NMAP, Differences Among Individuals and Groups & Brain Sciences and Mathematics Learning
Questions for 10/19/10
p 4-90 to 4-112
1. What are the differences, if any, between the mathematical performances of boys and girls? Why do you think that is? As a girl or boy, did you ever feel that you were expected to be better or worse at math?
2. Overall, what racial group(s) perform better at mathematics, and what racial group(s) do not perform as well? What evidence does the reading provide that on average, students of certain ethnicities perform higher in mathematics than do their counterparts?
3. What is stereotype threat and how does it contribute to the variation of mathematical performance among different groups (gender or race)? Have you ever felt stereotype threat (not just in math, in any context)?
4. Explain the logic behind cognitive load and how it affects mathematical performance.
5. What factor was the major predictor for mathematical and science achievement for the black students in the study?
6. Did use of worksheets predict better performance on the NAEP tests or worse performance? Why do you think this might be? Do you think worksheets are an effective method of instruction and why do you think they are so widely used?
7. The report suggests several explanations for why non-white students might be more affected by supportive teachers than white students. What are they and which do you think is probably right?
8. What were the key characteristics of a supportive teacher according to the Brand, Glasson, and Green study? Have you had teachers like this? How did they affect you? How could schools with large non-white populations choose teachers like this (how do you tell this about a teacher from a resume)?
9. What are possible causes for MLD? What are early indicators of MLD? Why do you think dyslexia is so well known and accepted to be a disability while MLD is relatively less well known?
10. Do you think that mathematics students of varying ability should have the different curriculums (still covering the same concepts, but in different ways or different sequences) or the same curriculum at a different pace?
11. How much more research on brain sciences do you think needs to be done before the results of studies on brain functioning during calculation can be applied in the classroom? How can knowledge of which areas the brain uses during calculation be used to improve mathematics instruction?
-- Edited by jlt on Tuesday 12th of October 2010 02:18:10 PM
