Can we motivate adult students to learn and refine their mathematics skills through group studies and participation, technological resources and an everyday living type of strategy and approach to teaching?

Inquiry Project Proposal

Dawne Pezzuco, Adult Education ­ Math instructor, Outreach Programs: Rhode Island College


I would like to research and expand my knowledge of adult mathematics teaching. I feel adult students learning math get easily bored and loose interest. Math anxiety is a key factor involved with any adult math class. Students must learn to be focused. Connecting to real-life situations and understanding the why behind math processes improves their math abilities. We need to build their self-confidence and reduce their anxiety about math.

Hopeful accomplishments: I hope to motivate individuals and lessen their fear of math. I want them to enjoy small group learning projects and feel free to participate in all lectures. They should finish the program with a good understanding of basic mathematics skills and be able to apply them to any daily life situation.

Actions: Students will use internet-based resources in their math instruction. The internet provides for them an easy means of electronic communication and provides access to raw materials which will be used for their instruction. Learning math techniques through the use of the computer is an effective way of explaining difficult concepts to students.

I would like to use the internet to teach various factors such as comparative shopping, how to retrieve and use different types of coupons for groceries, dining, etc. and also how to find useful information such as conversion charts, math tables which will help them answer everyday questions in math.

Students will learn how to set up a home budget and discuss the basics of personal finance. The lessons will be printed from various internet websites. Budget forms will be found on-line as well as documentation explaining helpful hints for budgeting and financing. We will also discuss automobile leasing verses buying and how to save for and purchase a home. Classes are half in the classroom for discussion/lecture and half on the computer. Students will be asked to research and find their own data to support the topic of the day on the internet.

Other lessons will be to refine problem solving skills through estimation, etc. Real-life props such as grocery lists, newspapers and advertisements will teach students how to quickly estimate when shopping and check to verify store receipts. Figuring sales prices, taxes and tips are other areas of necessity to be discussed.

A basic understanding of geometry and algebra should be taught. Geometry is learned through a home decorating session and algebra and fractions through recipes and cooking. Banking is a large topic of discussion including simple and compound interest as well as the different bank accounts available to an indivivual.

Although I have reviewed some areas of everyday life teaching, my information is minimal as there is so much to research. I need to try all aspects and decide which motivates and builds the most confidence with my students. I would like to take a different area each month to study with my students. I will log and keep a journal of which areas are of most interest to my students as well as which areas are the most enjoyable to teach.

I have many computer programs, videos and internet web-sites to teach from but I need to develop an organized system which benefits both myself and my students. My classes run in 10 weeks sessions so my timeline would be to evaluate a couple of classes in the 8 month time schedule and decide which criteria works the best for each class. I also believe that much of my teaching depends upon the students I have for that session.

Evaluation: I will evaluate the students through pre-test and post-test. A curriculum will be decided after the pre-test and an evaluation of the students is determined. I will have a weekly log of the students attitudes, attendance and overall learning abilitly. Monthly assessments will be done through personal and group interviews. I will also give a midterm test to see how the students are progressing.

Sharing results: Staff development meetings need to be performed where teachers can share with each other successful teaching strategies. Learning is a continuous process and we learn from not only our own research but discussing our issues and problems with other teachers working in similar areas. A teacher must always be open-minded and able to listen to students as well as peers.

Budget and materials: All materials such as computers and supplies have already been purchased through Outreach Programs. Most of my time for this project will be through research and assessment. Attending meetings, doing constant internet research for new and betters ways of teaching adult math and keeping a journal or log for documentation.



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