[Students' Mathematical Engagement]

by

Acknowledgement

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER: LITERATURE REVIEW1

Overview of Research on Engagement1

Competence and Perceived Ability2

Teacher Support4

Sense of Community and students` Participation6

Quality of Instruction, Challenging Tasks, and Higher-Order Thinking Activities8

Peer Connections9

Classroom Structure and Environment10

Perceived Control11

Prior Levels of Student Engagement and Academic Performance11

SimCalc: Accelerating Students` Engagement with the Mathematics of Change12

Democratizing Access to Knowledge13

Lines of Innovation15

Students` Conceptual Resources16

Reconstructing Subject Matter18

Technological Mediation of Mathematics and Science Learning19

The Design of Mathworlds21

Why Piecewise Linear Functions24

Student Learning with Mathworlds27

REFERENCES29

Chapter: Literature Review

This chapter presents a review of prior literature on student engagement. While some of the literature deals directly with mathematics, the majority of the literature on student engagement deals with engagement as a general phenomenon. The review is divided into two sub-sections 1) research review in the context of students` engagements for mathematical perspective 2) review students` engagement using mathematical activity like SimCalc.

Overview of Research on Engagement

Skinner et al. (1990) found that students successfully engaged in school earn better grades, score higher on standardized tests of achievement, and are more personally adjusted. Interest on student engagement has flourished in recent years due to its impact on both learning and student achievement (Newmann, 1992; Steinberg et al., 1996). However, very little literature exists on student engagement in the high school mathematics classroom. In a systematic review of 44 articles that span 22 years, Fredricks et al. (2004) found only four articles that dealt with engagement in a mathematics classroom, and only one of the four dealt with engagement in a secondary mathematics classroom. Jimerson et al. (2003) characterized engagement as “a multifaceted construct that includes affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions” (p. 11). They argued that student engagement occurs in a student's academic performance, classroom behavior, extracurricular involvement, interpersonal relationships, and school community.

Their definition encompasses the whole child, including emotional, behavioral, and cognitive processes, and the many diverse contexts that affect and are in turn affected by engagement in the mathematics classroom. This investigation on student engagement in the mathematics classroom was based on the definition proposed by Jimerson et al. Therefore, a search was made to identify significant theories that relate to students' emotional, behavioral, and cognitive abilities. However, a dearth of information exists within that body of literature for research pertaining to the combination of behavioral, emotional, and cognitive factors that make up student engagement.

Research spans multiple grades levels and content areas and includes theoretical articles. Most of the prior research is based on the engagement of students in elementary schools or on students that are considered at-risk. Multiple factors affect student engagement. Nine of these factors that affect ...