An Analysis of the Co-Constructed Learning Process among Mathematics Grounding Activity-Designers

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Su-Chiao (Angel) Wu , Yu-Liang (Aldy) Chang Baxodirovna

Abstract

The “Just Do Math (JDM)” project, initiated in 2014, aimed to build the ground that would promote students’ learning mathematical interest and achievement and cultivate “Mathematics Grounding Activity (MGA)-designers” and “MGA-teachers” for designing and implementing MGA modules.  Consequently, this study aimed to explore module designers’ role perceptions and its developmental processes in the JDM Project.  An exploratory qualitative approach was employed to reach the objectives.  Data were gathered through observations, interviews, and various kinds of documents, and then qualitatively analyzed by the editing and immersion analytic techniques.  Findings were reported as followings: First, MTEs claimed that the four-element PD model (i.e. goals, contexts, theories, and structure) was employed in the JDM project for conceptualizing the MGA-designers’ PD programs.  Grounded on this argument, MGA-designers’ PD process was correspondingly analyzed and portrayed consistent with the four elements: Goals—Building grounds by doing mathematics and solving problems; Theories—Emerging into design-based PD process; Structure—Co-constructed learning and symmetrical roles of MTEs and MGA-designers; Context—Analogous and interactive learning process.  Secondly, within the whole co-constructed and designed-based PD activities, MGA-designers endeavored to simultaneously learn how to design and exercise the design task of MGA modules.  Thus, MGA-designer A’s designing process was used to illustrate these MGA-designers’ learning process within the PD program, where two contrary cases were presented to compare and contrast his designing processes.  In these two cases, the three-phase “problem-solving” model (i.e. entry, attack, and review) was employed for describing the learning context, where the four-element PD model is embedded correspondingly.

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