Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Gary Reglin
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academic achievement, anxiety, assessments, collaboration, Comprehensive Testing of Basic Skills, computers, constructivist mathematics, English Second Language, exceptional student education, fifth-grade students, Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, instructional strategies, Internet, mathematics, mathematics anxiety, Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale Elementary, parent involvement, professional development, staff development workshops, team teaching, technology integration, test scores, visual arts, visual arts integration, website-based learning
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to improve fifth-grade students’ academic success in mathematics through the integration of visual arts. Students had scored in the lowest quartiles over the past 10 years. The majority of students’ scores from the Comprehensive Testing of Basic Skills for 1994 and the integration of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test were very low. In 2003, the implementation of the integration of constructivist math techniques with visual arts improved mathematics achievement and reduced math anxiety. Students were administered the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale Elementary, which is a survey to determine their level of anxiety towards mathematics instruction.
The writer developed team-teaching strategies and trained teachers to integrate (a) computers, (b) visual arts, and (c) mathematics to create a nonstressful learning environment. Students accessed the Internet and discovered their mathematics solutions through the use of accessing websites providing mathematics-enhanced learning. Teachers participated in staff development workshops to receive training on computers and team-teaching approaches. Teachers attended grade-level meetings with the Exceptional Student Education and English Second Language teachers for consistency in team-teaching to provide commonality to grade-level expectations. Parents and students attended evening.
Through analysis of the data collected, statistics revealed that students’ level of anxiety towards mathematics was reduced. The teachers, who were consistent with the use of computers, indicated they were able to improve their classroom instruction. Teachers improved communication by the use of team meetings to collaborate lessons. Parents were able to obtain employment and, having computers available, helped their children improve their test scores. Integrated visual arts with mathematics instruction improved students’ ability to comprehend abstract mathematics concepts thereby reducing anxiety towards math.