Wednesday, May 31, 2023
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon Patel Center, Room 140
11:00-11:15 a.m.
“Validating the School Climate Scale with Student Samples in the Caribbean Countries”
School climate is an important construct in educational research in the Caribbean countries. Due to lack of a school climate scale developed for the population of students in the Caribbean countries, a scale developed in the western contexts is adopted. However, because of differences in cultures, languages and educational systems, to name a few, a scale developed for the US student population may not be relevant in the Caribbean countries. In this study, we examine the psychometrics of the Elementary School Climate Assessment Instrument – Student (SCAI-E-S, version 3.1; the Alliance for the Study of School Climate, California State University, Los Angeles) for its use in primary and secondary schools in five Caribbean countries.
11:20-11:35 a.m.
“Critical Media Literacies and Digital Tools for Communicating in a Global and Interconnected World”
Our session will guide participants in understanding the research on critical media literacies and the corresponding strategies and tools that teacher educators can use to prepare teachers and students for communicative competencies. We will (1) share a current example of a viral digital campaign (e.g., Science of Reading, book bans), (2) examine the essential elements of the message (semantic features) that were retained in its transfer across platforms and messengers, and (3) discuss the critical media literacies necessary to examine the content and intention of the messaging. During the session, we will lead the participants in the exploration of AR/VR and generative AI applications (Chat GPT) as a way to demonstrate critical media literacies and to explore strategies for classroom applications.
11:40-11:55 a.m.
“Chartering Teachers and Students’ Journey Through The Processes of Reasoning and Proof: Classroom Narratives in Trinidad and Tobago“
Throughout the Caribbean educational territories, reform-oriented curricula highlight the intellectual need of reasoning and proof in students’ mathematical development. In this narrative study, we documented teachers and their students’ journey as they engaged in the processes of reasoning and proof during a unit of secondary school geometry lessons. Through classroom observations and pre and post-observation interviews with the teachers and their students, we examined the social mathematical norms and classroom practices that facilitated students’ learning experiences with reasoning and proof. We also determined whether the instructional practices aligned with reformers’ recommendations. Our analysis of the data indicated that the teachers exhibited reform-oriented practices by establishing social mathematical norms that led to discussions about mathematical content during each process of reasoning and proof. The students progressed from identifying patterns through conjecturing and then argumentation, ultimately leading to their learning and proving congruency of triangles. The teachers also incorporated cultural artifacts framed in an ethnomathematical lens to engage students in the mathematics lessons. Moreover, we noted the teacher’s incorporation of the Geometric Calculation with Number and Explanation (GCNE) (Hunte, 2018) questions at the final stage in the processes of reasoning and proof. This study provides the much-needed documented evidence of classroom practices that align with reformers recommendations for the teaching of reasoning and proof. Furthermore, the classroom practices fostered students’ development of critical thinking abilities, problem-solving skills, and a conceptual understanding of mathematics that is essential for success in higher education and in the workplace.
