Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This research report describes the findings of a study on mathematics teachers’ models or interpretations of students’ responses to middle school algebraic tasks involving equivalent expressions. A cohort of five teachers implemented the reform-based Connected Mathematics Project (Lappen et al, 1998) for the first time. The research design drew upon a models and modeling perspective of teacher development (Doerr & Lesh, 2003). The teachers in this study created “Ways of Thinking” sheets to help them recognize the multiple ways in which their students interpreted the given tasks. Results of the analysis of the practice of one of the teachers showed that the teacher became aware of the multiple ways his students solved these algebraic tasks.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: Getting students to memorize facts is easy. Getting students to think through politically contentious issues in an analytical, systematic way is not. Yet while most political science professors prefer the second outcome, more often than we’d like, we end up settling for the first.

This presentation is about finding compelling ways to engage students on critical thinking skills. I focus on two main issues: selection and presentation of materials. First, how do you narrow your choice of what critical thinking skills you will ask students to master? The topic could cover an entire semester, but most of us can only spare a week on the syllabus. I argue that by carefully selecting core aspects of critical thinking, which build on one another, you can arm students with a fair spread of analytical tools.

Second, how do you present the material in a way that doesn’t leave students yawning? The term “critical thinking skills” is overused to the point of being meaningless for students; how do you re-infuse it with meaning? I use a two-track strategy. First, I give students examples that are immediately relevant to them, regardless of career field. When I illustrate that better critical thinking skills help them argue more persuasively, students engage more fully. Second, I give students many exercises and problems to help them work through the issues, so that a task such as understanding causation becomes second nature.

My goal as a professor is for my students to value the product of critical thinking so highly that they will even question their own long-held assumptions. I look forward to feedback from my colleagues to help me refine or rethink my approach, to help take me further on that quest.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The Mathematics Education faculty at Purdue University Calumet is developing materials for pre-service elementary education majors which address children’s mathematical thinking. This session will highlight some of the activities we have developed and discuss their rationale. This initiative forms the primary component of our efforts to revise our three-course Mathematics for Elementary Teachers sequence so that it is consistent with professional standards in the field.

Having found most textbooks wanting in their attention to children’s mathematical thinking, we are drawing upon our experiences in elementary and middle school math classrooms to modify inquiry-supporting math activities so that they provide an appropriate challenge for our college students. Using our first course on number and number operations as a source of examples, we will discuss how these activities a) enable us to focus on children’s mathematics, b) promote a conceptual understanding of the mathematics our students will be teaching, c) allow our students to experience an inquiry approach to teaching and learning mathematics, d) provide the opportunity to discuss mathematics teaching and activity design strategies, and e) help students realize the importance of possessing a deep subject matter understanding that includes consideration of how children think about mathematics. We expect that these activities will enable teachers to construct pedagogical content knowledge and to develop what Liping Ma calls a “profound understanding of fundamental mathematics.” Finally, we will discuss an assessment instrument we are using to evaluate our efforts.

Publication Type: Paper (prepared oral presentation)
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper sets out to explore the gender dimension of three conflict and peace processes: that in Northern Ireland (a unique autonomous region); South Africa (a sovereign state) and Chiapas (a state in southern Mexico). It builds upon new approaches to the study of identities in the process of mobilisation and transformation, building a bridge between theories of ethnic or ethno-class mobilisation, and theories of gender mobilisation, with power as a key variable. The study will contribute to the wider literature by developing existing analysis of identity change in social transformations into a gender sensitive approach.
Recent theory, in particular work by Michèle Lamont and Andreas Wimmer, focuses on the common aspects of boundary-making, distinction-making and opposition. This allows us to compare boundary processes, opposition and mobilisation in my three case studies. Another interesting comparative element is the involvement of women in mobilisation, although not every movement has integrated a gender equality discourse in their resistance agenda like the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) in Chiapas with their Revolutionary Law of Women.
Women have been involved in mobilisation and demobilisation processes against unequal power relations in many countries. A starting point for theorising this expectation has been the female security framework, which emphasises the human being and in particular the different experiences of men and women. The mobilisation of women in ethnic or class mobilisations, which use universalistic moral repertoires (Lamont/Fournier, 1992, Horowitz, 2000), is likely to have impact on gendered power structures.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Researchers investigated the role of counterfactual thinking in negligence judgments. Mock jurors read about a workplace accident and reviewed a set of actual jury instructions before completing psychological measures and verdict judgments. Reaction times were recorded for each of the measures. Results support counterfactual thinking as one cause of negligence verdicts and factual, covariation thinking as another causal factor. Thus, our research suggests that a complete model of how jurors make negligence judgments should include both counterfactual thinking and factual, covariation thinking. The paper also discusses the role that perceived normality and foreseeability play in juror determinations of negligence.