An alternative educational indicator for classifying secondary schools in Portugal

The purpose of this paper aims at carrying out a study in the area of Statistics for classifying Portuguese Secondary Schools (both mainland and islands: “Azores” and “Madeira”), taking into account the results achieved by their students in both national examinations and internal assessment. The main according consists of identifying groups of schools with different performance levels by considering the sub-national public and private education systems’ as well as their respective geographic location. For this, we developed an alternative educational indicator for the so-called Secondary Education indicator rankings released since 2001 by the Portuguese media.

De los contenidos a las competencias numéricas en la enseñanza obligatoria = From contents to numerical competence in Compulsory Secondary Education

Mathematics has formed part of all our daily lives since the most remote origins of our civilization, although on too many occasions schools have done little for this functional view of mathematics reclaiming the formal role of this discipline in detriment of its more practical and applied element. From this perspective the curriculum organized by competence arises due to the need to fill this vacuum and allow our students to function better in the constant elements of real situations which they are going to have to resolve throughout their lives. The specifying of this general view of mathematic competence in the numeric competence should allow all our students to progressively acquire numeric sense, that is, that they have the capacity to apply good quantitative ideas in real situations

Gender bias in the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study 2003 (TIMMS) for Canadian students /

This study is a secondary data analysis of the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study 2003 (TIMSS) to determine if there is a gender bias, unbalanced number of items suited to the cognitive skill of one gender, and to compare performance by location. Results of the Grade 8, math portion of the test were examined. Items were coded as verbal, spatial, verbal /spatial or neither and as conventional or unconventional. A Kruskal- Wallis was completed for each category, comparing performance of students from Ontario, Quebec, and Singapore. A Factor Analysis was completed to determine if there were item categories with similar characteristics. Gender differences favouring males were found in the verbal conventional category for Canadian students and in the spatial conventional category for students in Quebec. The greatest differences were by location, as students in Singapore outperformed students from Canada in all areas except for the spatial unconventional category. Finally, whether an item is conventional or unconventional is more important than whether the item is verbal or spatial. Results show the importance of fair assessment for the genders in both the classroom and on standardized tests.

Introduction to engineering : a case study of an interdisciplinary course in Mathematics, Science and Technology

This thesis research was a qualitative case study of a single class of Interdisciplinary Studies: Introduction to Engineering taught in a secondary school. The study endeavoured to explore students' experiences in and perceptions of the course, and to investigate the viability of engineering as an interdisciplinary theme at the secondary school level. Data were collected in the form of student questionnaires, the researcher's observations and reflections, and artefacts representative of students' work. Data analysis was performed by coding textual data and classifying text segments into common themes. The themes that emerged from the data were aligned with facets of interdisciplinary study, including making connections, project-based learning, and student engagement and affective outcomes. The findings of the study showed that students were positive about their experiences in the course, and enjoyed its project-driven nature. Content from mathematics, physics, and technological design was easily integrated under the umbrella of engineering. Students felt that the opportunity to develop problem solving and teamwork skills were two of the most important aspects of the course and could be relevant not only for engineering, but for other disciplines or their day-to-day lives after secondary school. The study concluded that engineering education in secondary school can be a worthwhile experience for a variety of students and not just those intending postsecondary study in engineering. This has implications for the inclusion of engineering in the secondary school curriculum and can inform the practice of curriculum planners at the school, school board, and provincial levels. Suggested directions for further research include classroom-based action research in the areas of technological education, engineering education in secondary school, and interdisciplinary education.

Investigating Formative Assessment: Exploring the Impact on the Self-Efficacy and Motivation of Mathematics Students

This is a study of the implementation and impact of formative assessment strategies on the motivation and self-efficacy of secondary school mathematics students. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was implemented where quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed sequentially in 2 different phases. The first phase involved quantitative data from student questionnaires and the second phase involved qualitative data from individual student and teacher interviews. The findings of the study suggest that formative assessment is implemented in practice in diverse ways and is a process where the strategies are interconnected. Teachers experience difficulty in incorporating peer and self-assessment and perceive a need for exemplars. Key factors described as influencing implementation include teaching philosophies, interpretation of ministry documents, teachers’ experiences, leadership in administration and department, teacher collaboration, misconceptions of teachers, and student understanding of formative assessment. Findings suggest that overall, formative assessment positively impacts student motivation and self-efficacy, because feedback is provided which offers encouragement and recognition by highlighting the progress that has been made and what steps need to be taken to improve. However, students are impacted differently with some considerations including how students perceive mistakes and if they fear judgement. Additionally, the impact of formative assessment is influenced by the connection between self-efficacy and motivation, namely how well a student is doing is a source of both concepts.

Applications and modelling in mathematics teaching

The aim of this paper is a comprehensive presentation of some important basic and general aspects of the topic applications and modelling, with emphasis on the secondary school level. Owing to the review character of this paper, some overlap with the survey paper Blum and Niss (1989) for ICME-6 in Budapest is inevitable. The paper will consist of three parts. In part 1, I shall try to clarify some basic concepts and remind the reader of a few application and modelling examples suitable for teaching. In part 2, I shall formulate some general aims for mathematics instruction and, on that basis, summarise the most important arguments for and against applications and modelling in mathematics teaching. Finally, in part 3, I shall discuss some relevant instructional aspects resulting from the considerations in part 2.

IGCSE Mathematics for Edexcel.

Curso de Matemáticas para superar el examen IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) según la especificación A de Edexcel. Contiene: estudio de los números, álgebra, secuencias, funciones y gráficos, formas, vectores y transformaciones, geometría y estadística. Incluye ejercicios de respuesta múltiple en cada apartado y al término de cada capítulo, con soluciones disponibles al final del libro para comprobar el nivel de los conocimientos adquiridos, y un resumen de las fórmulas más importantes que se pueden necesitar durante el examen.

OCR GCSE Mathematics.

Este libro cumple las expectativas de los alumnos de matemáticas en relación a los exámenes de secundaria (OCR) para obtener el General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Los temas del libro son: trabajar con números, algebra, ecuaciones, ratio y proporción, cálculos estadísticos, el teorema de Pitágoras, trigonometría, representación e interpretación de datos, fracciones decimales y porcentajes, vectores, calculadoras, geometría, longitud área y volumen. El libro está repleto de gráficos e ilustraciones que ayudan de cara a realizar los ejercicios.

OCR GCSE Mathematics.

Este libro cumple las expectativas de los alumnos de matemáticas en relación a los exámenes de secundaria (OCR) para obtener el General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Los temas del libro son: trabajar con números, algebra, integrales, ecuaciones, ratio y proporción, cálculos estadísticos, el teorema de Pitágoras, trigonometría, representación e interpretación de datos, fracciones decimales y porcentajes, vectores, calculadoras, geometría, longitud área y volumen. El libro está repleto de gráficos e ilustraciones que ayudan de cara a realizar los ejercicios.

New AQA GCSE mathematics foundation. Unit 2.

Este libro cumple las expectativas de los alumnos de matemáticas en relación a los exámenes de secundaria (AQA) para obtener el General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Los temas del libro son: tipos de números (números enteros, números primos, integrales positivas y negativas, sumando, restando, multiplicando y dividiendo integrales positivas y negativas), secuencias, fracciones (sumando, restando, multiplicando y dividiendo fracciones) decimales (sumando, restando, dividiendo y multiplicando decimales), trabajando con símbolos, coordenadas, ecuaciones, porcentajes, índices, gráficos, fórmulas, ratio y proporción.

AQA Mathematics.

Este libro cumple las expectativas de los alumnos de matemáticas en relación a los exámenes de secundaria (AQA) para obtener el General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Los temas del libro son: fracciones y decimales, ángulos y áreas (líneas paralelas, triángulos, circunferencia y área de un círculo), trabajando con símbolos, porcentajes y ratios, volumen de un prisma, ecuaciones y fórmulas, propiedades de los polígonos, gráficos, teorema de Pitágoras, propiedades de los círculos, medidas, trigonometría, vectores, funciones exponenciales, el seno, el coseno, volúmenes y áreas de pirámides, conos y esferas.

New AQA GCSE mathematics foundation. Revision guide.

Este libro cumple las expectativas de los alumnos de matemáticas en relación a los exámenes de secundaria (AQA) para obtener el General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Los temas del libro son: los números (tipos de números, fracciones, decimales, porcentajes, ratio y proporción), estadísticas (reuniendo y representando datos, probabilidad), álgebra (secuencias y símbolos, ecuaciones y fórmulas, coordenadas y gráficos), geometría y medida (ángulos, perímetro, área y volumen, medidas, el teorema de Pitágoras).

OCR GCSE Mathematics : Higher Student´s Book.

Este libro cumple las expectativas de los alumnos de matemáticas en relación a los exámenes de secundaria (OCR) para obtener el General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Los temas del libro son: trabajando con números (potencias y raíces en la calculadora, números primos, multiplicando y dividiendo números negativos), álgebra, diagramas estadísticos (dibujando e interpretando gráficos), ecuaciones (fracciones en ecuaciones), ratio y proporción, cálculos estadísticos, el teorema de Pitágoras, fórmulas, medidas, secuencias, muestreos, trigonometría, representando e interpretando datos.

OCR GCSE Mathematics: Foundation Homework Book.

Este libro cumple las expectativas de los alumnos de matemáticas en relación a los exámenes de secundaria (OCR) para obtener el General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Los temas del libro son: integrales, algebra, decimales, fórmulas, ecuaciones, coordenadas, cálculos estadísticos, secuencias, medidas, usando una calculadora, diagramas estadísticos, potencias y raíces, ratio y proporción, teorema de Pitágoras, trabajando con números, ángulos, triángulos y cuadriláteros, fracciones, círculos y polígonos, índices y potencias, gráficos, porcentajes, rotación, perímetro, área y volumen.