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Action Research 403

This document discusses creating an interactive mathematics classroom through the use of videos and technology. It describes how videos, virtual manipulatives, and interactive whiteboards can engage students and help them better understand mathematical concepts. The document references studies that found using videos improved student comprehension and engagement. It proposes incorporating videos and interactive activities into lessons to examine the impact on student learning in the classroom.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
48 views9 pages

Action Research 403

This document discusses creating an interactive mathematics classroom through the use of videos and technology. It describes how videos, virtual manipulatives, and interactive whiteboards can engage students and help them better understand mathematical concepts. The document references studies that found using videos improved student comprehension and engagement. It proposes incorporating videos and interactive activities into lessons to examine the impact on student learning in the classroom.

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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Running Head: Interactive Classrooms 1

An Interactive Mathematics Classroom

Education 403: Reading and Writing in the Content Area

Allison Kocovic

Manhattan College
Interactive Classrooms 2

Abstract

This paper will talk about the use of videos and other ways to create an interactive

mathematics classroom. A teacher incorporating reading and writing in their lesson is a good

way for students to comprehend what they just learned, and they have the skills they need to read

and write in the content area. Videos, graphs, and traditional texts are the main form of texts used

in a mathematics classroom. This paper will mainly focus on videos and interactive applications

to increase student reading and writing comprehension because of the observation done in an

urban high school geometry classroom.

Key Words: technology, videos, interactive classroom, mathematics classroom, texts, engaging

students
Interactive Classrooms 3

An Interactive Mathematics Classroom

A major concern as a teacher is student learning, understanding, and comprehending.

Content specialty teachers not only have to teach in their content area, but must also incorporate

reading and writing skills as well. For mathematics, some ways to include reading and writing

comprehension skills is by showing videos, looking a graphs and tables, traditional texts and

more. For my fieldwork hours, I observed four freshman honors geometry classes. My plan was

to incorporate more interactive videos and tools in the classroom in hopes of engaging more

students. Research shows that when technology is used effectively in the classroom, students will

gain a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts (Bos, 2009).

A common problem in the classroom is students lack of understanding of mathematical

concepts and staying engaged throughout the lesson. Incorporating reading and writing activities

help students with comprehension, and in a mathematics classroom, videos are considered a form

of text. Mathematics can be seen as its own language which is different from the language

students normally acquire from home, because it is so abstract and conceptual compared to other

subjects taught in school (Aflahah, 2018). This is why most students are not interested or

engaged in their mathematics class. One way to engage students in the classroom is the use of

technology. Learning mathematics can be a struggle for some students and the methods that

teachers use in the classroom has a substantial impression on the level of understanding from the

student (Murphy, 2015). Every student comprehends information in a different way, but most

students are visual learners, so incorporating videos and other interactive forms of technology

helps students gain a deeper understanding of the content. Also, there is a large number of

English Language Learners (ELLs) in schools across the country. Research shows that images

and videos support the learning of new content, concepts, and ideas for ELLs (Alber, 2019).
Interactive Classrooms 4

Videos are a great tool to assist students in gaining a deeper understanding of content.

How-to or instructional videos are easily available to students on the internet. Videos under

seven minutes can reinforce what students have learned or are learning. Watching short videos is

a good way to break up the lesson for the students and refresh their mind on what they had just

learned (Alber, 2019). Another type of video used in classrooms are video podcasts. Benefits of

using video podcasts in educational settings include improved learning and study habits, positive

student attitudes toward learning, and increased learning performance. However, the main

advantage of video podcasts is students having the control over when and where they learn, what

they need to learn, and the pace of learning (Kay & Edwards, 2011). One of the most used video

podcasts website that is easily accessible to all students and teachers is Khan Academy

(https://www.khanacademy.org). Khan Academy has videos for all subject areas, ranging from

first grade all through graduate courses. To test this theory of video podcasts, Robin Kay and

Jaime Edwards’ study consisted of 136 middle school students (72 boys, 64 girls) from a small

community located in Ontario, Canada. The results of the study were that the majority of

students, around 79%, believed the video podcasts help them understand problems and concepts

better. 18% of students were confused by some of the steps and needed more clarification, and

60% of all students experienced no confusion. I think this is interesting because more than half

of the students in the class found this helpful to them. This will ultimately lead students to being

engaged in the classroom, and develop better reading and writing skills.

Virtual manipulatives are a great way to demonstrate a conceptual understanding of a

mathematical idea. Though it should include detailed instructions, examples, and having a

teacher monitor and guide students in order to learn how to use manipulatives to create positive

outcomes (Bos, 2009). Virtual manipulatives are supposed to help make abstract content more
Interactive Classrooms 5

understandable for students. Though new content may be confusing to students and require more

instruction from teachers, virtual manipulatives are used as a scaffold. Looking at Table 1, we

can see different types of technology based applications used in the classroom. Towards the

bottom of the table, interactive mathematics are the only technology based applications with a

high cognitive fidelity rate. Cognitive fidelity defines how computer generated objects differ in

their ability to convey mathematical understanding (Bos, 2007). Table 1 shows that the strengths

of interactive mathematics provide a way to see mathematical patterns (Bos, 2009). The only

weakness of this application is that it is difficult to have for every mathematical concept the

students will be learning.

TABLE 1:
Interactive Classrooms 6

Another interactive application for students to use and benefit from is the interactive

whiteboard. In this study, thirteen pre-service mathematics teachers examined teaching and

learning activities in their final undergraduate year with a Technological Pedagogical Content

Knowledge (TPCK) (Holmes, 2009). TPCK is defined as a basis of good teaching with

technology and required an understanding of concepts using technology. Meaning, teachers must

be able to use technology in their classroom in a way that can only benefit their students, not be a

disadvantage for them. The study also says that TPCK is a type of pedagogy, incorporating

technology is a technique that some teachers enjoy using. Table 2 shows the schematic view of

TPCK and how all the elements work together. The pre-service teachers first came to the

conclusion that technology is prevalent throughout society, so students will need technological

skills in the future. Current students are using technology in many aspects of their lives so

classrooms and learning should be similar to their everyday lives (Holmes, 2009). Secondly, the

student teachers noted that understanding technology is a tool which can be used to help the

learning process, or if used incorrectly it will interfere with learning. Next, the pre-service

teachers also realized that the distribution of technology must be used correctly. Some students

may not be able to access videos or interactive sites if they do not have a computer at home to

use. The pre-service teachers recorded that some of their cooperating teachers lacked knowledge

in the use of new technologies. A veteran teacher must be able to adapt to new applications and

keep up with the advancement in technology in schools. Lastly, pre-service teachers saw an

overall positive outcome of using interactive whiteboards and technology in the classroom. Their

students gained a deeper understanding of the mathematical content they were learning on that

day (Holmes, 2009). While using the interactive whiteboards, the pre-service teachers saw their

students were more engaged, and will comprehend more of the content they are learning.
Interactive Classrooms 7

TABLE 2:

For my own study, in either a fieldwork classroom or my own future classroom, I would

incorporate videos in my lesson to examine student engagement and achievement. First, I would

include videos or other interactive sites in at least 2-4 lessons during the week. I would focus on

student engagement, comprehension, and their overall achievement. Using videos in the

classroom allows for more efficient processing and memory recall among students. Videos

appeal to students because it allows them to process information in a way that is more natural to

them. Research shows that teachers also benefit from showing students videos in class because it

improves their learning experience. Videos can also be easily shared among students and

teachers, are easy to use, and a good way to have students participate in the classroom. If a video

does not fit in the lesson plan, it can easily be given part of a homework assignment. The website

EdPuzzle (https://www.edpuzzle.com) allows teachers to post videos, or just copy and paste a

link from a website like YouTube. After you put in a video you can stop at certain parts and have

a question that will come up and a space for an answer. The teacher can then send the students a

link from the video they made on EdPuzzle and students must answer the questions that come up
Interactive Classrooms 8

in order to continue the video. Throughout the study I would track how students are

comprehending the content, and survey students to get their opinion about the videos in the

classroom. I would ask the questions (1) Do you like watching short videos in class? (2) Do the

interactive videos for homework help you with other homework assignments? (3) Do you feel

like you understand the material better when watching a video that reinforces what you just

learned? These questions are a good way for a teacher to check for understanding from their

students, and to get feedback about what works best for them. I would also include video

podcasts from Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org). These videos have a teacher

explaining content and give practice problems too. To combine both EdPuzzle and Khan

Academy, I would copy the link from Khan Academy and put it into the EdPuzzle website and

stop the video to ask students to work out the answer, then enter their answer so they could

continue on with the video to check their answer.

Like any study, there are parts of the experiment where things can go wrong. While using

technology in the classroom is helpful to both students and teachers, it can also be distracting.

Students could get off topic easily, and also technology does not always work. If a teacher is

using any sort of technology in the classroom and there are difficulties, there should always be a

backup plan to avoid wasting time from student learning. Overall, the studies have found that

using technology and making your classroom an interactive classroom benefits all students.

Keeping students engaged in class and in learning helps with their comprehension.
Interactive Classrooms 9

References:

Aflahah, S. (2018). Why are language and literacy important in understanding


mathematics? Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 26(3), 58–63.
https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-554040666/why-are-language-and-literacy-
important-in-understanding

Alber, R. (2019, March 18). Using Video Content to Amplify Learning. Retrieved from
https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-video-content-amplify-learning

Bos, B. (2009). Technology with cognitive and mathematical fidelity: What it means for
the math classroom. Computers in the Schools, 26(2), 107-114.

Bos, B. (2007). Mathematical and Cognitive Fidelity, Technology Impacting


Mathematical Achievement. https://gato-docs.its.txstate.edu/jcr:ba563bec-7fcc-4bda-a8ba-
5cafebb21201/Mathematical%20and%20Cognitive%20Fidelity.pdf

Holmes, K. (2009). Planning to teach with digital tools: Introducing the interactive
whiteboard to pre-service secondary mathematics teachers. Australasian Journal of Educational
Technology, 25(3).
file:///Users/Ally/Downloads/1139-Article%20Text-3600-1-10-20130731%20(1).pdf

Kay, R., & Edwards, J. (2011, November 30). Examining the Use of Worked Example
Video Podcasts in Middle School Mathematics Classrooms: A Formative Analysis. Retrieved
from https://eric.ed.gov/?q=videos+in+mathematics&id=EJ999216

Murphy, D. (2015, November 30). A Literature Review: The Effect of Implementing


Technology in a High School Mathematics Classroom. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?
id=EJ1105104.

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