Literature review | Education homework help

ExampleofLiteratureReivew-1-1.docx

4

EDF 5481: Literature Review

Title: Visual Representation Problem Solving Strategies in Mathematics

Your name

Introduction

In elementary classrooms today, there has been much more emphasis placed on problem solving, especially in the subject area of mathematics. Rote memorization and computation are no longer suitable means for students to gain problem solving skills. The current common core standards address this shift in ideology (Rich, 2012). Teachers are now tasked with determining more effective strategies to develop these problem solving skills for their students. The purpose of this study will focus on the use of visual representations in mathematics instruction by the teacher, and it’s effects with learning mathematics problem solving skills among students in elementary grades. Many researchers have suggested the use of visual representation strategies to improve problem solving skills for students. Researchers Gursel, Guler, and Alpher Ciltas (2011) found a positive correlation between teachers who use visual representations in their instruction and their students who use visual representations to problem solve. These students were more likely to be better problem solvers. Unfortunately, they also found that the frequency in which the strategy was employed was low. Bruun’s study ( 2013) concurred with the above, and that only forty percent of teachers were incorporating the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) visual representation strategy of drawing a picture and only seventeen percent were using the problem solving skill of making a table or a graph. Rapp ( 2009) suggests that we must keep in mind the visual-spatial learners in our classrooms and the importance for these learners to see the information and provide additional ways for them to respond to the answer such as drawing a picture.

Literature Review

Tests show that the United States continues to be behind many countries in the world in the field of mathematics. Fourth and eighth grade students across the country were tested and compared to other students in the same grades in 57 other countries. The United States ranked 11th in fourth-grade math and 9th in eighth-grade math (Rich, 2012). This trend continues and even worsens as students enter high school. The high school dropout rate continues to grow, as well as the rate of those students not completing college because many of them are stuck in remedial algebra classes and cannot move on. Many researchers have argued that in order for students to have a better foundation and understanding in mathematics, it is essential for them to understand problem solving strategies (Bruun, 2013). That presents new challenges for educators in the classroom. One challenge they face is determining what problem solving strategies should be used in their mathematical instruction. Another is ensuring students are using these strategies to problem solve and finally, the educators need to be adequately trained to teach strategies specifically for problem solving in mathematics in order for students to be successful.

Determining Problem Solving Strategies

Today, educators are faced with determining strategies to help their students learn problem solving in mathematics. The emphasis is no longer on computation, but on the ability to use mathematics to solve real life problems (Guler & Ciltas, 2011). The days of rote memorization and other traditional methods have been replaced by research based strategies. The NCTM (2017) recommends nine of these strategies for educators and they are as follows: draw a picture; choose an operation; make a table or graph; act it out; work backwards; guess, test, revise; work a simpler problem; make an organized list; and find a pattern. The majority of these strategies fall under the heading of visual representations. “Visual learning is about acquiring and communicating information through illustrations, photos, diagrams, graphs, symbols, icons and other visual representation” (Murphy, 2009). Many researchers see a positive correlation between teachers who use visual representation in their mathematical instruction and the success their students have in problem solving (Guler & Ciltas, 2011). Unfortunately, research also shows that educators are not using all of these visual representation strategies in their mathematical instruction with enough regularity; of 70 teachers interviewed, only 2 teachers taught four of the nine NCTM strategies, 50 teachers taught at least 1 strategy, and 18 teachers taught none. Instead, these teachers focused on non-visual problem solving strategies such as; identifying key information, clue words, eliminate extra information, reread, writing own problem, Understand, Plan, Solve and Evaluate, reword and replace names. Many of these strategies have proven to have little effect in improving student’s problem solving skills (Bruun, 2013).

Use of Visual Representations

According to researcher (Rapp, 2009), it is important for educators not only to use visual representations in their mathematical instruction, but also to allow students to respond to mathematical problems using visual representations. This too can sometimes be a stumbling block for an educator. How many times have you heard a mathematics teacher tell a student to “show their work”? This can be a difficult concept for students, particularly if they are more comfortable or have only been taught by more traditional methods. Studies have shown that students of educators that do use visual representations in the mathematical instruction do not always use the problem solving strategy to solve mathematical problems. For example, in one study, a teacher used the visual problem solving strategies 83% of the time, the students only 49%. In the case of another teacher who used the strategy 83% of the time as well, the students used it only 47% of the time (Guler & Ciltas, 2011). Other challenges in this area include the students’ textbooks and multiple choice tests. Educators may be using visual representations in their instruction, but the textbook in many cases does not leave the student room to create a visual representation, dissuading the student from using the problem solving strategy. The same could be said for multiple choice tests. Students may have no room to work out the problem or just prefer to circle the answer as opposed to using visual representation strategies that have been taught to them. So, “despite the positive attitude of the students towards using visual representations in problem solving, their problem solving success is not very high due to the fact visual representations are nor sufficiently used in problem solving” (Guler & Ciltas, 2011).

Trained Educators for Strategies

The lack of research in the subject area of educating teachers on the topic of visual representation is limited and also leads to the deficit in teacher preparedness and resources. As previously listed, there are nine NCTM problem solving strategies teachers should be using in their mathematical instruction. This may lead to yet another challenge educators may face, which is have they been adequately trained to teach all of these strategies? Or do they even know these strategies exist? The expectation is that teachers are teaching all nine NCTM problem solving strategies (Bruun, 2013).

Conclusion

The issue of United States students falling behind in mathematics globally continues to be a concern. Research suggests that incorporating visual representations into mathematical instruction will help students be more successful problem solvers in mathematics. This area needs more research so that the United States educational system is equipped to implement these strategies nationwide. Thus far, the research suggests that though there is positive correlation between teachers who use visual representation strategies in their mathematical instruction and the problem solving success of their students (Guler & Ciltas, 2011), there are not enough educators using the strategies (Bruun, 2013). The research also suggests, in order to make students more successful in problem solving, we need to encourage them to use visual representation to solve real world problem (Rapp, 2009). It is not enough for the educator to model the strategies. They need to encourage students to use them. Finally, the lack of research indicates that there are many teachers in classrooms today who may not have had the proper training or resources to create mathematic lessons using visual representation strategies. This is an area that needs to be focused on to help improve the problem solving successes of our students.

References

Bruun, F. (2013). Elementary teachers' perspectives of mathematics problem solving strategies. The mathematics educator, 23(1), 45-59.

Güler, G., & Çiltaş, A. (2011). The visual representation usage levels of mathematics teachers and students in solving verbal problems. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(11), 145-154.

Murphy, S. J. (2009). Visual learning in elementary mathematics, research into practice mathematics. Pearson Education Inc. Retreived April, 20, 2010.

Rapp, W. H. (2009). Avoiding math taboos: Effective math strategies for visual-spatial learners. Teaching Exceptional Children Plus, 6(2), 2-12.

EDF5481.docx

EDF 5481

Literature Review Assignment Guidelines

Purpose

The Literature Review Assignment requires students to produce a narrative literature review based on at least three primary research journal articles published after 2000. To accomplish this, students must identify a suitable research topic within their fields of study, identify and read primary research journal articles about that topic, and create a narrative literature review of those research articles. This assignment is an extension of the Literature Search Assignment. Be sure you have completed Module 3, especially reading the supplemental article on writing literature reviews.

Timely Submission

See the schedule in the syllabus for assignment due dates. The submission deadline is midnight on the due date. Penalties for late submissions are discussed in the syllabus.

The assignment should be submitted via the Assignments in Canvas as a Microsoft Word file. If you need to select new articles because some of your Literature Search articles were not acceptable, PDF copies of the new articles should be uploaded to the Assignments as separate files. Do not re-submit articles submitted with the previous assignment.

Format

The paper should be standard letter size (8.5 x 11 inches) portrait orientation with 1-inch margins and 12-point font size. The length of the Literature Review will be 3-5 double-spaced pages long.

Sections

Use the following sections (with the underlined text as the heading for each section) in your assignment.

· Assignment Information— Include your name, the name of the assignment (Literature Review Assignment), the course number (EDF 5481), and the semester.

· Introduction— Identify the topic addressed by the literature review, provide a context to demonstrate the importance of the focus of the review, provide a problem statement addressed by the literature review, describe the method through which the review was conducted, and present the organizing theoretical framework.

· Literature Review— Summarize information presented in at least three primary research articles and integrate the results of the studies in the context of the organizing theoretical framework Citations should be provided for all articles discussed. Students should use one of two strategies for reviewing the articles:

· Review each study sequentially, showing how each is related to the organizing theoretical framework adopted ( do not simply describe the method and results of each study)

· Or present a logically flowing argument that explains the organizing theoretical framework, citing studies that support each assertion made and providing relevant details of the method and results of articles as needed to support those assertations.

· Conclusions— Summarize the important conclusions that can be drawn from the existing literature, discuss their implications for practice and research, briefly discuss the quality of the body of literature, and identify future directions for research on the chosen topic.

· References—Using APA format, present bibliographic information for all sources cited in the literature review. Arrange the citations in order by the first author’s last name. Direct quotes or paraphrased text that originated elsewhere must be cited in the text of the paper in APA format (See an example format at www.evc.edu/AcademicAffairs/Documents/APAFormatTemplate.doc). Failure to acknowledge original sources of information obtained from other sources constitutes plagiarism and may be subject to Graduate Honor System review.

· Primary Articles—Please upload a copy of any primary research articles discussed in the literature review that was not submitted with the previous assignment (This should only apply to you if the articles submitted with your Literature Search assignment were not acceptable.) Do not submit copies of any sources that are not primary research. Note that you may cite articles in your paper that are not primary research, but do not submit copies of these.

Assessment

· The primary emphasis in the assessment of the Literature Review will be based on the completeness with which the various elements of the guidelines are addressed. Secondary emphasis will be placed on the level of sophistication of the discussion provided and the general readability of the text. The list below may help you evaluate the degree to which your assignment is complete.

· Format the assignment as specified.

· Introduce the topic, identify its importance, and state the problem addressed by the literature review.

· Include a summary of, a reference to, and bibliographic information for at least four primary research articles that are related to a single, narrowly-defined topic.

· Integrate the summary of the articles within an organizing theoretical framework to show the logical connections between the ideas presented in those articles.

· Draw conclusions about the research articles and what they say about the chosen topic, and identify future directions for research about the topic.

· Satisfy the purposes of a narrative literature review.

· Satisfy the guidelines for a narrative literature review as presented in Module

· Literature Review Guideline.pdf

· Example of Literature Reivew.docx

LiteratureReviewGuideline-1.pdf

EDF 5481

Literature Review Assignment Guidelines

Purpose The Literature Review Assignment requires students to produce a narrative literature review

based on at least three primary research journal articles published after 2000. To accomplish

this, students must identify a suitable research topic within their fields of study, identify and read

primary research journal articles about that topic, and create a narrative literature review of those

research articles. This assignment is an extension of the Literature Search Assignment. Be sure

you have completed Module 3, especially reading the supplemental article on writing literature

reviews.

Timely Submission See the schedule in the syllabus for assignment due dates. The submission deadline is midnight

on the due date. Penalties for late submissions are discussed in the syllabus.

The assignment should be submitted via the Assignments in Canvas as a Microsoft Word file. If

you need to select new articles because some of your Literature Search articles were not

acceptable, PDF copies of the new articles should be uploaded to the Assignments as separate

files. Do not re-submit articles submitted with the previous assignment.

Format The paper should be standard letter size (8.5 x 11 inches) portrait orientation with 1-inch margins

and 12-point font size. The length of the Literature Review will be 3-5 double-spaced pages

long.

Sections Use the following sections (with the underlined text as the heading for each section) in your

assignment.

o Assignment Information— Include your name, the name of the assignment (Literature Review

Assignment), the course number (EDF 5481), and the semester.

o Introduction— Identify the topic addressed by the literature review, provide a context to

demonstrate the importance of the focus of the review, provide a problem statement addressed

by the literature review, describe the method through which the review was conducted, and

present the organizing theoretical framework.

o Literature Review— Summarize information presented in at least three primary research

articles and integrate the results of the studies in the context of the organizing theoretical

framework. Citations should be provided for all articles discussed. Students should use

one of two strategies for reviewing the articles:

 Review each study sequentially, showing how each is related to the organizing

theoretical framework adopted (do not simply describe the method and results of

each study)

 Or present a logically flowing argument that explains the organizing theoretical

framework, citing studies that support each assertion made and providing relevant

details of the method and results of articles as needed to support those assertions.

o Conclusions— Summarize the important conclusions that can be drawn from the existing

literature, discuss their implications for practice and research, briefly discuss the quality of

the body of literature, and identify future directions for research on the chosen topic.

o References—Using APA format, present bibliographic information for all sources cited

in the literature review. Arrange the citations in order by the first author’s last name.

Direct quotes or paraphrased text that originated elsewhere must be cited in the text of the

paper in APA format (See an example format at

www.evc.edu/AcademicAffairs/Documents/APAFormatTemplate.doc). Failure to

acknowledge original sources of information obtained from other sources constitutes

plagiarism and may be subject to Graduate Honor System review.

o Primary Articles—Please upload a copy of any primary research articles discussed in the

literature review that was not submitted with the previous assignment. (This should only

apply to you if the articles submitted with your Literature Search assignment were not

acceptable.) Do not submit copies of any sources that are not primary research. Note that

you may cite articles in your paper that are not primary research, but do not submit copies

of these.

Assessment o The primary emphasis in the assessment of the Literature Review will be based on the

completeness with which the various elements of the guidelines are addressed. Secondary

emphasis will be placed on the level of sophistication of the discussion provided and the

general readability of the text. The list below may help you evaluate the degree to which

your assignment is complete.

o Format the assignment as specified.

o Introduce the topic, identify its importance, and state the problem addressed by the

literature review.

o Include a summary of, a reference to, and bibliographic information for at least four

primary research articles that are related to a single, narrowly-defined topic.

o Integrate the summary of the articles within an organizing theoretical framework to show

the logical connections between the ideas presented in those articles.

o Draw conclusions about the research articles and what they say about the chosen topic,

and identify future directions for research about the topic.

o Satisfy the purposes of a narrative literature review.

o Satisfy the guidelines for a narrative literature review as presented in Module 3.