Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemComprehension of mathematical word problems( 1995)Many students struggle to answer arithmetic word problems correctly. Examination of their mistakes shows that their difficulties are often related to misinterpreting or not understanding the written language of the questions. This thesis is concerned with examining students' reading difficulties in relation to word problems and noting any differences in student performance after the teaching of a specific comprehension unit within the mathematics class. Four classes of Year 7 students were selected: two classes as a control group, and two classes as an experimental group where they were given specific reading for meaning strategies adapted for mathematics from other curriculum areas as a part of the Whole Numbers and Decimals topic. Students' learning was measured by three tests: a pretest, a post test and a delayed post test completed ten weeks after the post test. As well as the tests, interviews with a small number of students were conducted and two questionnaires were completed by all the students in the sample. It was found that the comprehension unit significantly assisted students in the experimental group for the post test, but no difference was found between the two groups for the delayed post test. The study was not able to find conclusive reasons for the improvement of the control group for the delayed post test although possible reasons are offered. Careful reading of all words in a problem and rechecking work were the most successful approaches used by students. The study recommends that students are taught comprehension in their mathematics class in order to help them better understand the language of mathematics.
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ItemThe effects of single-sex classes on students' confidence and participation in mathematics( 1995)The issue of females' lack of participation in high level mathematics at the senior levels of schooling has been one which has caused much debate. In Australia and overseas, females are less likely than males to participate in mathematics and science in the senior years of secondary education. One of the strategies which has been proposed to redress this imbalance has been the use of single-sex mathematics classes within the school. The subjects of this study were a cohort of students (n=110) at four different campuses of one school. At one campus, students were allocated to single-sex mathematics classes for year 10, and then returned to mixed-sex mathematics classes in Years 11 and 12. At the other campuses, students were always taught in mixed-sex classes. Comparisons were made with students from the other campuses and students from the same campus in other years. The research explored the hypothesis that being in a single-sex mathematics class would improve the confidence of the female students in Year 10, which would in turn lead to an increase in the participation rate of females in high level mathematics in Years 11 and 12. The findings indicated that the experience of single-sex mathematics classes in year 10 did not enhance the confidence levels. There was no increase in the participation rate in high level mathematics of either females or males from the Experimental Group. As this group of students was the first at their school to experience single-sex classes in a co-educational school, it might be that problems of implementation made the intervention unsuccessful.