How Do Students Experience Mathematics? Designing and Testing a Lesson-Specific Tool to Measure Student Perceptions

• In Event: 51.069 - Improving Research on Mathematics Teachers and Teaching: Discussions of Measures and Methods

Abstract

Since most secondary students in the U.S. describe mathematical learning as unengaging, there is a need for an instrument that can measure students’ situated interest during mathematics lessons. We report on our design and test of a survey of students’ level of interest in a lesson, as well as their aesthetic reactions and other potentially related qualities. When administering the survey to students in eight classes at three high schools, the survey was able to discriminate between different student experiences and between lessons. Aesthetic descriptors, such as “amazing,” were also found to be related to student interest level. This tool will enable researchers to identify and study lessons that secondary students indicate are mathematically captivating learning experiences.

Authors

• Meghan Riling, Boston University

• Leslie Dietiker, Boston University

• Miriam Gates, Boston College