A Model of Math Infusion in Middle School STEM Curriculum
A/B Workshop: The 150 teachers who participated in the A/B workshops enthusiastically supported their design. In particular, teachers cited the opportunity to work with their peers from different content areas, having time and structure for examining student work, and the opportunity to focus on curricula development as key elements they found helpful and rewarding. Several teachers noted the A/B model guaranteed they had time to do tasks that are often not valued, such as reflecting on their own practice and sharing with colleagues. A total of over 260 math infused science lessons and over 60 math infused technology lessons were created. Examination of the lessons over time (using the lesson rubric), teacher feedback and observations revealed change in both practice and understanding related to application of the math infusion model. Over 90% of the teachers reported that they used the template to develop math-infused lessons which resulted in students having a deeper conceptual understanding of math. Moreover, 86% of the teachers indicated that they had developed new teaching techniques during the workshops and 75% of the science and technology teachers increased the amount of mathematics they presented in their classes. Additionally, 87% of the teachers reported they would use the MSTP lessons developed during the A/B workshops again.
Proof of concept study: Data from the proof of concept study revealed an improvement in student content knowledge from pre-infusion lessons to post. Of the 13 multiple choice questions, 6 revealed statistically significant (p<.05) pre-post improvements for the infusion students, while only 3 questions improved for the comparison students. Further, matched paired t-tests for the infusion students data showed statistically significant higher means on the post measure for the open ended than the pre measure. Therefore, change was most obvious on open-ended questions (requiring students to demonstrate deeper knowledge) although some multi-choice items also showed these positive shifts. Attitudes also showed positive shifts, as statistically significant (p<.05) pre-post test difference were found for the infusion students on 8 of the 17 items, where post scores reflected more positive attitudes. Moreover, there were few indications of student dissatisfaction with math infusion as reported by either students or teachers. It was further found that school context was a meaningful variable when considering the success of introduction of math infusion within middle schools. In particular, districts with greater administrative support evidenced more successful implementations than schools with limited support. Preliminary analysis of data from the fall 2008 replication again demonstrates the feasibility of the model within science and technology classes.