Honors Projects

Abstract

The purpose of this action research study was to explore students’ perspective and use of their mathematical textbook as a resource to learn mathematics. Participants were 18 students who attended an eighth grade mathematics class for 45 minutes each day in a suburban school setting. An initial survey was provided to participants to gauge perspective about current use of textbook as a resource and was then followed up with a focus group interview of six participants. Specifically designed instruction was aimed at creating a reader-centered learning environment by instructing participants about key components of the textbook and encouraging proper reading skills through guided notes. A second survey and focus group interview was held to determine if targeted instruction proved influential to the participants’ views and textbook use. The results indicated that the targeted instruction proved beneficial for all participants by increasing textbook use, improving their comfort and confidence of reading and note taking, increasing the perspective of viewing the textbook as a resource, while decreasing the use of outside resources.

Department

Education

Major

Integrated Mathematics Education

First Advisor

Dr. Jonathan Bostic

First Advisor Department

School of Teaching and Learning

Second Advisor

Dr. Heath Diehl

Second Advisor Department

Honors Program

Publication Date

Spring 5-1-2015

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