Robert N. Ronau

Methods of Instructional Improvement in Algebra: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This systematic review of algebra instructional improvement strategies identified 82 relevant studies with 109 independent effect sizes representing a sample of 22,424 students. Five categories of improvement strategies emerged: technology curricula, nontechnology curricula, instructional strategies, manipulatives, and technology tools. All five of these strategies yielded positive, statistically significant results. Furthermore, the learning focus of these strategies moderated their effects on student achievement. Interventions focusing on the development of conceptual understanding produced an average effect size almost double that of interventions focusing on procedural understanding.

Searching the Web: New Tools--New Dilemmas.

Abstract Drawing on their experiences as researchers and teacher educators, the authors discuss issues concerning student research that uses web-based references. This article describes ways the authors: 1) structure the inquiry process for student research, 2) help students manage the quantity of information, and 3) provide a model for analyzing the quality of information that students find on web sites. The web-site analysis form provided to students requires them to evaluate information provided about the “who, what, when, how, and where” of a web site. The authors conclude with a discussion of the ways this model helps students engage, organize, and publish information in ways that share the knowledge that the students have constructed and the process of their inquiry.