Presentation Transcript

1. Recruiting Noyce Scholars through a Learning Assistant Program Mary Nelson, Micah Mysiuk George Mason University Department of Mathematics Accelerator Math Lead Noyce Conference, May 2013 Funded by NSF Grant: Robert Noyce Scholarship Program
2. Why Noyce in Northern Virginia? Only four undergraduate STEM majors were licensed through GMU since 2004 All four pre-service teachers were Earth Science majors President Obama has challenged us to educate 100,000 new teachers In the current financial crisis in the US, we need to help promising new STEM teachers
3. Recruiting Method for Noyce Scholars Learning Assistant Program Twice a year we accept applications from faculty for learning assistants Advertise student learning assistant positions through posters and College of Science broadcast emails Spring semester we had more than twice as many requests for LAs as we could fund Spring semester we had 90 student applications for 28 positions.
4. Responsibilities of LAs New LAs must attend the Teaching and Learning seminar once a week All LAs meet weekly with their supervisor All LAs are provided time for preparation, which may include the following: Attend the class for which they are LAs Work through homework assignments that students in the course are doing Ask mentors questions about any topic that they do not understand
5. LA Activities - Year 1 Participate in weekly LA Seminar in their first semester as an LA Meet weekly with their course mentor Facilitate math oral reviews for Business Calculus, Calculus with Algebra, Calculus I, Calculus II, Quantitative Reasoning Facilitate Biology oral reviews for Cell Structure and Function Conduct on-line peer tutoring Create on-line modules to assist in student learning Provide review sessions prior to tests Provide peer to peer instruction in help sessions Work with small groups during classes Assist students in labs Teach mini-lessons
6. Seminar Topics Sexual Harassment Prevention Training Learning Styles Constructivism Importance of Discourse Student Centered learning Wait time How to write and use rubrics How to facilitate oral reviews
7. How is the LA Program a Recruitment Tool? LAs have genuine teaching experiences LAs work with faculty who are excited about teaching and learning Students learn some basic educational principles at the Teaching and Learning Seminar LAs become an integral part of their department’s teaching effort
8. Results from Year 1 Grant pays for 10 LAs/year Accelerator funds 12-18 additional Community college has 11-12 LAs Year 1: Began with 1 math Noyce – looking for a job now Second semester – added Chemistry Noyce Next fall – 7 confirmed Noyce, possibly 3 more – all former LAs
9. Comments from LAs/Noyce When asked “what would you tell a student who was thinking about being an LA?” One LA answered,: “Go for it! If you believe you have any future in education this is a must have collegiate experience!” Another claimed: “I would tell them to definitely try it. The experience was great and taught me a lot; I really think it educated me an equal amount that I educated others. Being an LA gives you experience, patience, knowledge, and public speaking skills.” Another explained that as a K-12 student, he wanted to be tennis pro and “anything but math.” He still has visions of being a tennis pro, but now his aspirations include being a mathematician and a teacher.
10. Faculty comments: The result of having Taylor in the lab was an increase in the number of A grades compared to Fall 2012. In Fall 2012 37% of the enrolled students earned A’s. In Spring 2013, when Taylor was assisting, the percentage of students earning A’s increased to 42%. Similarly, in Fall 2012, 27% of enrolled students failed to pass the course. In Spring 2013, this number dropped significantly to 15%.” “Stephen was phenomenal. He arranged weekly oral reviews to help the Business Calculus students, and his attendance was amazing. Students really appreciated the help in understanding the material.”
11. Intervention: Oral Reviews Ungraded, voluntary Often cited by students as most important aid to learning Small groups of 3-5 students for an hour Emphasis on conceptual questions Why would you use linearization? What does it look like on a graph? From the graph, what kind of functions will give the best results? Does it matter where you center the linearization?
12. Orals - What are they? Vehicle for getting students to discuss mathematics and other sciences -typically pattern match without understanding -need to put understanding in their own words -need others to correct and clarify misconceptions -then they need to “say it again!” to convince themselves that they understand -teachers often have ah-ha moments - excellent training for LAs in student-centered teaching
13. Placement Scores predict grades
14. Looking at control vs. treatment in Calculus I exam 1 N>600
15. Course Grades compared by number of oral assessments
16. Average Grades by placement score and number of orals
17. Three GMU Classes
18. Questions? Email questions: mnelso15@gmu.edu
19. Effects of Orals Students learn the importance of understanding the basic concepts in order to be able to apply those concepts to novel situations Students learn better ways of studying Students work harder because they believe their instructors are invested in their success. All of the above improvements increase with the number of orals in which students participate
20. CLASS Results: 7 items had significant pre/post differences Students agreement increased significantly on: Item 8 – I am not satisfied until I understand why something works the way it does. (p=.042) Item 11 – I study math to learn things that will be useful in my life outside of school. (p=.012) Item 16 – To understand math I talk about it with friends and other students. (p=.002) Item 23 – Mathematical formulas express meaningful relationships among measurable things or amounts. (p=.001) Item 36 – When studying something new in math, I compare it to what I already know rather than just memorizing the way it was presented. (p=.028)
21. Students disagreed more strongly Item 7 – There is usually only one correct way to solve a math problem. (p=.037) Item 18 – If I don't remember a mathematical method needed to solve a problem on a test, there's nothing else I can do. (p=.007) *Students answers to all other questions were not significantly different pre/post
22. Universities Using Orals University of Colorado, Boulder Penn State University Seattle University Shippensberg University Santa Clara University George Mason University
23. Courses Using Orals Calculus I, II and III Matrix Methods Complex Analysis PDEs Statics Component Design Dynamics High school algebra
24. Counterfactuals More time/slower pace Comprehensive exam after two semesters Workshops add 2 hours/week Motivation 1. Workshops 2. Review sessions
25. Decline in Failure Rates
26. Students’ Reactions Helps me understand the hard concepts Helps me determine what I know and don’t know for the upcoming test It clarifies things I was unclear about It gives me confidence before the written test It helps to hear how other students think about some of these things
27. QUESTIONS?
28. Future Directions Developing better motivation measures Examining the “caring” effect Using orals in other venues Mechanical Engineering: Component Design Aerospace: Statics High school algebra Teaching students to run their own orals in Calculus III
29. One-semester vs. Two-semesterCourse Grades - Fall 03
30. Scatterplots of Final Exam Grades Regular students Treatment students
31. Comparison of Common Final Exam Scores 74/150 was the average grade of the students in the one-semester class 97/150 was the average grade of students in two-semester class (treatment group) on the identical exam.
32. Comparisons
33. Effect Size Differences for Final Exam Scores
34. Success in Calculus II:At-risk in Both Groups
35. Retention Rates for At-risk Students in Treatment and Control Groups
36. Study Extended to large classes-Fall05 Randomly selected 1 of my 2 large classes – coin flip before semester began Trained all Calculus I TAs and 2 Noyce to do orals Provided orals questions each time Each TA did 1 and each Noyce fellow did 2 I facilitated the rest About 50% of the class participated
37. Preliminary Results
38. Differences in AttendanceBased on Quiz Participants
39. Participation As reported by a student from control class “It’s like a different class…I want to be in that class next semester. Which class will get those things next semester? I want to be in there.” When asked why, “They are really into it. Everyone is answering your questions. They’re really excited about it. It’s not like our class.”
40. Fall 07 – Great Calculus Orals Experiment! Offered orals to all APPM 1350 students My class had over 50% attendance Some classes as low as 20% Analyzed results using Answer Tree Complications due to 30 students took final- because of snow storm Major question is effect of motivation – compare to Workshop and Review sessions
41. Orals versus No Orals
42. Failure Rates for Calculus I
43. Failure Rates in Spring Calculus II
44. Next Steps We have been given CCLI Phase II grant Implementation in all Calculus I and II classes Implementation in UCCS Calculus classes Implementation in high school algebra classes Implementation in Mech E Component Design class Implementation in Aerospace E classes Fall 09 Broader participation by TAs and LAs in facilitating orals Observations of TAs and LAs to ensure fidelity of treatment
45. No Orals versus Three Orals
46. Improvement in Pass Rate? For years, failure rate for Calculus I has wavered between 30-33% Last semester, fail rate was below 20%
47. Plan of Analysis Is control group same as all previous Covariance due to placement scores Counterfactuals Class size: 35-42 vs 48-142 Compared to 48 person class Time on task Workshop students had same time-on-task Treatment had entire year’s material on final Common final exam Enrollment and success in Calculus II Retention at the University
48. Comparison of Groups At-risk determined by 30 question placement test Students scoring below 18 are considered at-risk All but two treatment students who were not designated “at-risk” by the placement test were in the class because they failed the first test in the regular class (20-30%) and dropped back to the treatment class
49. Plans (HOPES) for next year We hope to f’ll scale up to all Calculus I classes Orals will take place in recitations and workshops AND before each midterm On-line homework will free TAs to contribute more time to orals Analyses will examine effect on Overall class Women and minorities Students whose placement scores designate them at-risk
50. What do you think? Is the conceptual framework basically there? What needs to be eliminated? What needs to be reworked? Suggestions PLEASE!
51. Comparison of Groups At-risk determined by 30 question placement test Students scoring below 18 are considered at-risk All but two treatment students who were not designated “at-risk” by the placement test were in the class because they failed the first test in the regular class (20-30%) and dropped back to the treatment class
52. Theoretical Framework Study based on constructivist view of learning Mathematics reform movement is an embodiment of constructivism Emphasis on: *Vygotsky’s notion of ZPD *Scaffolding *Discourse *Formative Assessment / misconception theory
53. Participation
54. Participation
55. Great Calculus Experiment –Fall 07