Examining Middle-Grades Students' Mathematical Knowledge and Motivations Within a 12-Week Voluntary Online Program

• In Event: Transformative Middle-Level Education: Fostering Inclusive, Caring, and Motivating Learning Spaces

Abstract

Recent literature provides justification for the use of online learning to support middle-grades students’ mathematical knowledge development. For this study, we designed and implemented a 12-Week Voluntary Online Program to improve middle-grades students’ mathematical knowledge and investigated students’ motivations for online learning. Students utilized screencasts to learn 6-8 grades mathematics topics and completed practice assignments each week. Motivation surveys, student interviews, and weekly practice-assignment responses behaved as the main data sources. Preliminary findings indicated screencasts helped students improve their mathematical knowledge of arithmetic and algebra more than geometry. Our preliminary results also pointed out various student motivations to learn mathematics with screencasts. We share implications for middle-grades teachers and discuss the impact of online programs on middle-grades students’ learning of mathematics.

Authors

• Kaitlyn Sorochka, Monmouth University
  Presenting Author

• Vecihi Serbay Zambak, Monmouth University
  Presenting Author