Research Session at AMATYC Conference in Denver

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