1,720,979 research outputs found
Italian Art Through Mathematics: Engaging Students Through Artistic Exploration
No full textThis project shows a potential lesson plan to be used in a high school pre-calculus and evaluates the effectiveness of this strategy by synthesizing and analyzing similar projects. The students will select an interesting piece of art displayed in a designated museum or art gallery, and then recreate the image using conic equations. The students will then write a calculator program with the equations for the conic diagram. The program is expected to output an image, which will then be printed, and the class will create a (quite literal) art gallery with their conic images. The lesson is demonstrated with Botticelli’s Birth of Venus (displayed in the Ufizzi in Florence, Italy) as the subject with the output image attached.
The lesson presented addresses the same mathematics content except it includes an artistic slant; this will not only allow for a real-world application, but also provide a more engaging mathematical experience to students who are not the typical “math people.” Furthermore, this project promotes a great amount of cooperation and allows students to almost instantly realize and correct their mistakes in their programs, and learn the effects of various transformations on conic equations. Lesson plans similar to this have been proven to engage students, provide fruitful educational results and foster real world learning.Mathematic
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Transition Between Education and Profession: Experiences of Statisticians
No full textThe transition to the workplace is challenging across disciplines, but particularly decisive for statisticians since the demand for statistical skills is growing across many different fields and sectors. The employment of statisticians is expected to increase drastically, however, employers currently express difficulties in hiring. Indeed, a misalignment between practices developed by students in academic settings and practices expected of a statistician at the workplace has been identified. Despite some recent efforts to promote authentic statistical practices in academic settings, there is a need to understand how statistical practices transition to the workplace.
To study the phenomenon of the transition in detail, I considered a qualitative methodology with a quantitative component. Members of the statistical community were recruited at conferences around the world. They engaged in a sorting task to explore their inner perspective on the role of statistician at the workplace and reflected on their own experiences through a survey. Furthermore, a selection of participants who recently experienced the transition or accompanied statisticians in the transition were interviewed. Participants represented the diversity of the education and profession of statisticians. A cross-case analysis allowed for an in-depth description of the phenomenon of boundary crossing conceptualizing the transition, and identified the elements involved in learning statistical practices.
Findings revealed contributions and implications for statistical practices in academic settings and at the workplace. First, important statistical practices were recognized by the members of the statistical community, contrasting different perspectives, and identifying practices that were previously overlooked. Second, participants confirmed that there was a misalignment between academic settings and the workplace by comparing practices developed in each system. Third, junior statisticians and their mentors identified boundaries occurring during the transition, uncovering what elements in academic settings or the workplace facilitate boundary crossing. Finally, the triangulation of findings formulated recommendations to promote the different statistical practices that emerged in this study. Implications addressed to the statistical community advocate for transformations in academic settings and at the workplace, promoting authentic statistical practices to facilitate the transition between education and profession for future statisticians.Mathematic
Teaching with Dynamic Geometry Software: A Multiple Case Study of Teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge
No full textThis qualitative case study investigated how four high school teachers developed and used their knowledge in teaching geometry with technology. In particular, this study focused on teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and their integration of dynamic geometry in the classroom instruction. The sources of data included: an initial interview, observations, documents, a closing interview, a survey, implementation questionnaires, professional development attendance records and the researcher’s log. Data analysis utilized the TPACK Development Model to describe participants’ dynamic geometry integration and to identify their TPACK development levels.
All participants displayed good knowledge of geometry content, although they did not always know how to connect it with their pedagogical and technological knowledge. TPACK development levels were identified through the descriptions of participants’ TPACK development and enactment. The levels varied within the themes and their descriptors for each participant; however, overall TPACK development levels were identified for three participants—two at the adapting level and one at the exploring level. The TPACK levels for the fourth participant were consistent only for the teaching theme descriptors and were at the exploring level.
Three unexpected findings surfaced. First, the participant with least teaching experience displayed the highest levels of TPACK. Second, the participant with most teaching experience with dynamic geometry showed the most inconsistency among the TPACK development levels, ranging from recognizing to exploring. Third, ongoing professional development and easy access to computers did not translate to frequent incorporation of dynamic geometry in teaching and learning. The participants claimed the curriculum and standardized testing to be the main barriers to increased technology use. Findings suggested that participants developed their TPACK through attending professional development workshops and implementing what they learned in the classroom instruction. Based on those findings, this study proposed a professional development model designed for teachers interested in integrating dynamic geometry in the classroom instruction.Mathematic
Cases of Teacher Noticing to Position Students in Linguistically Diverse Middle School Mathematics Classrooms
No full textThis study investigated how professional mathematics teacher noticing occurs in linguistically diverse middle school mathematics classrooms. The study illustrates how three middle school mathematics teachers are using this noticing, their beliefs, and various instructional strategies to position their students. The participants were chosen from the 34 teachers participating in a larger National Science Foundation funded study, CAREER: Mathematics Instruction for English Language Learners (MIELL). Data was collected by means of interviews and previously recorded classroom observations. The interviews and classroom observations were analyzed through various qualitative methods. The significance of this study lies in its contribution to mathematics education researchers interested in understanding how professional mathematics teacher noticing occurs in linguistically diverse classrooms and with emerging English Language Learners.
The participants in this study teach middle school mathematics in the same linguistically diverse Texas school district. They share similar language, educational, and work experiences. The three teachers believed that communication, inquiry, and accountability are the most important elements to foster in the students in their classrooms. The teacher demonstrated professional mathematics teacher noticing in their fostering of these classroom elements.
The components of noticing exhibited by the three participants varied in both effectiveness and purpose. Teachers employed noticing in whole class, partner, and group settings and this variety resulted in differences in how the students were positioned. Noticing that occurred during a whole class discussion served to position students whereas students designated as “teachers” during group work were also being positioned, but less by the noticing than the structure of the group. The teachers used numerous research-based instructional strategies with their students including revoicing, using language as a resource, and classroom mathematical discussions. Somewhat surprisingly the instructional strategies infrequently served to position students. This was due to several factors such as the frequency a particular strategy was used (revoicing) and how a strategy was used. Language as resource, for example, was primarily utilized by students for students.
Lastly, teacher noticing is thought to require a mathematics classroom where student engagement with mathematics is the norm. These teachers demonstrated noticing in classroom environments that both foster and smother student engagement. Classroom vignettes showed that noticing coupled with low student engagement was not dissimilar from the noticing occurring in a classroom with high student engagement.Mathematic
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