Digital Video Cameras Adapted for Math Word Problems: The Process and Potential
Location
Walsh A
Proposal Track
Research Project
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
For this paper from an ongoing study of mind, signs (e.g., language), and human activity, Michael Tomasello’s Usage Based Theory of Language Acquisition, along with older Vygotskian-related concepts and newer ideas from social semiotics, were used to set up digital video tasks for solving math word problems. This interpretive, descriptive study presents three cases of adult English-speaking participants solving the same math word problem. Two participants were college students, and one participant had dropped out of high school and was unemployed at the time of the data collection. Speech, a visual, and the act of pointing provided reference areas for interpreting the differences in how participants moved from the initial stimuli, the word problem, onto a piece of scratch paper; then onto a visual, and then they created a short (e.g., one to two minute) digital video presentation explaining how they solved the word problem as if they were teaching this process to others. The contrasts between the three cases’ visuals and steps from the word problem to the solution provide some insight into possible avenues for intervention to enhance metacognition and self-regulation.
Keywords
Math Word Problems; Digital Video; Michael Tomasello; Reciprocal Teaching
Recommended Citation
Unger, John A. and Olifer, Andrei, "Digital Video Cameras Adapted for Math Word Problems: The Process and Potential" (2017). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 19.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2017/2017/19
Digital Video Cameras Adapted for Math Word Problems: The Process and Potential
Walsh A
For this paper from an ongoing study of mind, signs (e.g., language), and human activity, Michael Tomasello’s Usage Based Theory of Language Acquisition, along with older Vygotskian-related concepts and newer ideas from social semiotics, were used to set up digital video tasks for solving math word problems. This interpretive, descriptive study presents three cases of adult English-speaking participants solving the same math word problem. Two participants were college students, and one participant had dropped out of high school and was unemployed at the time of the data collection. Speech, a visual, and the act of pointing provided reference areas for interpreting the differences in how participants moved from the initial stimuli, the word problem, onto a piece of scratch paper; then onto a visual, and then they created a short (e.g., one to two minute) digital video presentation explaining how they solved the word problem as if they were teaching this process to others. The contrasts between the three cases’ visuals and steps from the word problem to the solution provide some insight into possible avenues for intervention to enhance metacognition and self-regulation.
