Term of Award
Fall 2016
Degree Name
Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies (Ed.D.)
Document Type and Release Option
Dissertation (open access)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading
Committee Chair
Dan Rea
Committee Member 1
Grigory Dmitriyev
Committee Member 2
Jonathan Hilpert
Committee Member 3
Sharon Taylor
Abstract
Middle-grade students who fail math have at least a three-in-four chance of dropping out of high school (Neild & Balfanz, 2006). Furthermore, these students, especially female students, at risk of failure in mathematics and consequent dropout, may not be well served by traditional teaching methods because of their inequitable instructional practices (Lerner & Sadker, 1999). This case study of eight seventh-grade students from a rural school in Georgia sought to gain insight into whether PBL (problem-based learning) was perceived to be an effective teaching method for “at-risk” middle-school mathematics students and female students in particular. The goals of the study were to investigate and identify the thematic perceptions of “at-risk” seventh-grade students after their experience with PBL and determine gender influences on their perceptions. The results of the study revealed that PBL effectively met the perceived learning and motivational needs of the “at-risk” students and provided an equitable method of teaching for both the female and male students but for different reasons. Educational recommendations are provided to enhance further the implementation of PBL for “at-risk” mathematics students, especially female students.
Recommended Citation
Bowers, D. A. (2016). “At-Risk” Rural Middle-School Students’ Perceptions of Problem-Based Learning in Mathematics (Doctoral dissertation).
Research Data and Supplementary Material
No
