The third in the series of yearbooks by the Association of Mathematics Educators in Singapore, Assessment in the Mathematics Classroom is unique as it addresses a focused theme on mathematics education. The objective is to encourage teachers and researchers to include assessment of non-cognitive attributes and to use techniques in addition to paper-and-pencil tests that focus on typical problems.Several renowned international researchers in the field have published their work in the book. The thirteen chapters of the book illustrate evidence-based practices that school teachers and researchers can experiment in their lessons to bring about meaningful learning outcomes. A recurring theme in most chapters is the widely circulated notions of formative assessment and assessment for learning. The book makes a significant contribution towards assessment in mathematics. It is a good resource for research students and a must-read mathematics educators.
This is a complete guide to the concept mapping methodology and strategies behind using it for a broad range of social scientists - including students, researchers and practitioners.
Concept Mapping in Mathematics: Research into Practice is the first comprehensive book on concept mapping in mathematics. It provides the reader with an understanding of how the meta-cognitive tool, namely, hierarchical concept maps, and the process of concept mapping can be used innovatively and strategically to improve planning, teaching, learning, and assessment at different educational levels. This collection of research articles examines the usefulness of concept maps in the educational setting, with applications and examples ranging from primary grade classrooms through secondary mathematics to pre-service teacher education, undergraduate mathematics and post-graduate mathematics education. A second meta-cognitive tool, called vee diagrams, is also critically examined by two authors, particularly its value in improving mathematical problem solving. Thematically, the book flows from a historical development overview of concept mapping in the sciences to applications of concept mapping in mathematics by teachers and pre-service teachers as a means of analyzing mathematics topics, planning for instruction and designing assessment tasks including applications by school and university students as learning and review tools. This book provides case studies and resources that have been field tested with school and university students alike. The findings presented have implications for enriching mathematics learning and making problem solving more accessible and meaningful for students. The theoretical underpinnings of concept mapping and of the studies in the book include Ausubel’s cognitive theory of meaningful learning, constructivist and Vygotskian psychology to name a few. There is evidence particularly from international studies such as PISA and TIMSS and mathematics education research, which suggest that students’ mathematical literacy and problem solving skills can be enhanced through students collaborating and interacting as they work, discuss and communicate mathematically. This book proposes the meta-cognitive strategy of concept mapping as one viable means of promoting, communicating and explicating students’ mathematical thinking and reasoning publicly in a social setting (e.g., mathematics classrooms) as they engage in mathematical dialogues and discussions. Concept Mapping in Mathematics: Research into Practice is of interest to researchers, graduate students, teacher educators and professionals in mathematics education.
This textbook covers the material for an undergraduate linear algebra course: vectors, matrices, linear transformations, computational techniques, geometric constructions, and theoretical foundations. The explanations are given in an informal conversational tone. The book also contains 100+ problems and exercises with answers and solutions. A special feature of this textbook is the prerequisites chapter that covers topics from high school math, which are necessary for learning linear algebra. The presence of this chapter makes the book suitable for beginners and the general audience-readers need not be math experts to read this book. Another unique aspect of the book are the applications chapters (Ch 7, 8, and 9) that discuss applications of linear algebra to engineering, computer science, economics, chemistry, machine learning, and even quantum mechanics.
This introductory text presents basic principles of social science research through maps, graphs, and diagrams. The authors show how concept maps and mind maps can be used in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research, using student-friendly examples and classroom-based activities. Integrating theory and practice, chapters show how to use these tools to plan research projects, "see" analysis strategies, and assist in the development and writing of research reports.
This book investigates the practicability and effectiveness of the concept map as a tool for assessing students’ conceptual understanding in mathematics. The author first introduces concept mapping and then employs it to investigate students’ conceptual understanding of four different mathematical topics. Alongside traditional scoring methods, she adopts Social Network Analysis, a new technique, to interpret student-constructed concept maps, which reveals fresh insights into the graphic features of the concept map and into how students connect mathematical concepts. By comparing two traditional school tests with the concept map, she examines its concurrent validity and discusses its strengths and drawbacks from the viewpoint of assessing conceptual understanding. With self-designed questionnaires, interviews, and open-ended writing tasks, she also investigates students and teachers’ attitudes toward concept mapping and describes the implications these findings may have for concept mapping’s use in school and for further research on the topic. Scholars and postgraduate students of mathematics education and teachers interested in concept mapping or assessing conceptual understanding in classroom settings will find this book an informative, inspiring, and overall valuable addition to their libraries.
This fully revised and updated edition of Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge recognizes that the future of economic well being in today's knowledge and information society rests upon the effectiveness of schools and corporations to empower their people to be more effective learners and knowledge creators. Novak’s pioneering theory of education presented in the first edition remains viable and useful. This new edition updates his theory for meaningful learning and autonomous knowledge building along with tools to make it operational ─ that is, concept maps, created with the use of CMapTools and the V diagram. The theory is easy to put into practice, since it includes resources to facilitate the process, especially concept maps, now optimised by CMapTools software. CMapTools software is highly intuitive and easy to use. People who have until now been reluctant to use the new technologies in their professional lives are will find this book particularly helpful. Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge is essential reading for educators at all levels and corporate managers who seek to enhance worker productivity.
Research in neuroscience and brain imaging show that exposure of learners to multi-semiotic problems enhance cognitive control of inter-hemispheric attentional processing in the lateral brain and increase higher-order thinking. Multi-semiotic representations of conceptual meaning are found in most knowledge domains where issues of quantity, structure, space, and change play important roles, including applied sciences and social science. Teaching courses in History and Theory of Architecture to young architecture students with pedagogy for conceptual thinking allows them to connect analysis of historic artifact, identify pattern of design ideas extracted from the precedent, and transfer concepts of good design into their creative design process. Pedagogy for Conceptual Thinking and Meaning Equivalence: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a critical scholarly resource that demonstrates an instructional and assessment methodology that enhances higher-order thinking, deepens comprehension of conceptual content, and improves learning outcomes. Based on the rich literature on word meaning and concept formation in linguistics and semiotics, and in developmental and cognitive psychology, it shows how independent studies in these disciplines converge on the necessary clues for constructing a procedure for the demonstration of mastery of knowledge with equivalence-of-meaning across multiple representations. Featuring a wide range of topics such as curriculum design, learning outcomes, and STEM education, this book is essential for curriculum developers, instructional designers, teachers, administrators, education professionals, academicians, policymakers, and researchers.
