Harkness and Groupwork Hybrid Teaching Environment and Engagement in High School Mathematics Classrooms Max Sterelyukhin, EDUC 844, Spring 2013

What is Harkness Teaching? 2TqA 2TqA

Overall Project (1) Pre-Treatment Stage: students are given the survey (instrument) (2) Treatment Stage: student-centered classes are administrated; Harkness classroom environment established, classes are recorded on video. (3) Post-Treatment Stage: students are given the survey again to see any significant differences in engagement and mathematics aptitude; videos are analysed and transcribed.

As far as this course is concerned... Given the timing of this course, I’m currently at the second stage and only have the data from stage one. Hence, my motivation to use the student responses to the survey and compare those with the three teachers in our Master’s cohort was the way I decided to approach the project for the course.

Process Participants: students from my Math 8 and 9 classes; Fellow Master’s cohort members (Teachers) Subjected to the same Engagement Instrument Analysis and Comparison of the responses Conclusions and Recommendations

Engagement Instrument

Analysis and Comparison (1) Students and Teachers Commonalities: Math is a worthwhile, necessary subject: Agree I keep trying, in Math, even if it is hard: Agree I get very nervous doing Math problems: Disagree There is nothing creative about Math; it is just memorizing formulas and things: Disagree It is important to me to do well in Math: Agree I enjoy doing problems when I know how to work them out: Agree I know the Math I have learned can be used in everyday life: Agree Math is needed to keep the world running: Agree In the discussion of mathematics topics, I take an active part and communicate my ideas to the class: Agree I feel comfortable asking questions in Math class: Agree My parents like Math: Agree

Analysis and Comparison (2) Students and Teachers Common Differences: Using a computer is a good way for me to learn Math (Teachers: Agree, Students: Disagree) I would like to spend more time in Math class (Teachers: Agree, Students: Disagree) I think about Math problems outside of school and like to work them out (Teachers: Agree, Students: Disagree)

Conclusions As seen from above, there are far more good things that came out of this than things to work on. However, those listed on the second Analysis slide are the focus of the treatment. Much work needs to be done to change the opinions about these key attitudes towards mathematics. One in particular sums it up nicely: if both teachers and students agree that spending more time in a mathematics class is a good idea, many things will be set in the correct state. This should be the ultimate goal.

References Bennett, C. A. (2009). " It’s Hard Getting Kids to Talk About Math ": Helping New Teachers Improve Mathematical Discourse”, 32(3). Fiori, N., & Boaler, J. (2003). What Discussions Teach Us About Mathematical Understanding: Exploring and Assessing Students’ Mathematical Work in Classroomsitle, (2001). Mcgraw, R. H. (2002). Facilitating Whole-Class Discussion in Secondary Mathematics Classrooms. Smith, M, Stein, M K. (2011). Five Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions. NCTM. Weber, K., Maher, C., Powell, A., & Lee, H. S. (2008). Learning opportunities from group discussions: warrants become the objects of debate. (Array, Ed.)Educational Studies in Mathematics, 68(3), 247–261. doi: /s Qi-Ping Kong, Ngai-Ying, Chi-Chung Lam. (2003). Student Engagement in Mathematics: Development of Instrument and Validation of Construct. Mathematics Education Research Journal. Vol 15, No. 1, 4-23.