assessing secondary teachers' algebraic habits of mind

Draft. Do not cite or quote. ©2013 ASTAHM

ASSESSING SECONDARY TEACHERS’ALGEBRAIC HABITS OF MIND

Al CuocoMiriam Gates

Ryota MatsuuraMary Beth Piecham

Glenn StevensSarah Sword

NCTM Research PresessionApril 16, 2013

1


TODAY’S AGENDA

1. Background on our work

2. Paper and pencil assessment

3. Observation protocol

4. Further discussion and questions

2


WHAT IS ASTAHM?

ASTAHM is an NSF DRK-12 collaborative project funded in 2012aimed at developing instruments to assess secondary teachers’Mathematical Habits of Mind (MHoM).

3


WHAT WE MEAN BY MATHEMATICAL HABITS OF MIND

We define mathematical habits of mind (MHoM) to be:

the specialized ways of approaching mathematical problemsand thinking about mathematical concepts that resemble theways employed by mathematicians.

4


MET2 FRAMEWORK

The MET2 framework uses four large and overlapping categories tocharacterize some of the ways in which teachers know and understandmathematics:

(1) As a scholar

(2) As an educator

(3) As a mathematician

(4) As a teacher

And we are studying the intersection of (3) and (4).

5


FOCUS ON MATHEMATICS

• Focus on Mathematics (FoM) is a Targeted Math and SciencePartnership funded by the NSF since 2003.

• FoM is a unique partnership of teachers, students, administrators,mathematicians, and mathematics educators—all committed toincreasing student achievement.

• FoM is a collaboration between BU, EDC, and an array ofMassachusetts universities and public school districts.

6


FOM GOALS

• Provide teachers with:◦ coherent, content-focused professional development,◦ sustained immersion in mathematics,

• Develop mathematically expert teacher leaders who share theirknowledge with teachers and students,

• Build a mathematical learning community in which teachers andmathematicians work together, doing mathematics, and

• Improve student achievement.

7


AUTHENTIC MATHEMATICAL EXPERIENCES

Experience first:

It has been observed in every human activity experience comes first,and as this experience grows the need for communication motivatesthe development of language. Sadly enough, in our classroompractice we place language first and experience second. We worryabout what we should say in order to help the student “understand.”By this we mean to provide the effect of experience through the use ofsuitably chosen words. Not unexpectedly, the effect is at best a verypale image of the real thing.

— Arnold Ross

8


IMPACT ON TEACHERS

FoM teachers have reported1:

• Deeper knowledge of mathematics

• Changes in beliefs about the nature of mathematics and howstudents learn mathematics

• Renewed passion for mathematics

• Changes in instructional practice, for example◦ use of precise language◦ connecting mathematical ideas◦ mining student ideas and approaches

1Baldassari, C., Lee, S., & Torres, R. T. (2009). The case of a high schoolmathematics teacher. Retrieved from http://focusonmath.org/FOM/PERG

9


INITIAL MOTIVATION FOR RESEARCH

• Through our FoM work, we’ve seen that MHoM is indeed acollection of habits teachers can acquire, rather than some staticyou-have-it-or-you-don’t way of thinking.

• And teachers reported to us that developing these habits has hada tremendous effect on their teaching.

• We recognized the need for scientific-based evidence to establishthat these teachers have indeed learned MHoM and that thesehabits have had a positive impact on their teaching practice.

• The instruments to measure these habits did not yet exist.

10


RESEARCH QUESTION

Our work is centered on the following research question:

What are the mathematical habits of mind that secondaryteachers use, how do they use them, and how can wemeasure them?

11


INSTRUMENTS FOR CONDUCTING RESEARCH

To investigate our research question, we’ve been developing:

• Detailed definition of MHoM, based on existing literature, ourown experiences as mathematicians, and classroom observations.

• A paper and pencil (P&P) assessment that measures howteachers engage MHoM when doing mathematics for themselves.

• An observation protocol measuring the nature and degree ofteachers’ use of MHoM in their classroom work.

Important remark: We’ve seen the need for both instruments, andalso the value of developing all three components together.

12


WHAT WE AREN’T STUDYING

There are many aspects of teaching that we value but we are notstudying right now. For example:

• Teachers’ dispositions (at least not directly)

• Teachers’ beliefs

• Classroom discourse

13


WHAT WE AREN’T CREATING

We are not creating instruments that we anticipate can say much aboutan individual teacher. Our goal is to create tools for research.

14


ASSESSMENT DEVELOPMENT

Since 2010:

• Several rounds of design, small scale pilot tests (w/ FoMcommunity), data analysis, and revision of the instrument.

• Inter-rater reliability testing for some items (κ up to 0.906) andconcurrent rubrics refinement.

• Problem-solving think-aloud with teachers, educators, andmathematicians. (E.g., do their interpretations match ourintended objectives for each item?)

15


PILOT TEST IN 2011

We conducted an “external” pilot test in 2011.

• 43 teachers ninth grade Algebra 1 teachers.

• Studying implementation of a new NSF (MHoM) curriculum,CME Project.

• 7 items (topics in secondary mathematics—algebra andgeometry), to be completed in one hour.

• Cronbach alpha testing data suggests the instrument is reliableabout 68% of the time.

16


ASTAHM PILOT TESTS 2012

We conducted four additional pilot tests in 2012.

• ~70 teachers and ~15 “others”

• Geographic diversity

• Two part assessment:

• 10 short items to be completed in one hour• 1 longer item to be completed in 30 minutes

17


MHOM: STRUCTURE AND LANGUAGE

Our current focus is on two categories of MHoM:

• Seeking, Using, and Describing Mathematical Structure (SUDS)

◦ SUDS1. Discovering structure that is not apparent at first.

◦ SUDS2. Making use of structure to solve problems.

• Using Mathematical Language (LANG)

◦ LANG1. Using language to acquire experience, clarity, andunderstanding.

◦ LANG2. Exercising appropriate “mathematical hygiene”(e.g., using language precisely).

Note: Eventually, we will investigate other habits, e.g., “Performingpurposeful experiments” and “Applying mathematical reasoning.”

18


P&P ASSESSMENT: KEY FEATURES

Distinguishing features of the P&P assessment:

• It measures how secondary teachers use MHoM in their owndoing of mathematics, in familiar contexts.

• Content is from secondary mathematics—i.e., mathematicalproblems that most teachers have the requisite knowledge tosolve, or at least begin to solve.

• We’re interested in their approach, as opposed to whether ornot they can arrive at a solution.

• Our items are drawn from multiple sources, including ourclassroom observation work.

19


MAXIMUM VALUE

Sample Item:

Find the maximum value of the function f (x) = 11 − (3x − 4)2.

• Though most teachers obtained the same (correct) answer, therewere vast variations in their approaches.

• These various approaches came in “clumps,” as our advisors(assessment experts) and research literature2 told us to expect.

• Using these responses, we developed a rubric that allows us tocode how each teacher solved the problem.

2Erickson; Glasser & Strauss; Guba; Maxwell20


SAMPLE CODE: SQUR

(SQUR) Since (3x − 4)2 represents the square of some number, it isalways ≥ 0. Thus in the function f (x) = 11 − (3x − 4)2, we arealways subtracting a non-negative number from 11. To maximizef (x), we need (3x − 4)2 = 0 so the max value is 11.

Sample solution:

21


QUICK MATHEMATICAL NOTE

The reasoning described in SQUR depends on the fact that x can bechosen so that (3x − 4)2 = 0. In many cases, we had no way ofknowing whether the teachers actually noticed this detail.

22


SAMPLE CODE: SYMM

(SYMM) Expanded f (x) into f (x) = −9x2 + 24x − 5. Found the axisof symmetry using the formula x = −b/(2a) = 4/3. Evaluatedf (4/3) = 11 to obtain the maximum value.

Sample solution:

23


REVIEWING SOME ITEMS: SMALL GROUP DISCUSSIONS

Questions to consider during the discussion:

• Is it clear what the items are asking? If not, how could we makethem more clear?

• Is the mathematics content relevant to secondary teaching?

• Is the mathematics content accessible to secondary teachers?

• Do the items capture the MHoM we are trying to capture?

• What other information would you like to see in the rubrics?

24


NEXT STEPS ON THE P&P

What’s next?

• Upcoming rounds of smaller field tests (we just can’t stop!)

• Validity and reliability testing of the assessment

• Larger field test 2014–2015: 200 teachers

• Student data collection (PARCC assessments)

25


OBSERVATION PROTOCOL: KEY FEATURES

• Our observation protocol focuses on measuring how teachersuse their MHoM in their instruction.

• Teachers are coded not for possessing certain habits in theabstract, but for choosing to bring them to bear in a classroom.

• The protocol targets the same mathematical habits as the P&Passessment. Today, we’ll look in particular at LANG1.

26


OBSERVATION PROTOCOL: REVIEW PROCESS

We reviewed 33 existing observation protocols selected fromcollections:

• Examined in Compendium of research instruments for STEMeducation (Minner, Martinez, & Freeman, 2012)

• Highly cited in literature (Henry, et al., 2009)

• Examined in a practitioner’s guide (Dirr, ND)

• Investigated by the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study(Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 2012)

27


OBSERVATION PROTOCOL: DESIGN PROCESS

• Rating types:

◦ Global (see Weiss, et al., 2003)

◦ Discrete (see North Cascades and Olympic SciencePartnership, 2008)

• Observation focus:

◦ Teaching (see Danielson, 2012)

◦ Content (see Piburn & Sawada’s Reformed TeachingObservation Protocol)

◦ Curriculum (see Coffey & Feldman, 2009)

28


VIDEO CLIP

We will show a short video clip from an Algebra 1 classroom, wherethe students are learning about the Zero Product Property.

Recall that the Zero Product Property states:

If ab = 0 then a = 0 or b = 0.

29


OBSERVATION PROTOCOL: GUIDING QUESTIONS

• How did you see the teacher using LANG1?

• Did you see the teacher using SUDS? If so, how?

30


YOUR TURN

Please describe a time in your own mathematical experience (either asa teacher or as a student of mathematics) when you relied on the habitLANG1, which says. . .

LANG1: Using language to acquire experience, clarity, andunderstanding. This habit is about using language to “force one’sbrain into clarity.”

31


THANK YOU

• If you have further feedback and/or questions, please email us:

[email protected]

32

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