needs and learning styles, the Council for Exceptional
Children (2011) recommends using a constructivist,
student-centered approach to teaching by assessing
students‘ needs and interests and differentiating
curriculum accordingly. Many writing strategies
enable teachers to formatively assess such differences.
constructivist approach involving the use of writing
strategies) took place from one unit to the next, both
containing concepts of a similar level of difficulty.
The objective was to generate data to help determine
which strategies, if any, middle school students find
helpful in pre-algebra instruction.
Students’ Perceptions
Students’ perceptions of writing
strategies.
The purpose of this study was to determine 1) if
middle school students consider writing strategies to
be beneficial in learning pre-algebra and 2) if there is a
difference between boys‘ and girls‘ perceptions of the
usefulness of writing strategies in learning prealgebra. The study involved analyzing archival data
previously gathered from a questionnaire given to a
class of middle school pre-algebra students as part of
the regular classroom instruction and assessment.
The data was collected as a means of formative
assessment after a change in typical instruction style
(from a traditional, lecture style to a less traditional,
Table 1 shows the percentages of students who
responded favorably (strongly agree/agree) to the
Likert-scale statements regarding the perceived
effectiveness of each writing strategy used, as it
pertains to its intended objective. The remaining
students in each category responded neutrally or
unfavorably to each statement. Percentages of total
students, as well as those for boys and girls, are
included.
Table 1. Percentages of total students and boys/girls who responded favorably to Likert-scale
statements regarding perceived effectiveness of writing strategies.
Writing Strategy
Math Autobiography
Word Sort
Brainstorming
Math Journal
Exit Slip
Fraction and Percentage of Total Students/Boys/Girls
Responding Favorably
Total
Boys
Girls
17/24=50%
5/10=50%
12/14=86%
19/24=79%
9/10=90%
10/14=71%
23/24=96%
9/10=90%
14/14=100%
9/24=38%
3/10=30%
6/14=43%
11/24=46%
4/10=40%
7/14=50%
The results indicated that 50% or more of the
total students considered brainstorming, word sorts,
and math autobiographies helpful in learning prealgebra in regard to their intended objectives of
activating prior knowledge, connecting prior
knowledge to new learning, and conveying individual
learning needs to the teacher, respectively. Reasons
provided for perceived helpfulness of brainstorming,
which had the highest favorability response (96% of
total students/90% of the boys/100% of the girls),
primarily pertained to activating prior knowledge of a
topic. One student cited this strategy as helping her
―focus on math, rather than the other stuff from the day,‖
while another referred to brainstorming as ―a good way
to get [her] thinking about creative ways to solve real world
math problems.‖ Of the 79% of total students who
considered word sorts to be useful, a few students
expressed how this strategy helped them ―see how
different math terms are related to each other.‖ Exactly
half of the students considered math autobiographies
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