Analysis of Students’ Proportional Reasoning Strategies

Michele Carney; Ev Smith; Gwyneth Hughes; Jonathan Brendefur; Angela Crawford; Tatia Totorica

Analysis of Students’ Proportional Reasoning Strategies

Michele Carney, Ev Smith, Gwyneth Hughes, Jonathan Brendefur, Angela Crawford, Tatia Totorica

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Proportional reasoning is key to students’ acquisition and application of complex mathematics and science topics. Research is needed regarding how students’ progress towards and come to demonstrate key developmental understandings within proportional reasoning. To this end we created and administered assessment items to 297 middle grades students. We categorized student solution processes qualitatively, followed by Rasch analysis to examine item difficulty and strategy use in relation to an anticipated trajectory. Our findings indicate that different strategies manifest themselves in a hierarchical manner, providing initial confirmation of categories based on strategy efficiency and emphasizing the importance of teacher (and researcher) analysis of classroom assessments from a student cognition perspective.

Original language	American English
Journal	Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations
State	Published - 1 Jan 2015

Keywords

learning trajectories
measurement
number concepts and operations

EGS Disciplines

Curriculum and Instruction
Teacher Education and Professional Development

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Analysis of Students Proportional Reasoning StrategiesFinal published version, 540 KBLicense: Unspecified

Cite this

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title = "Analysis of Students{\textquoteright} Proportional Reasoning Strategies",

abstract = " Proportional reasoning is key to students{\textquoteright} acquisition and application of complex mathematics and science topics. Research is needed regarding how students{\textquoteright} progress towards and come to demonstrate key developmental understandings within proportional reasoning. To this end we created and administered assessment items to 297 middle grades students. We categorized student solution processes qualitatively, followed by Rasch analysis to examine item difficulty and strategy use in relation to an anticipated trajectory. Our findings indicate that different strategies manifest themselves in a hierarchical manner, providing initial confirmation of categories based on strategy efficiency and emphasizing the importance of teacher (and researcher) analysis of classroom assessments from a student cognition perspective.",

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T1 - Analysis of Students’ Proportional Reasoning Strategies

AU - Carney, Michele

AU - Smith, Ev

AU - Hughes, Gwyneth

AU - Brendefur, Jonathan

AU - Crawford, Angela

AU - Totorica, Tatia

PY - 2015/1/1

Y1 - 2015/1/1

N2 - Proportional reasoning is key to students’ acquisition and application of complex mathematics and science topics. Research is needed regarding how students’ progress towards and come to demonstrate key developmental understandings within proportional reasoning. To this end we created and administered assessment items to 297 middle grades students. We categorized student solution processes qualitatively, followed by Rasch analysis to examine item difficulty and strategy use in relation to an anticipated trajectory. Our findings indicate that different strategies manifest themselves in a hierarchical manner, providing initial confirmation of categories based on strategy efficiency and emphasizing the importance of teacher (and researcher) analysis of classroom assessments from a student cognition perspective.

AB - Proportional reasoning is key to students’ acquisition and application of complex mathematics and science topics. Research is needed regarding how students’ progress towards and come to demonstrate key developmental understandings within proportional reasoning. To this end we created and administered assessment items to 297 middle grades students. We categorized student solution processes qualitatively, followed by Rasch analysis to examine item difficulty and strategy use in relation to an anticipated trajectory. Our findings indicate that different strategies manifest themselves in a hierarchical manner, providing initial confirmation of categories based on strategy efficiency and emphasizing the importance of teacher (and researcher) analysis of classroom assessments from a student cognition perspective.

KW - learning trajectories

KW - measurement

KW - number concepts and operations

UR - https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/cifs_facpubs/156

M3 - Article

JO - Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

JF - Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

ER -

Analysis of Students’ Proportional Reasoning Strategies

Abstract

Keywords

EGS Disciplines

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