1,720,958 research outputs found
Do Problems with Fractions Start Early? : Home Math Environment and Children's (Mis)Understandings of Half
No full textColor poster with text, images, charts, and graphs.Although fractions are challenging for many students, children as young as four demonstrate informal fraction understanding (Hurst, et al., 2020). Everyday experiences, like sharing food, expose children to fraction concepts. First graders’ fraction knowledge predicts later math achievement (Viegut et al., 2023). Children demonstrate conceptualization of “half” earlier than other fraction words (Brizuela, 2006), but also hold misconceptions, like believing half means “a little bit” or is equivalent to any divided object (Björklund, 2018). This study examined children’s understandings and misunderstandings of half from preschool to second grade as well as the role of children’s Home Math Environment (HME) (Lefevre et al., 2009). This study included 55 children and their guardians. Children completed three fraction tasks: Matching (identifying correct depictions of half), Equal Sharing (dividing items fairly), and Endorsement of Misconceptions (judging the “cleverness” of fictional definitions of half). Guardians completed a survey on background characteristics and HME. As hypothesized, an ANOVA showed statistically significant differences in performance on all tasks between the two younger grades (preschool/4K, kindergarten) and the two older grades (1st, 2nd). Unexpectedly, regression analyses showed no significant correlation between task performance and HME. We discuss how our findings may inform early instruction to support fraction learningUniversity of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program
Exploring the Connection Between 8th Graders' Math Anxiety and Math Performance
No full textColor poster with text, images, and graphs.Math anxiety affects many students at an early age (Ramirez et al, 2013). As they progress through school and encounter more advanced math, it is important to discover how students’ levels of math anxiety impact them. High math anxiety has previously been connected to low performance in math (Ramirez et al 2013). Our study investigates whether this connection is the same across tests with different formats and time restrictions. This study involved giving 59 eighth graders three types of tests: a math fluency timed test involving basic math facts (3 minutes); a more advanced fraction arithmetic timed test (12 minutes); and a full algebra test with little time pressure (45 minutes). We hypothesized that the correlation with math anxiety would be the strongest with the full algebra test, which requires more complex strategies. We conducted correlation analyses, which showed that there was a negative correlation between reported math anxiety and algebra test scores (r=0.301, p=0.022), however there was no significant correlation with math fluency (r=0.166, p=0.208) or fraction arithmetic (r=0.114, p=0.391) scores. These results suggest that math anxiety may be more impactful on students taking more advanced math tests.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program
Investigating Teacher Burnout and Psychological Flexibility in Preservice Teachers, Primary Teachers, and College Professors
No full textColor poster with text, charts, and graphs.This ongoing study investigates how psychological flexibility correlates with teacher burnout across three populations with different professional demands: preservice teachers, primary teachers, and college professors. Teacher burnout is common, which creates multiple concerns like teacher turnover and worse student outcomes (Chang, 2009). One promising intervention used to decrease teacher burnout in K-12 teachers is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which targets psychological flexibility – the ability to adapt to different situations to pursue one’s goals (Emery, 2011). By administering questionnaires related to psychological flexibility and teacher burnout to preservice teachers, primary teachers, and college professors, we seek to show how these components connect in different populations. If psychological flexibility is negatively correlated with burnout across all three populations, ACT may be effective for all three populations. When data collection is complete, we expect to see a difference in correlations due to the diverse demands of the job. We also expect overall burnout to differ across groups: if individual factors are more significant, we hypothesize that preservice teachers will experience the highest level of burnout. Alternatively, if contextual factors are more important, we hypothesize that inservice teachers will experience the most burnout.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program
“It Has a Half in the Middle” : Early Use of Fraction Words Across First and Second Grade
No full textColor poster with text, images, charts, and graphs.Children show understanding of fraction-related ideas years before learning about fractions in school (Begolli et al., 2020). We measured developmental changes in this understanding by tracking children’s production of fraction words across first and second grade. We investigated two questions: (1) Does frequency and accuracy of children’s fraction word use change over time? (2) How do children’s errors with these words change over time? As part of a larger study, 77 children completed the Informal Fraction Knowledge Assessment (Viegut et al., 2023) three times: start of first grade, end of first grade, and end of second grade. We analyzed the first 7 items, in which children helped characters share fairly (e.g., two bunnies share 6 carrot sticks) and explained their answer choice. We coded children’s explanations for the presence or absence of fraction words (e.g., “half”, “quarter”), the correctness of that usage, and the type of error if incorrect. Results highlight that children’s use of fraction words increases across 1st and 2nd grades (50% to 84%), even without formal fraction instruction, but errors with fraction words also increase. These findings raise new questions about how children’s growing informal knowledge can be leveraged to support formal fraction learning.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Full text link“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
Full text linkWe 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
Full text linkWe 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
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