Researchers to Study, Not Resolve, Math Curriculum Issues
By Megan Means, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.
Dec. 1–In the battle between traditional math lessons and next-generation programs such as Connected Math and integrated math, University of Missouri-Columbia researchers say there probably won’t be an undisputed champion.
Instead, experts hope to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each approach to help educators use them more effectively. Education researchers also suspect that teaching methods are as important as the content of classroom textbooks.
Douglas Grouws, an MU professor of math education, leads a research team that recently won a $2 million National Science Foundation grant to compare high school math programs. The four-year study will focus on schools that, like Columbia’s, offer a choice between a conventional math sequence and integrated math courses. It will involve 3,000 to 6,000 students in multiple states.
Traditionally, U.S. high schools have taught subjects such as algebra or geometry in separate classes. Integrated math uses a series of classes that blend various math subjects. Grouws says it’s the norm internationally, even though U.S. parents and educators are still debating its effectiveness in preparing students for college and real-world math competence.
He says schools have already expressed interest in his project because there’s little high-quality, objective data on the subject.
“Which one will excel in skills, which one might excel in problem-solving, which one will rise to the top in mathematical reasoning is an open question, in our opinion,” Grouws said.
“I think most people will be interested in the students’ mathematics learning, but we’re also interested in the students’ disposition toward math,” Grouws said. “In some ways, it does little good for students to become quite proficient at mathematics but never want to face another math problem again.”
The high school research will look at multiple factors. It will measure students’ performance when the study begins, then track their progress in a series of math classes. Results will be analyzed in several areas, including skills, knowledge, problem solving and attitude toward math.
At the same time, the study will look at teachers’ roles and send evaluators to observe classroom practices.
The push for innovative new math programs began in 1989 with recommendations from the National Council for the Teaching of Mathematics, said Robert Reys, the mathematics education curators’ professor at MU.
The National Science Foundation has backed development and research programs since that time. Programs such as the Connected Math series are products of the trend. That method, used in Columbia schools, emphasizes problem solving and discovering math principles through discussion and exploration.
Reys and colleagues are focusing on middle school math in a three-year study comparing traditional curricula to newer alternatives, including Connected Math, at schools in six states.
The research after two years of gathering data showed differences in the way teachers chose which textbook material to cover and how they presented it, regardless of whether they used new or old curricula, Reys said. Even teachers in the same grade and the same building sometimes had very different approaches.
“It certainly does remind us of what an important role teaching plays in determining what the students are going to experience,” Reys said.
The researchers are still working on an analysis of student performance data. Like Grouws, the middle school researchers expect to identify differences between programs rather than prove that one approach is superior.
The MU researchers say there’s very little research showing how different math curricula are actually used in classrooms and how different programs affect student learning. Educators are hungry for these answers as they search for the best methods for raising scores on achievement tests.
Columbia school officials just started the process of reviewing its math program in secondary schools. Assistant Superintendent Cheryl Cozette said a committee would look at research on current programs, performance data and the perceptions of teachers, community members, students and parents.
After reviewing district math performance at a recent Board of Education meeting, board member Elton Fay asked whether it was time to re-evaluate integrated math because test scores showed little progress at the high school level.
“As we look at the integrated program, we have not been able to collect data in particular to address Mr. Fay’s question,” Cozette said later.
The Columbia schools math coordinator, Chip Sharp, added that students in traditional and integrated math might not show significant performance differences at all.
“Internally, it’s not a competition, one group versus another,” he said.
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