Motivating Urban Minority Students
Through Error Analysis
An Action Research Study
Serigne Gningue (Co-PI) & Julissa Soriano (Noyce Scholar)
NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Conference,
Washington, DC May 31, 2013
Noyce Program at Lehman College
• Funds senior undergraduate year and master’s
degree.
• Mathematics and science teachers from the Bronx
area commit to 6 years in high needs middle
schools.
• Full-year pre-service internship in Bronx middle
schools.
• Graduate courses co-taught by science,
mathematics, and education faculty.
• Emphasis on formative assessment strategies.
Noyce Program Study
– What challenges and
concerns have the Noyce
Scholars experienced
during their first year in
high needs classrooms?

What strategies have the
Scholars employed to
improve their
effectiveness?

How might the pre-service
portion of our program be
modified to better prepare
teachers?
New Teacher Challenges
• Classroom Issues
– Lack of preparedness for classroom management
– Lack of preparedness for students’ level of poverty
• Administrative Tensions
– Chaotic nature of administration priorities/directives
• Parental Involvement
• Assessment
• Chronic Absenteeism
– 34% of secondary students miss at least 1 month of
school (NY Times, 7/16/11)
Introduced the Following
Action Research Model
Background
• Power in learning
through discovery.
• Students are not
capable to correct their
misconceptions through
the coaching or
assistance of someone
else.
Context
• FDA
– 81% free lunch
– 7% Limited English
Proficiency (LEP).
– 41% Hispanic, 57% Black
What I Found During
My First Year of Teaching
• There is a problem of student achievement, interest,
motivation, and confidence, and overall attitude towards
math.
• Students have difficulty mastering higher-level mathematical
skills.
• Students perform poorly on assessments of critical thinking
skills, formal deduction, and proof writing.
The Process of S.E.A.
• Allows students to discover their own mistakes and
misconceptions;
• Requires the learner to fix the mistake, thus forcing the
student to dig deeper into the subject matter and move onto
the next level of knowledge;
• Gets students to learn to justify their reasoning;
• Allows students to question the reasoning of others thus
allowing the classroom to become a stage for mathematical
discourse and student-centered instruction.
Group Work Instructions
• 1) Look at student’s work.
• 2) Identify at least one error.
• 3) Complete table on page #2.
ImplementationMeaningful Groups
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•
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Color-Coded Cards
Cards Represent Ability on Learning Goal
Data Tracker
Online Resource: LearnBop
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Data Tracker
Teacher Error Analysis
• Student’s Error
• Student’s misconception
• Common Core Standard addressed by
question
• Intervention (activity) to address the
misconception
Student Error Analysis
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•
•
•
•
Group students based on the common error
Give samples of the work
Have them identify the mistake(s)
Correct the mistake(s)
Support their reasoning
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Differentiation
•
•
•
Groupings
Homogenously
Heterogeneously
•
•
•
Ability
Product
Scaffolds and Multiple Entry
Points
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Common Core Standards
•
•
•
•
•
Data driven instruction
Data driven student groupings,
differentiation , and scaffolding
Each playlist is Common Core
aligned
Promotes the mathematical
practices – Construct viable
arguments and critique the
reasoning of others
Fosters teacher-student and
student-student discourse
The gift that keeps on giving…
• Data can be used in school inquiry teams
• Future classroom action research
Purpose
• To measure the impact of a
discourse-integrated
teaching strategy utilizing
Student Error Analysis on
student achievement and
students’ attitude in the
field of mathematics.
Problem Statement
• The impact of discussion
integrated instruction on
student achievement.
• Decreasing number of
students pursuing advanced
courses or careers in the
field of mathematics.
Research Questions
1 - To what extent does the use of
student error analysis improve
students’ attitude and motivation in
the mathematics classroom?
2 - To what extent does the use of
student error analysis improve
students’ academic performance in
the mathematics classroom?
Literature Review
 The use of incorrect answers and
misconceptions.
Student Engagement
 Discourse-based instruction
Participants
Limited study of 54 students in two
ninth grade classes;
The sample is of convenience
one 9th grade class -- the experimental
group
 Asecond 9th grade class --the control
group.
27 female students
27 male students.
Both groups were given a baseline
assessment;
 The experimental group had an overall
mean of 29% of correct responses with
94% of students scoring in the 0-74 %
range and 6% scoring in the 80-89% range.
The control group had an overall mean
of 30% of correct responses with 95% of
the students scoring in the 0-74% range,
2.5% scoring in the 80-89 % range; and
2.5% scoring in the 90-100% range.
Intervention Plan
The experimental group:
student error analysis
activities were used as a
strategy.
The control group was
instructed through a
traditional method of
teacher’s whole class
lectures.
Pre and Post Attitude
Surveys were also given
In between the pre- and post-survey,
the experimental group received two
student error analysis activities.
One more error analysis activity was
carried out in between the pre- and postachievement test.
The first time, students analyzed one exercise;
The incorrect answer and procedure were chosen from their
previous homework and/or class work.
The second time, two exercises were analyzed.
Each time, common errors in students’ homework were
copied onto the smart board.
 students were then asked to identify the errors and explain
why they thought there was a mistake.
Data Collection
Four different instruments were used for
data collection: a math attitude survey, a
performance task, an achievement test, and
classroom observations.
The data obtained from the pre and post
tools were averaged and analyzed;
Data Collection Cont.
Other instruments were also used as
formative assessment, such as exit cards and
concept attainment activities during the
experimental period.
These assessments, however, were used to
identify patterns in students ‘ misconceptions.
RESULTS
Research question #1: To what extent
does the use of student error analysis
improve students’ attitude and motivation in
the mathematics classroom?
-The overall average of students’ attitude
and motivation towards math in the control
group decreased by 0.02 from pre-to postsurvey.
-there was an increase of 0.37, from pre- to
post-survey, in students’ attitudes and
motivation towards math in the
experimental group.
SURVEY RESULTS
CONTROL GROUP
SURVEY RESULTS
EXPERIMENTAL GROUP
Performance Tasks Results
Research question #2: To what extent
does the use of student error analysis
improve students’ academic performance
in the mathematics classroom?
-The overall average of students’
performance task in the controlled group
decreased by 0.33 from the pre- to the
post-task.
-Conversely, the data shows an increase of
1.14 in students’ overall performance in the
experimental group between the pre- and
the post-task.
PERFORMANCE TASKS
PRE- AND POST-TESTS.
-Both control and the experimental groups
showed improvement from pretest to the
posttest.
The control group had a 25.39 increase;
The experimental group showed a 31.43
increase.
TESTS
Conclusions –Control Group
-Data suggest a decrease in students’ attitude and
motivation towards math when whole-class
lecturing was used as a teaching strategy.
-Students performance on higher order thinking
tasks seemed to decrease.
-Their test performance slightly increased.
Conclusions _Experimental
-The error analysis as an instructional
intervention tool seems to have:
- made a significant difference in student’s
attitude and motivation towards math;
-improved students mathematical performance
on higher order thinking tasks
-improved students performance on regular
achievement tests.
Recommendations
- Use of more precise data analysis methods to
determine if the differences found are of enough
significance.
- Investigate whether error analysis is appropriate as
an effective strategy regardless of the content being
taught.
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Share Out
•Any
thoughts?