Return-Path: <nifl-fobasics@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id iANBdgQ24165; Tue, 23 Nov 2004 06:39:42 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 06:39:42 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <0267AB3E-3D44-11D9-8473-00039381D39E@comcast.net> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-fobasics@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-fobasics@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-fobasics@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: David Rosen <djrosen@comcast.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-fobasics@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FOBASICS:1192] Math research..messages from the Numeracy list X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.553) Content-Type: text/plain; delsp=yes; charset=WINDOWS-1252; format=flowed Status: O Content-Length: 6547 Lines: 152 NIFL-FOBasics Coilleagues The replies below, in response to my cross-posting the question I asked here on math research, were not posted to this list. So, if you want to reply to them, join the numeracy list or e-mail the person. Please don’t post replies to this list as they won’t necessarily see them. To join the numeracy e-list , go to: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/numeracy/numeracy.html The question I asked was; "Anyone, are there good studies of how adults learn math -- especially very basic level skills like number facts and basic operations? Is there evidence for what I have argued, for example, that adults (as well as kids) can learn/need to learn how to think mathematically -- even while they are learning the most basic numeracy skills?" Thanks, David J. Rosen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------ From: “markdotmath” markdotmath@verizon.net Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 To: numeracy@TheWorld.com Subject: adults learning math: replying to Rosen Hi David and all, Regarding how adults learn math and is it different than kids, I have to note the following. Adults have to unlearn a lot of things that have been mislearned or partially learned. I teach basic math at a community college and I spend a lot of time working with these adults who have fragments of information that almost but not always "give the right answer". The adults do the same thing kids do. When in a learning context and paying attention to new information - new ideas, new principles, new computational sequences - kids and adults will reformulate what is heard into their words and styles. They will take the words they hear, compare them to their experiences and "theorize" about how it really works. This isn't my idea; in the "Number Sense" book there are these and other interesting ideas. So, the issue is to identify which fragments are operating at the time adults are presented with new information. For example, I present percent in a way considerably different from the usual percent equation concept. Yet, most students have some idea of how percent problems work based on their previous experience with having been taught how percent problems can be solved using the equation concept. I hear their questions: "is this the same as...?", "can't I use the 'is-of" rule here?"; "how do I know which equation to use?", etc. My point is that it's not just that adults have experiences that kids don't; it's the nature of an intensity of the learning and any reinforcements they may have received for partially formed conceptions that sometimes work. Old habit die hard and unless students can be made aware of them and verbalize them, then how they learn after that awareness may not be very different from how kids learn or how adults learn anything, let alone math in a classroom ... later, mark ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------ From: RamusLTD@aol.com Date: Mon Nov 22, 2004 3:40:15 PM US/Eastern To: numeracy@europe.std.com Subject: Re: Research on how adults learn math Reply-To: numeracy@europe.std.com This past summer I read over 9000 pages of doctoral dissertations that concerned the teaching of math to adults. One point that came through repeatedly contradicts the Piagetian theory that individuals enter formal operations in their teens. The studies I read found that less than half, and considerably less than half in developmental classrooms, of the collegiate math student population operate on that level. This has important implications for what and how we teach math to adults. Kathy Safford Katherine Safford-Ramus, Ed.D. Associate Professor Mathematics Department Saint Peter's College 2641 Kennedy Boulevard Jersey City, NJ 07306 201-915-4930 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 15:23:01 -0500 From: RamusLTD@aol.com To: numeracy@europe.std.com Subject: Re: Research on how adults learn math David, A good source of information on research on adults learning mathematics is the proceedings published each year by Adults Learning Mathematics (ALM). I believe they are available through Peppercorn Press. I did a study of published research in 2000 and found at that time that the bulk of it lies hidden in university libraries as doctoral dissertations which are difficult, but not impossible, to obtain through ILL. Nothing I have encountered since leads me to believe that the proportions have changed in the intervening 4 years. ALM has started an electronic journal in this area but the first issue has not been published yet. If you or anyone else would like a file with the dissertation titles and authors please contact me offlist and I will be happy to send it to you. Kathy Safford -- Katherine Safford-Ramus, Ed.D. Associate Professor Mathematics Department Saint Peter's College 2641 Kennedy Boulevard Jersey City, NJ 07306 201-915-4930 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------- Snippets from e-mail to me, not posted to an e-list "----- You might be interested in at least one document on the OVAE/DAEL Mathematic Topics web page; it's called Perspectives on Adults Learning Math, located at: http://www.alm-online.org/Publications/New- Publications.htm#Perspectives . Could be other leads on the site though not exactly what you wanted. The DAEL Math page is located at: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/math.html. " "------ Research through the Equipped for the Future initiative supports much of the research in how kids learn math. One key finding is that students (adults and kids) should be engaged in all four strands of math (number sense, geometry and measurement, data and statistics, and algebraic reasoning) at all levels of learning. This means that our adult learners should be learning about data and statistics while they're learning their "basic" facts. They can be engaging in activities around area and perimeter while they're learning their multiplication facts. In fact, doing so helps students see the direct application of computation skills." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------
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