AMATYC
2016 Conference
Research
Session
Thursday, November 17
7:00 – 9:50 PM
Keynote
7:00 – 7:50 PM
Observing from
the back of the classroom: Dilemmas
of developmental math research
Dr.
Rebecca Cox, Simon Fraser University
Abstract
In this presentation, Rebecca Cox explores some essential
dilemmas she has encountered in her classroom-level studies of developmental
math. Specifically, she examines three perspectives
on student learning: the instructor’s goals and assessment strategies, opportunities
for learning enacted though classroom instruction, and students’ accounts of their
own learning in the course. Rebecca
shares insights gained from triangulating these data sources, and highlights
several essential difficulties in studying what and how students learn in
developmental math classrooms.
Researcher
Bio
Rebecca D. Cox is an associate professor of at Simon Fraser University, in
British Columbia. She received her Ph.D.
from University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. from the University of Texas
at Austin, and an A.B. from Princeton University. Over the past 17 years, she has conducted
research at community colleges across the US.
Much of her work has focused on the dynamics of teaching and learning,
and the organizational and institutional contexts of classroom-level practice.
Incorporating intensive classroom observation as well as interviews with
faculty and students, she has focused her attention on gatekeeping
courses. Since writing about Composition
classrooms in The College Fear Factor:
How Students and Professors Misunderstand Each Other (Harvard University
Press), Rebecca has been researching instruction in developmental math
classrooms. She served as the subject
matter expert for the external evaluation of Colorado Community College
System’s recent developmental education redesign, and has published initial
findings from a classroom-level study of developmental math in the Community College Review.
Breakout
Sessions
Session
1: 8:00 – 8:40 PM
Student
characteristics that predict online math retention and completion
Claire Wladis, Alise Hachey, Katherine Conway; Borough of
Manhattan Community College
Not your grandmother’s lecture
Helen Burn, Highline College and Vilma Mesa, University
of Michigan
Session 2: 8:50 – 9:30 PM
Examining
mathematical knowledge for teaching in CC developmental mathematics
Keith Nabb, Moraine Valley Community College and Jaclyn M. Murawska,
Saint Xavier University
Students’ models of curve fitting
Shweta Gupta, De Anza College
