for variable-arity nodes to be represented at all, and then introduces !-box notation – and structures to encode it – to represent string graph equations containing repeated subgraphs, where the number of repetitions is abitrary. This can be used to represent, for example, the "spider law" of CFAs, allowing two spiders to be merged, as well as the much more complex generalised bialgebra law that can arise from two interacting CFAs. This work then demonstrates how we can reason directly about !-graphs, viewed as (typically infinite) families of string graphs. Of particular note is the presentation of a form of graph-based induction, allowing the formal encoding of proofs that previously could only be represented as a mix of string diagrams and explanatory text.
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Vlad, Monica. "Development and Aplication of Mathematical Programs for Contribution Analysis in Life Cycle Assessment." Thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-9982.
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<p>The environmental impact of a final product can be regarded as the sum of the impacts of all processes needed to obtain it. The impacts of these processes in all individual layers of production can be quantified using contribution analysis methods. SPA is an advanced method used to identify the chain of production processes linking the most highly emitting process with the final product. This analysis was performed in Matlab, using a specialized algorithm developed by Peters and Hertwich in 1996. In this thesis we test an interdisciplinary approach combining LCA and operational research methods for doing a SPA. A mixed integer program was developed and implemented in Gams. The performance of this generalized algorithm was benchmarked against the specialized algorithm for three test cases performed on three databases of increasing complexity. The results suggest the advantage of this algorithm in performing analysis on sparse data systems compared with the classic method involving Matlab. However, Matlabs specialized algorithm performs better for dense data systems. Many of the requirements and limitations imposed by the software involved in different steps have proved manageable. This study proves that mathematical programming can be a very useful tool for contribution analysis in general and SPA in particular.</p>
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Lindvall, Jannika. "Critical features and impacts of mathematics teacher professional development programs : Comparing and characterizing programs implemented at scale." Doctoral thesis, Mälardalens högskola, Utbildningsvetenskap och Matematik, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-37298.
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The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the knowledge base on conceptualizations and impacts of teacher professional development (PD) programs. This is done by studying the case of two large-scale teacher PD programs. The first was mandatory for all public elementary school mathematics teachers in a larger Swedish municipality, and the second has been completed by 76% of all elementary school mathematics teachers in Sweden. In the municipality, and during the time frame in which this study was conducted, it was possible to make a comparison between teachers participating in different programs. Data on the programs’ impacts on teachers, instruction, and student achievement were gathered both immediately and one year after the teachers’ participation in one of them. In other words, the context of the study created an opportunity to respond to recent calls for studies that (a) examine the impacts of PD programs implemented on a larger scale, (b) adhere to PD programs’ impacts on teachers, instruction, and student achievement, (c) examine the sustainability of PD programs’ impacts, and (d) attend to variations within and between PD programs’ impacts. The results show that the studied programs are highly similar if characterized according to established research frameworks on what constitutes critical features of teacher PD. At the same time, they demonstrate different impacts, both between the programs and within them. These results suggested an elaboration of two of the five critical features of teacher PD: Content Focus and Coherence. Through the development and application of a more finely grained tool to characterize the programs’ Content Focus, differences between their characteristics were detected. Together with a systematic review of the PD research literature on Coherence, these results formed a basis for discussing plausible reasons for the difference in the programs’ impacts as well as elaborating on the critical features of Content Focus and Coherence. In summary, the thesis contributes: (a) empirical results in relation to large-scale teacher PD programs’ impacts; (b) methodological results in the form of tools for characterizing PD programs’ Content Focus and Coherence; and (c) theoretical results, as it examines established frameworks for characterizing teacher PD programs by using them in practice and, in light of the results, also suggests an elaboration of them.<br>I denna avhandling har två storskaliga kompetensutvecklingsprogram (KUP) för lärare använts som fall för att bidra till kunskap om kritiska aspekter av sådana program samt deras inverkan på lärare, undervisning och elevresultat. Det första programmet, Räkna med Västerås (RäV), var obligatoriskt för alla kommunala grundskolelärare som undervisade i matematik i kommunen. Det andra programmet, Matematiklyftet, har genomförts av 76 % av alla grundskolelärare i Sverige som undervisar i matematik. Under den tidsperiod som studien genomfördes var det möjligt att göra en jämförelse mellan programmen, då det vid tillfället fanns lärare i kommunen som antingen deltagit i RäV, Matematiklyftet, eller inget program alls. Data gällande programmens inverkan på lärare, undervisning och elevresultat samlades in både direkt och ett år efter lärarnas deltagande. Med andra ord gjorde studiens kontext det möjligt att svara upp mot nyliga uppmaningar om att det behövs fler studier som studerar: (a) inverkan av KUP som genomförts i större skala, (b) KUPs inverkan på lärare, undervisning och elevresultat, (c) KUPs långsiktiga inverkan, och (d) variationen mellan olika KUPs inverkan. Resultaten visar att de studerade programmen är ytterst lika om de karaktäriseras enligt etablerade ramverk om vad som utgör kritiska faktorer av KUP för lärare, samtidigt som de visar på olika inverkan på lärare, undervisning och elevresultat. I ljuset av dessa resultat föreslås en utveckling av två kritiska aspekter gällande KUP för lärare: innehållsfokus och samstämmighet. Genom att utveckla ett mer finkänsligt verktyg för att karaktärisera programmens innehållsfokus upptäcktes också skillnader mellan dem. Tillsammans med en systematisk litteraturöversikt av forskningslitteraturen kring ”samstämmighet” utgjorde dessa resultat en bas för att diskutera möjliga förklaringar till skillnaderna i programmens inverkan, samt en utveckling av de kritiska aspekterna innehållsfokus och samstämmighet. Sammantaget bidrar denna avhandling med: (a) empiriska resultat i förhållande till storskaliga KUPs inverkan, (b) metodologiska resultat i form av verktyg för att karaktärisera KUPs innehållsfokus och samstämmighet, och (c) teoretiska resultat då etablerade ramverk för att karaktärisera KUPs har studerats genom praktisk användning och i ljuset av resultaten föreslås även utvecklingar av dem.
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Washburn, Jr Mickey Newman. "Effects of an Advanced Mathematics Education Graduate Program on Teacher Practice." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2008. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/msit_diss/40.
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Public concern over the mathematical incompetence of students and adults is longstanding and justified. The No Child Left Behind act has affected the nation’s teachers, their school systems, and their communities. The act required all classrooms have a “highly-qualified teacher” by June, 2006 (United States Department of Education, 2002). Thus, the purpose of this evaluative case study was to understand if the unique National Board Certification (NBC) focused Educational Specialist (EdS) program was effective in creating change in teacher practice of six high school mathematics teachers in a suburban Georgia county. The learning outcomes of the program and perceptions of self-efficacy were evaluated and used as guidelines for the effectiveness of the program. The study was grounded in theories of metacognition, social constructivism, and self-efficacy. Metacognition provided the basis for “thinking about thinking” (McApline, Weston, et al, 1999) but reflection expanded the thought process to thinking about thinking or actions. Reflections were an integral for each of the constructs of the EdS program and this dissertation. Data for the study included written teacher reflections, action research projects, and mentoring manuals; in addition to interviews three years after the program. Data were coded and analyzed through a process of constant comparison using the NVivo 7 software. The findings at each stage of analysis, which were halfway through the program, end of the program, and three years after the program, indicate the five constructs metacognition, social constructivism, self-efficacy, community of learners, and action research were common across data sets. Four of the five constructs became more prevalent at each stage of analysis with only action research peaking prior to the third stage. The patterns developed during the study indicated long-term change in teacher practice and these constructs solidified as part of their teaching philosophy.
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Mirian-Hosseinabadi, Seyed-Hassan. "Constructive Z." Thesis, University of Essex, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.339239.
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Harris, Miles. "Assessing the impact of developmental mathematics on college students /." Connect to resource online, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1222193732.
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Huang, Dinglei. "Unpacking Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Decision Making When Designing Online Professional Development Programs." The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500050423009789.
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Palikareva, Hristina. "Techniques and tools for the verification of concurrent systems." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:fc2028e1-2a45-459a-afdd-70001893f3d8.
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Model checking is an automatic formal verification technique for establishing correctness of systems. It has been widely used in industry for analysing and verifying complex safety-critical systems in application domains such as avionics, medicine and computer security, where manual testing is infeasible and even minor errors could have dire consequences. In our increasingly parallelised world, concurrency has become pivotal and seamlessly woven within programming paradigms, however, extremely challenging when it comes to modelling and establishing correctness of intended behaviour. Tools for model checking concurrent systems face severe limitations due to scalability problems arising from the need to examine all possible interleavings (schedules) of executions of parallel components. Moreover, concurrency poses additional challenges to model checking, giving rise to phenomena such as nondeterminism, deadlock, livelock, etc. In this thesis we focus on adapting and developing novel model-checking techniques for concurrent systems in the setting of the process algebra CSP and its primary model checker FDR. CSP allows for a compact modelling and precise analysis of event-based concurrency, grounded on synchronous message passing as a fundamental mechanism of inter-component communication. In particular, we investigate techniques based on symbolic model checking, static analysis and abstraction, all of them exploiting the compositionality inherent in CSP and targeting to increase the scale of systems that can be tractably analysed. Firstly, we investigate symbolic model-checking techniques based on Boolean satisfiability (SAT), which we adapt for the traces model of CSP. We tailor bounded model checking (BMC), that can be used for bug detection, and temporal k-induction, which aims at establishing inductiveness of properties and is capable of both bug finding and establishing the correctness of systems. Secondly, we propose a static analysis framework for establishing livelock freedom of CSP processes, with lessons for other concurrent formalisms. As opposed to traditional exhaustive state-space exploration, our framework employs a system of rules on the syntax of a process to calculate a sound approximation of its fair/co-fair sets of events. The rules either safely classify a process as livelock-free or report inconclusiveness, thereby trading accuracy for speed. Finally, we develop a series of abstraction/refinement schemes for the traces, stable-failures and failures-divergences models of CSP and embed them into a fully automated and compositional CEGAR framework. For each of those techniques we present an implementation and an experimental evaluation on a set of CSP benchmarks.
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Graves, Kristi Rae. "A Mixed Method Analysis of The Ohio State University Mathematics Coaching Program Site Visits." Ashland University / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ashland1334796584.
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Taylor, Judy M. "The effects of a computerized-algebra program on mathematics achievement of college and university freshmen enrolled in a developmental mathematics course." Texas A&M University, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/4885.
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We face a world in which a college degree increasingly dictates the likelihood of
life success. At the same time, there has been an ever-increasing population of students
who have not been prepared adequately through their high school education to meet the
rigors of college/university-level content. This problem can be seen in the number of
students needing Intermediate Algebra. Students who complete remedial courses with a
grade of C or better are more likely to pass their first college-level mathematics course
and continue their education until they have completed all coursework needed for a
degree.
Students entering colleges and universities underprepared for collegiate
mathematics, reading, and writing have reached epidemic proportions, with 30% of the
students needing remediation in one of these areas. A portion of this problem has been
identified as mathematics anxiety. Because students have habituated mathematics
failure, they are aware of their deficiencies, but still desire a college education. They bring with them years of negative emotions from repeated mathematics failures. These
years of negative feelings about mathematics precipitated by repeated failures are often
manifested as mathematics anxiety that must be addressed in order to improve studentsâÂÂ
content knowledge.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of a web-based technology
centric course, Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS), on the
remediation of college freshmen enrolled in an Intermediate Algebra class as compared
to college freshmen enrolled in an Intermediate Algebra class taught using a traditional
lecture method. Mathematics anxiety and attitude toward mathematics will also be
investigated to determine if ALEKS can lower the anxiety associated with mathematics,
as well as improve attitudes. An algebra test, mathematics anxiety rating scale, and
mathematics attitude test was given to both groups of students at the beginning of the
semester and at the end of the semester.
The overall findings of this research suggested that ALEKS Intermediate Algebra
students performed as well as the Control group taking a class in Intermediate Algebra
taught by lecture. The anxiety of the Experimental group decreased more than the
Control group, and the Experimental groupâÂÂs attitude toward mathematics increased at a
greater rate than did the Control group.
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Costner, Kelly Mitchell. "The problem-solving approach to program evaluation : development and application in a mathematics context /." The Ohio State University, 2002. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1486461246816203.
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Steinitz, Dominic. "Formal specification to functional implementation : an application of mathematical techniques for the development of correct programs." Thesis, Kingston University, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.340508.
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van, Damme Myron. "Modelling embankment breaching due to overflow." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:57d0c96f-1a8a-4e00-82a4-585f3d337ad6.
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Correct modelling of embankment breach formation is essential for an accurate assessment of the associated flood risk. Modelling breach formation due to overflow requires a thorough understanding of the geotechnical processes in unsaturated soils as well as erosion processes under supercritical flow conditions. This thesis describes 1D slope stability analysis performed for unsaturated soils whose moisture content changes with time. The analysis performed shows that sediment-laden gravity flows play an important role in the erosion behaviour of embankments. The thesis also describes a practical, fast breach model based on a simplified description of the physical processes that can be used in modelling and decision support frameworks for flooding. To predict the breach hydrograph, the rapid model distinguishes between breach formation due to headcut erosion and surface erosion in the case of failure due to overflow. The model also predicts the breach hydrograph in the case of failure due to piping. The assumptions with respect to breach flow modelling are reviewed, and result in a new set of breadth-integrated Navier-Stokes equations, that account for wall shear stresses and a variable breadth geometry. The vertical 2D flow field described by the equations can be used to calculate accurately the stresses on the embankment during the early stages of breach formation. Pressure-correction methods are given for solving the 2D Navier-Stokes equations for a variable breadth, and good agreement is found when validating the flow model against analytical solutions.
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Bodie, Kathleen M. "The Impact Of A Math Mentoring Program To Prepare New Elementary Teachers To Teach Mathematics." Thesis, Boston College, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/633.
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Thesis advisor: Robert J. Starratt<br>This qualitative case study examined the effect the first year of an elementary mathematics induction program had on the mathematics content knowledge, pedagogical repertoire, confidence, classroom practice, and student achievement for six new elementary teachers in a suburban school district. The study also examined which components of this job-embedded professional development program influenced the teachers' practice the most. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with the six volunteer teachers, questionnaires, journals, and student assessment results. The major findings from the study showed that: (1) teachers' perception of their instructional practice, particularly their ability to question student thinking, math content knowledge, and confidence to teach mathematics improved as a result of the program; and, (2) teachers benefited the most from the opportunity to regularly observe their mentor teach a mathematics lesson, followed by the opportunity to discuss mathematics and related pedagogical issues with their cohort and mentor. Implications from the findings include the benefit of instituting content-focused, job-embedded professional development during a new teacher's first year in a district that provides regular opportunities for new teachers to observe a skilled veteran teacher teach mathematics lessons and to have peer discussions regarding the teaching of mathematics. Limitations of the study included the role of the Assistant Superintendent as researcher and developer of the program and the small sample size. Recommendations for future study include following: the effect on teaching practice after the second year in the math mentoring program; the effect of the program on mentors; the effect of mathematics self-efficacy on mathematics teaching self-efficacy and student achievement<br>Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2009<br>Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education<br>Discipline: Education and Higher Education
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Kangela, Nyameka. "A study of mathematics teacher identity as shaped through participation in a mathematics teacher professional development programme." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7832.
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There is an abundance of evidence suggesting that all is not well in mathematics education in South Africa. It is also common cause that the role of mathematics teachers is central to finding sustainable solutions to what is commonly referred to as a mathematics crisis. The purpose of this study is to explore the process of change in selected mathematics teachers’ identities as they participated in a mathematics teacher Professional Development Programme (PDP) at Rhodes University. The core of the PDP was a teacher enrichment programme called the Mathematics Teacher Enrichment Programme (MTEP), under the aegis of the First Rand Foundation (FRF) Mathematics Education Chair at Rhodes University. MTEP foregrounded and emphasized the teaching of mathematics for conceptual understanding. The research approach was qualitative, and it used elements of the methods associated with educational ethnography. The data was collected from five teachers from five different schools that participated in the FRF Maths Chair project. I used Wenger’s (1998) three modes of belonging to analyse the identities of the five participants. This was achieved through analysing the teachers’ practice with a particular focus on teaching for conceptual understanding. I used Sfard & Prusak’s (2005) framework to analyse the participants’ journey from an actual to a designated identity through their participation in MTEP. The participants’ changing sense of belonging to MTEP was a key element in transforming their practice to teaching for conceptual understanding. I assumed the role of a participant observer during MTEP sessions, and of an outside observer as a researcher.The study found that the selected teachers’ participation in the MTEP community of practice strongly encouraged them to accumulate shared histories of learning and teaching. The study found that as participating teachers adopted and grew into their designated identity they partially embraced and implemented a conceptual teaching approach. The gap between their actual and their designated identity was partly closed as they sought to align their teaching with MTEP’s goal of conceptual teaching.
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Reyes, Jennifer Rexroth 1974. "Professional development in using CPM mathematics an action research team targets teacher response to student questions /." Diss., Restricted to subscribing institutions, 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1692353211&sid=25&Fmt=2&clientId=1564&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Distin, Kimberly Anne VanHorn. "Evaluation of the Learning Environments of the UTeach Teacher Development Program for Secondary Science and Mathematics Teachers." Thesis, Curtin University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/57086.
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The UTeach teacher development program, which prepares secondary science and mathematics teachers in numerous universities across the United States, was evaluated by using a modified learning environment questionnaire in three settings. In addition to validating the questionnaire in multiple learning settings with 702 university students, the study revealed that students perceived their learning environments more positively in UTeach and field-experience classes than in STEM content classes.
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Miller, Rebecca. "A Survey of Factors Affecting Enrollment in Mathematics Teacher Education Programs." TopSCHOLAR®, 1988. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/2630.
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Concern for an adequate supply of competent mathematics teachers prompted this research. The study was implemented to identify the factors believed to be of importance in a student's decision concerning whether or not to become a public school teacher.
A comparison was made between two groups of mathematics students at Western Kentucky University. Mathematics students were separated according to whether or not they were pursuing teacher certification.
A two-part questionnaire was administered. The first part asked students to rate the importance of 10 selected career factors in their career decision. The second part asked students to rate these same 10 factors with regard to the attractiveness of public school teaching. The 10 factors were: (a) salary, (b) fringe benefits, (c) security, (d) job market, (e) working conditions, (f) contribution to society, (g) prestige, (h) advancement opportunities, (i) interesting work, and (j) congenial co-workers.
Statistically significant differences were found between the two groups on three of the ten factors of importance and on nine of the ten factors describing their attraction to teaching. Five recommendations were offered for increasing the supply of mathematics teachers.
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Weissenbacher, Georg. "Program analysis with interpolants." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2010. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:6987de8b-92c2-4309-b762-f0b0b9a165e6.
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This dissertation discusses novel techniques for interpolation-based software model checking, an approximate method which uses Craig interpolation to compute invariants of programs. Our work addresses two aspects of program analyses based on model checking: verification (the construction of correctness proofs for programs) and falsification (the detection of counterexamples that violate the specification). In Hoare's calculus, a proof of correctness comprises assertions which establish that a program adheres to its specification. The principal challenge is to derive appropriate assertions and loop invariants. Contemporary software verification tools use Craig interpolation (as opposed to traditional predicate transformers such as the weakest precondition) to derive approximate assertions. The performance of the model checker is contingent on the Craig interpolants computed. We present novel interpolation techniques which provide the following advantages over existing methods. Firstly, the resulting interpolants are sound with respect to the bit-level semantics of programs, which is an improvement over interpolation systems that use linear arithmetic over the reals to approximate bit-vector arithmetic and/or do not support bit-level operations. Secondly, our interpolation systems afford us a choice of interpolants and enable us to fine-tune their logical strength and structure. In contrast, existing procedures are limited to a single ad-hoc choice of an interpolant. Interpolation-based verification tools are typically forced to refine an initial approximation repeatedly in order to achieve the accuracy required to establish or refute the correctness of a program. The detection of a counterexample containing a repetitive construct may necessitate one refinement step (involving the computation of additional interpolants) for each iteration of the loop. We present a heuristic that aims to avoid the repeated and computationally expensive construction of interpolants, thus enabling the detection of deeply buried defects such as buffer overflows. Finally, we present an implementation of our techniques and evaluate them on a set of standardised device driver and buffer overflow benchmarks.
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Biggs, Ellyn M. "Evaluation of a professional development program on integrating technology into middle schools : classroom environment and student attitudes." Thesis, Curtin University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/720.
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The Alliance+ project is a teacher professional development program that integrates technology into mathematics and science lessons. The effectiveness of this innovative program was evaluated in terms of students‟ perceptions of the classroom learning environment and their attitudes towards science/mathematics. The sample consisted of 759 students of seven mathematics/science teachers (four Alliance+ participants and three non-participants) in one middle school in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The students responded to learning environment scales based on the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) and the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaires to assess their perceptions of the classroom learning environment. Additionally, they responded to an attitude scale modeled on the Test Of Science-Related Attitudes (TOSRA) to assess their attitudes towards mathematics/science. It was found that Alliance+ teachers were more successful than the non-Alliance+ teachers in promoting a classroom environment with more cooperation among students during the science/mathematics lessons. Additionally, Alliance+ professional development model was differentially effective for mathematics and science teachers in terms of three learning environment scales (namely, Teacher Support, Cooperation, and Critical Voice), but not in terms of students‟ attitudes to science. In terms of Cooperation, Alliance+ teachers were more effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for mathematics, but comparable in effectiveness to non-Alliance+ teachers for science. For Critical Voice, Alliance+ teachers were slightly more effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for mathematics, but considerably less effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for science.In terms of Teacher Support, Alliance+ were less effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for science, but comparable in effectiveness to non-Alliance+ teachers for mathematics. However, teachers who did not participate in the Alliance+ project were more effective than the teachers who participated in the Alliance+ project in providing a positive learning environment in which the students perceived more teacher support and in promoting positive attitudes towards science/mathematics. Qualitative data results revealed that the Alliance+ teachers had not received sufficient support from their school administrators and Alliance+ trainers and lacked the resources that were necessary for them to implement the project successfully, which could possibly be an explanation for the quantitative results in favor of the non-Alliance+ teachers. This study also investigated outcome-environment associations. It was found that associations existed between students‟ attitudes towards science/mathematics and their perceptions of the classroom leaning environment (especially personal relevance, teacher support, and cooperation).
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Lake, Jeremy Paul. "Evaluating a Graduate Professional Development Program for Informal Science Educators." Scholar Commons, 2017. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6722.
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This study is an examination and evaluation of the outcomes of a series of courses that I helped build to create a graduate certificate. Specifically, I wanted to evaluate whether or not the online iteration of the Informal Science Institutions Environmental Education Graduate Certificate Program truly provided the long term professional development needed to enhance the skills of the formal and informal educators participating so that they could contribute meaningfully to the improvement of science literacy in their respective communities.
My role as an internal evaluator provided an extraordinary opportunity to know the intent of the learning opportunities and why they were constructed in a particular fashion. Through the combination of my skills, personal experiences both within the certificate’s predecessor and as an educator, I was uniquely qualified to explore the outcomes of this program and evaluate its effectiveness in providing a long-term professional development for participants.
After conducting a literature review that emphasized a need for greater scientific literacy in communities across America, it was evident that the formal education enterprise needs the support of informal educators working on the ground in myriad different settings in ways that provide science as both content and process, learning science facts and doing real science. Through a bridging of informal science educators with formal teachers, it was thought each could learn the culture of the other, making each more fluent in accessing community resources to help make these educators more collaborative and able to bridge the classroom with the outside world. This bridge promotes ongoing, lifelong learning, which in turn can help the national goal of greater scientific literacy.
This study provided insight into the thinking involved in the learners’ growth as they converted theory presented in course materials into practice. Through an iterative process of reviewing the course generated content, I was able to piece through the many layers of this two year long program to examine the growth of these individuals over time.
While all participants showed growth completing the certificate program, those who could fully invest themselves in the experiences seemed to have gained the most. These cases indicate the Informal Science Institutions Environmental Education Graduate Certificate Program was effective at enhancing the careers of formal and informal science educators. Additionally, it suggests informal science educators, although busy with their professional obligations and personal lives, can be successful in a formal graduate program designed to meet ISE needs as explicated in Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits (Bell, Lewenstein, Shouse, & Feder, 2009). The emergent model indicating connections among a person’s personal life, professional life, and graduate study may also have implications for other professionals desiring to enroll in graduate school. For example, science teachers in university graduate programs may also benefit from applying this model to their lives.
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Faitelson, David. "Program synthesis from domain specific object models." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2008. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:0c5a992e-dad4-435c-a576-e3ed504bcdbd.
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Automatically generating a program from its specification eliminates a large source of errors that is often unavoidable in a manual approach. While a general purpose code generator is impossible to build, it is possible to build a practical code generator for a specific domain. This thesis investigates the theory behind Booster — a domain specific, object based specification language and automatic code generator. The domain of Booster is information systems — systems that consist of a rich object model in which the objects refer to each other to form a complicated network of associations. The operations of such systems are conceptually simple (changing the attributes of objects, adding or removing new objects and creating or destroying associations) but they are tricky to implement correctly. The thesis focuses on the theoretical foundation of the Booster approach, in particular on three contributions: semantics, model completion, and code generation. The semantics of a Booster model is a single abstract data type (ADT) where the invariants and the methods of all the classes in the model are promoted to the level of the ADT. This is different from the traditional view that considers each class as a separate ADT. The thesis argues that the Booster semantics is a better model of object oriented systems. The second important contribution is the idea of model completion — a process that augments the postconditions of methods with additional predicates that follow from the system’s invariant and the method’s original intention. The third contribution describes a simple but effective code generation technique that is based on interpreting postconditions as executable statements and uses weakest preconditions to ensure that the generated code refines its specification.
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Bridges, Vicki Mashelle. "Mathematics Teacher Perceptions of Lesson Design, Data Reflection, and Achievement in Professional Learning Communities." ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/6529.
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In a north Texas school district, district administrators were concerned that mathematics scores at the target middle school have fallen below the state average since 2010. Despite professional development (PD) provided by the district, administrators believed that teachers were not using professional learning community (PLC) data reflection practices to improve mathematics performance. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore middle school teachers' as well as the administrative dean's perceptions of the levels of depth regarding teacher dialogue and collaboration related to mathematics instruction, classroom delivery strategies, data analysis of student performance, and lesson design within PLCs. The conceptual framework for this study centered on the characteristics of Senge's learning organization theory, Hord's PLC characteristics, and DuFour's model of collaboration for improving student achievement within PLCs. Six participants from the target school included 5 Grade 7 mathematics teachers and 1 administrative dean. Data were triangulated from interviews, observations, and archival documents and analyzed using comparative and inductive analyses. Themes supporting the findings indicated the teacher need for additional PD in the areas studied. Recommendations in the position paper include the evaluation of PLCs. The resulting project may deepen understanding of PLC needs related to data discussion, lesson planning, and may contribute to PLC or PD policy-related changes in the district. Enactment of the recommendations will improve PLC implementation strengthening teachers' collaboration and instructional skills resulting in positive social change and increased student mathematics performance.
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Franklin, Anita Valentina. "A Meta-Analysis on The Impact of Professional Development Programs for K-12 Mathematics Teachers on Students' Achievement." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/85454.
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Over the past decade there has been a growing investment in professional development (PD) programs for K-12 mathematics teachers. Researchers and policy makers often inquire about the effect of professional development programs and whether they are having a positive impact on students' learning, and which type of programs aid in students ' academic improvements. In view of the continued concern about the low achievement of U.S. students in mathematics there is a strong need to better understand the effect of PD on student learning and more specifically, which components of PD are more beneficial and are likely to enhance students' math learning. This study offers evidence in an effort fill the gap in the literature by examining the relationship between professional development and student achievement. A meta-analysis methodology was used to synthesize quantitatively and aggregate the results of the prior studies that have used scientific methods and reported numerical results. The time period for the selection of studies is from 2003 to 2014. Findings in this study confirm earlier literature and offers guidance about three effective components (duration, content, and intervention modality) in professional development programs that have been found to have a positive relationship with students' achievement. The results also highlighted the importance of content focus, sufficient duration and multiple modalities of professional development programs aiding teachers in their ability to become more effective in the classroom leading to increased students' achievement in math.<br>Ph. D.
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Spellman, Elaine Sabrina. "Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Developmental Math Program Redesign at a Community College." ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/6864.
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North Carolina's community colleges redesigned developmental math programs in 2011. The overall effectiveness of the redesign has not yet been evaluated. A concurrent mixed-methods study was conducted at Mid-Atlantic Community College (MACC) for a formative and summative evaluation of the redesigned program. Mezirow's transformative learning theory, along with an emphasis on designing individualized methods of instruction as outlined by Keller were the theoretical foundations of the evaluation. The extent to which the redesigned math modules affected the effectiveness of the math program at MACC was the guiding research question. Data on student outcomes and participant perceptions were collected for this concurrent mixed methods evaluation. Quantitative data from MACC institutional databases (N = 827) were used to compare the overall GPAs and mean passing grades for students in the old (2012-13) and new (2013-15) programs using an independent samples t test. There were no significant differences in students' mean passing grades or overall GPAs for the redesigned modules, compared to the semester classes. Qualitative data from 9 semi-structured interviews with 3 administrators, 3 instructors, and 3 students were analyzed inductively for thematic patterns. Qualitative results indicated that perceptions of administrators were more favorable regarding the effectiveness of the redesign than the perceptions of instructors and students and that programs implementing individualized modules need to provide professional development training to those individuals affected by the redesign. Results from this study can promote positive social change by providing information for improved teaching and learning practices among developmental math instructors.
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Ogletree, Susan L. "Student achievement in science and mathematics in urban professional development schools during first year of implementation." unrestricted, 2007. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04162007-173428/.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2007.<br>William L. Curlette, committee chair; Gwendolyn Benson, Douglas Davis, Mary P. Deming, Roy M. Kern, committee members. Electronic text (139 p. : col. ill.) : digital, PDF file. Title from file title page. Description based on contents viewed Dec. 5, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-127).
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Stevenson-Milln, Carolyn. "Researching the development of a programme that merges mathematics and music in Grade R." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61928.
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This small-scale case study explores the potential for synergy between music and mathematics learning in early childhood education whereby music can be used to help enhance children’s mathematical proficiency. Informal observations of the young learners participating in an Early Number Fun programme initiated by the South African Numeracy Chair Project suggested that many children struggled to exercise executive functioning and self-regulated skills, and struggled also with fluency in basic numeracy concepts such as understanding pattern. This case study was set up to investigate the effect of the development and implementation of a programme in which African music and mathematics learning, (particularly in relation to pattern and sequencing) were blended. The study’s core aim was to contribute to strengthening learners’ executive function and self-regulated learning competencies, both of which are important to learners’ developing agency over their own learning. An Action-Research-embedded-in-Design-Research approach was employed. This allowed an iterative process in developing a new mode of learning through blending music and mathematics. The theory of enactivism provided a theoretical framework to the study. The basic assumptions of an enactive perspective are shared understanding and joint action through engagement (as exemplified through group interaction between learner and teacher, and learning through action). The programme was developed and implemented with ongoing refinements in two Grade R classrooms. Data collected through observation, interviewing, document analysis and the keeping of a reflective research journal, are qualitative in nature. Analysis of the data indicate that the use of African block notation, as a rhythmic medium was well within reach of the participating children, such that at the end of each 16 session intervention programme, learners at both research sites demonstrated their capacity to: • Focus their attention on one activity while a different activity was taking place alongside them. • Watch, listen and only then act. • Practise their numbers through play: to count out and to write up to 16 and beyond. • Notate, read and interpret rhythmic patterns through block notation and instrumentation. The findings suggest the intervention programme could be continued over a longer period for maximum benefit, possibly through following Grade R learners through to Grade 1. The findings further suggest that fun with rhythmic, number-based patterning can assist learners’ development of executive function and self-regulated learning skills.
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Lindvall, Jannika. "Supporting instructional improvement at scale : The role of teacher professional development programs and mathematics curriculum materials." Licentiate thesis, Mälardalens högskola, Utbildningsvetenskap och Matematik, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-31441.
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We are currently witnessing an increase of international interest in mathematics education, fueled partly by the growing concerns of students’ declining results, but also by changed perceptions of what mathematics students should master. In response, many initiatives have appeared in order to move away from traditional to more inquiry based approaches to teaching. Though several small-scale studies have contributed much to our understanding on how to support teachers in this work, there is still a lack of research conducted on a larger scale. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to add to our knowledge of how to support instructional improvement at scale. This is done by focusing on two common approaches to support mathematics teachers’ development of reform based practices: teacher professional development [PD] programs and curriculum materials. The thesis builds on four papers which are all connected to a project aiming at improving the mathematics instruction in a large Swedish municipality. The project includes a PD-program for almost 400 elementary teachers and the mathematics curriculum materials that teachers are using play a central role in the program. The first two papers focus on curriculum materials either by using surveys to compare teachers’ views of the support offered in the materials and their reported mathematics instruction, or by conducting textbook analyses to characterize how some commonly used materials communicate about, for example, goals of lessons. The results demonstrate that teachers using different materials experience different levels of support from them and also show variations in their reported instruction. These differences are further reflected in the textbook analyses which show that the materials offer teachers various support, for example regarding how they communicate about goals. The last two papers focus on teacher PD-programs either by comparing the effects of two programs on student achievement, or by using surveys to examine teachers’ views of one of the programs and its impact on their reported instruction. The results indicate that the two PD-programs have affected students’ achievement in different ways, demonstrating both decline and improvement. Even within the programs differences are revealed between students at the primary and secondary levels. These variations are further present in the teacher surveys, where the results show differences between teachers from different grade-levels. By drawing on the literature review and the results of the papers, the thesis ends with a discussion of possible elaborations of a widely used core conceptual framework for studying teacher PD.
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Coutts, Duncan. "Stream fusion : practical shortcut fusion for coinductive sequence types." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b4971f57-2b94-4fdf-a5c0-98d6935a44da.
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In functional programming it is common practice to build modular programs by composing functions where the intermediate values are data structures such as lists or arrays. A desirable optimisation for programs written in this style is to fuse the composed functions and thereby eliminate the intermediate data structures and their associated runtime costs. Stream fusion is one such fusion optimisation that can eliminate intermediate data structures, including lists, arrays and other abstract data types that can be viewed as coinductive sequences. The fusion transformation can be applied fully automatically by a general purpose optimising compiler. The stream fusion technique itself has been presented previously and many practical implementations exist. The primary contributions of this thesis address the issues of correctness and optimisation: whether the transformation is correct and whether the transformation is an optimisation. Proofs of shortcut fusion laws have typically relied on parametricity by making use of free theorems. Unfortunately, most functional programming languages have semantics for which classical free theorems do not hold unconditionally; additional side conditions are required. In this thesis we take an approach based not on parametricity but on data abstraction. Using this approach we prove the correctness of stream fusion for lists -- encompassing the fusion system as a whole, not merely the central fusion law. We generalise this proof to give a framework for proving the correctness of stream fusion for any abstract data type that can be viewed as a coinductive sequence and give as an instance of the framework, a simple model of arrays. The framework requires that each fusible function satisfies a simple data abstraction property. We give proofs of this property for several standard list functions. Previous empirical work has demonstrated that stream fusion can be an optimisation in many cases. In this thesis we take a more universal view and consider the issue of optimisation independently of any particular implementation or compiler. We make a semi-formal argument that, subject to certain syntactic conditions on fusible functions, stream fusion on lists is strictly an improvement, as measured by the number of allocations of data constructors. This detailed analysis of how stream fusion works may be of use in writing fusible functions or in developing new implementations of stream fusion.
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Schaefer, Nancy. "The process of teacher change: a longitudinal study of four middle school mathematics teachers' experiences during and after a two-year professional development program." The Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1090642159.
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Orsak, Rachelle M. "Uncovering transformative experiences : a case study of the transformations made by one teacher in a mathematics professional development program /." Diss., CLICK HERE for online access, 2009. http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/ETD/image/etd2807.pdf.
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Orsak, Rachelle Myler. "Uncovering Transformative Experiences: A Case Study of the Transformations Made by one Teacher in a Mathematics Professional Development Program." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2009. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1781.
Full textAbstract:
Effective professional development is vital for improving mathematics teaching (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], 2007), so studying effective professional development programs is important to the field of mathematics education. This case study presents findings on one teacher, Rebecca, and her experiences in a five-semester mathematics professional development for elementary teachers. The participants in this professional development engaged in collaborative problem solving of challenging mathematical tasks over extended periods of time. I used qualitative research methods based on grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2006) to analyze Rebecca's entrance and exit surveys, video data of Rebecca's individual interviews, and video data of Rebecca and her collaborative group problem solving in the professional development. Analysis shows that through the professional development program, Rebecca had transformative experiences which led to significant changes in her perspectives and practices. This case study contributes to the field of mathematics education a better understanding of the transformations teachers can experience through professional development as well as some particular conditions for professional development programs to be successful in offering teachers opportunities for transformative experiences.
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Enyart, Susan E. "Professional development for inservice mathematics teachers : an exploratory study comparing programs funded by the National Science Foundation in two eras of mathematics education reform /." The Ohio State University, 1998. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487953204279985.
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Okonkwo, Charles O. "Science Self-Efficacy and Innovative Behavior (IB) in Nigerian College Students Enrolled in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Programs." The Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397744922.
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Taylor, Peggy Sue. "The effect of facilitator training on the development and practice of participants in an online induction program for teachers of science and mathematics." Diss., Montana State University, 2007. http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2007/taylor/TaylorP0507.pdf.
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Biggs, Ellyn M. "Evaluation of a professional development program on integrating technology into middle schools : classroom environment and student attitudes." Curtin University of Technology, Science and Mathematics Education Centre, 2008. http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=116042.
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The Alliance+ project is a teacher professional development program that integrates technology into mathematics and science lessons. The effectiveness of this innovative program was evaluated in terms of students‟ perceptions of the classroom learning environment and their attitudes towards science/mathematics. The sample consisted of 759 students of seven mathematics/science teachers (four Alliance+ participants and three non-participants) in one middle school in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The students responded to learning environment scales based on the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) and the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaires to assess their perceptions of the classroom learning environment. Additionally, they responded to an attitude scale modeled on the Test Of Science-Related Attitudes (TOSRA) to assess their attitudes towards mathematics/science. It was found that Alliance+ teachers were more successful than the non-Alliance+ teachers in promoting a classroom environment with more cooperation among students during the science/mathematics lessons. Additionally, Alliance+ professional development model was differentially effective for mathematics and science teachers in terms of three learning environment scales (namely, Teacher Support, Cooperation, and Critical Voice), but not in terms of students‟ attitudes to science. In terms of Cooperation, Alliance+ teachers were more effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for mathematics, but comparable in effectiveness to non-Alliance+ teachers for science. For Critical Voice, Alliance+ teachers were slightly more effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for mathematics, but considerably less effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for science.<br>In terms of Teacher Support, Alliance+ were less effective than non-Alliance+ teachers for science, but comparable in effectiveness to non-Alliance+ teachers for mathematics. However, teachers who did not participate in the Alliance+ project were more effective than the teachers who participated in the Alliance+ project in providing a positive learning environment in which the students perceived more teacher support and in promoting positive attitudes towards science/mathematics. Qualitative data results revealed that the Alliance+ teachers had not received sufficient support from their school administrators and Alliance+ trainers and lacked the resources that were necessary for them to implement the project successfully, which could possibly be an explanation for the quantitative results in favor of the non-Alliance+ teachers. This study also investigated outcome-environment associations. It was found that associations existed between students‟ attitudes towards science/mathematics and their perceptions of the classroom leaning environment (especially personal relevance, teacher support, and cooperation).
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Davis, Bebi Zamina Khan. "An Evaluation of a Redesigned Developmental Mathematics Course at a Hawaii Community College." ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/7793.
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Developmental mathematics is a problem for many college students due to high failure rate. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the redesigned course, Math 24. The evaluation examined success, retention, and persistence outcomes of the redesigned course compared to the previous developmental math course. The course's academic and environmental strengths and weaknesses were assessed from the students' and instructors' perspectives. The study utilized the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of Tinto's retention model, Astin's I-E-O model, and Wlodkowski's culturally responsive teaching. A mixed methods program evaluation was employed for the case study using an ex post facto analysis of quantitative data from the college's student database and interviews from 16 students, 4 faculty members, and 1 program director administrator. Quantitative data on persistence, retention and student success rates were analyzed using descriptive statistics to evaluate the outcomes of the redesigned course. Qualitative data from student focus groups and faculty interviews were analyzed using constant comparison analysis to evaluate redesign effect on students. The findings suggested that the redesigned math course's curriculum, resources, assignments, assessments, and the physical classroom setting had many advantages, and assignments and assessments posed major challenges. Online resources, peer collaboration, indirect instruction were strengths; word problems, and the final exam posed the biggest challenges for most students. Retention, persistence and success rates fluctuated over the years and the expected outcomes were not achieved. The social change implication of the redesigned developmental math project study is that faculty should seek students' feedback to help faculty with effective decision making.
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Mahoney, Mark Patrick. "Student Attitude Toward STEM: Development of an Instrument for High School STEM-Based Programs." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1250264697.
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Bekmann, Joachim Peter Computer Science & Engineering Faculty of Engineering UNSW. "Rapid development of problem-solvers with HeurEAKA! - a heuristic evolutionary algorithm and incremental knowledge acquisition approach." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Computer Science and Engineering, 2006. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/25748.
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A new approach for the development of problem-solvers for combinatorial problems is proposed in this thesis. The approach combines incremental knowledge acquisition and probabilistic search algorithms, such as evolutionary algorithms, to allow a human to rapidly develop problem-solvers in new domains in a framework called HeurEAKA. The approach addresses a known problem, that is, adapting evolutionary algorithms to the search domain by the introduction of domain knowledge. The development of specialised problem-solvers has historically been labour intensive. Implementing a problem-solver from scratch is very time consuming. Another approach is to adapt a general purpose search strategy to the problem domain. This is motivated by the observation that in order to scale an algorithm to solve complex problems, domain knowledge is needed. At present there is no systematic approach allowing one to efficiently engineer a specialpurpose search strategy for a given search problem. This means that, for example, adapting evolutionary algorithms (which are general purpose algorithms) is often very difficult and has lead some people to refer to their use as a ???black art???. In the HeurEAKA approach, domain knowledge is introduced by incrementally building a knowledge base that controls parts of the evolutionary algorithm. For example, the fitness function and the mutation operators in a genetic algorithm. An evolutionary search algorithm ismonitored by a human whomakes recommendations on search strategy based on individual solution candidates. It is assumed that the human has a reasonable intuition of the search problem. The human adds rules to a knowledge base describing how candidate solutions can be improved, or why they are desirable or undesirable in the search for a good solution. The incremental knowledge acquisition approach is inspired by the idea of (Nested) Ripple Down Rules. This approach sees a human provide exception rules to rules already existing in the knowledge base using concrete examples of inappropriate performance of the existing knowledge base. The Nested Ripple Down Rules (NRDR) approach allows humans to compose rules using concepts that are natural and intuitive to them. In HeurEAKA, NRDR are significantly adapted to form part of a probabilistic search algorithm. The probabilistic search algorithms used in the presented system are a genetic algorithm and a hierarchical bayesian optimization algorithm. The success of the HeurEAKA approach is demonstrated in experiments undertaken on industrially relevant domains. Problem-solvers were developed for detailed channel and switchbox routing in VLSI design and traffic light optimisation for urban road networks. The problem-solvers were developed in a short amount of time, in domains where a large amount of effort has gone into developing existing algorithms. Experiments show that chosen benchmark problems are solved as well or better than existing approaches. Particularly in the traffic light optimisation domain excellent results are achieved.