Do Children From High And Low Resource Schools Respond Differently to On-Line Math Instruction?

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

U.S. children underperform in math compared to other industrialized countries. Math underperformance is exaggerated in those with few resources. For example, students at high-resource schools have greater math achievement than students at low-resource schools (Lubienski & Lubienski, 2006), a disparity that is further amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined whether online math instruction during COVID-19 could reduce the existing disparity between low and high resource school children. We asked our question in the context of children’s understanding of the equal sign (i.e., mathematical equivalence concepts. An accurate relational understanding of the equal sign (i.e., both sides of an equation should be the same amount) predicts later mathematics achievement (McNeil et al., 2017). Yet, instruction emphasizing equations ending with a “blank” (e.g.,., 3 + 4 = __) misleads ~80% of U.S. elementary schoolers to view the equal sign as an operational symbol (meaning “add all the numbers”; Knuth et al., 2005). Our innovation was to provide instruction that taught the relational meaning of the equal sign as a counter measure to the operational beliefs held by elementary school children.
Fifty children, from thirty-nine U.S. elementary schools, completed a pretest-instruction-posttest protocol. Children watched a 3-minute instructional video making clear that making both sides of the equation the same amount will solve a problem with operations on both sides of the equal sign (e.g., 5+6+7=5+_). Two measures of equal sign understanding were used: (1) correct problem solutions and (2) correct “relational” definition of the equal sign.
Children from high-resourced schools (< 35% free-reduced lunch) and low-resourced schools ( > 35% free-reduced lunch) demonstrated similar problem solving at pretest before training (5.06 vs. 3.16 of 12 problems correct, p = .196). However, children from high-resourced schools were more likely to provide a correct relational definition of the equal sign than children from low-resourced schools at pretest before training (45.2% vs. 10.5%, p = .011). To examine learning, we restricted analyses to children who did not perform at ceiling on the pretest. We found that instruction similarly benefitted low and high resourced groups at posttest for both problem solutions (p = .139) and equal sign definitions (p = .486), thus reducing the disparity in performance observed before training.
These findings suggest the disparity in math skills between children from low- and high-resourced schools may be decreased with conceptual-based instruction, even when using an on-line venue that took only 3 minutes. The goal of math education reform is to ensure that all students succeed and have equal opportunities to do so. With the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers are spending less time on math concepts, particularly in lower-resourced (Herold & Yettick, 2020). This study’s results could be informative for current math curriculum decisions in the context of online instruction, hopefully to level the playing field for children who do not have the same resources.

Authors

• Kimberly P Bruckman, Northeastern Illinois University
  Presenting Author

• Dominique Giambalvo, Northeastern Illinois University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Princess Maleeha Chughtai, Northeastern Illinois University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Usaid Mahmud, Northeastern Illinois University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Andrew Young, Northeastern Illinois University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ruth Breckinridge Church, Northeastern Illinois University
  Non-Presenting Author