completed at the beginning of the year allow students
to reflect on memories of their former experiences
with mathematics (Janzen, 2005) and allow the
teacher to acknowledge these differences in attitudes
and learning to better facilitate classroom
communication and differentiate instruction.
Since the constructivist theorists contend that
students actively construct meaning or knowledge by
making connections between concepts that are
introduced and their prior knowledge of related
concepts (Dixon-Krauss, 1996), strategies such as
math journals and admit slips provide opportunities to
assess and/or activate students‘ existing knowledge
about a particular topic or concept. Strategies such as
word sorts and brainstorming also activate prior
knowledge in students (Vacca et al., 2010) and put
them in the correct frame of mind to approach an
academic task.
Math journals allow students to reflect on the
process involved in solving a problem, and the writing
involved ―requires students to clarify their thinking‖
(Burns, 2004, p. 31). In a study by Ulep (n.d.) on
how mathematical interactions related to student
learning outcomes, data revealed that students who
had not always been encouraged to self-reflect in
mathematics practices benefitted from such
reflections because they allowed the teacher to
acknowledge and address students‘ different ways of
thinking. In addition, Ulep found that double-entry
journals can be used in solving multi-step word
problems to help students organize their thoughts and
explain their reasoning throughout the problemsolving process. In a study by Saurino (1998) that
evaluated the impact of concept journaling on critical
thinking dispositions, data suggested ―concept
journaling positively affect(s) the students‘ criticalthinking dispositions and problem-solving skills‖ of
the participants (p. 8).
Admit slips, also known as entrance tickets, offer
a logical way to begin a lesson by connecting
information from the previous lesson, while exit slips,
also known as exit tickets, give students an
opportunity to describe their level of understanding
about a concept or lesson. By addressing students‘
issues or problems in su