Sarah Smitherman Pratt | Baylor University (original) (raw)
Papers by Sarah Smitherman Pratt
Teaching Children Mathematics, 2015
The world becomes our representation as we solemnly become the singular representatives of all th... more The world becomes our representation as we solemnly become the singular representatives of all things. We become, here, the grand colonizers. We become the ones that savage those whom we consider unorganized, uncivilized, illogical, immoral, immature, by rendering them in our own image. We don’t allow them a face (difference, here, must be fixed, for to be different is to fail to be at the center); we give them a façade of our own making. Deep in our Western heritage, and threading lines into contemporary educational theory and practice, there is a pleasant, attractive name for this colonization—we wish to understand. (Jardine, 1992/2004, p. 270) David Jardine (1992/2004) questions our very sensibility about what it means to “understand. ” In the act of understanding, which he claims is a colonizing act, we as educators seek to shape others into our own rendering. When we believe we “understand ” something, we are acting upon someone or some-thing else, bringing them into our intern...
n this collection, the authors put forth different philosophical conceptions of "hacking edu... more n this collection, the authors put forth different philosophical conceptions of "hacking education" in response to the educational, societal, and technological demands of the 21st century. Teacher Educators are encouraged to draw on the collection to rethink how "hacking education" can be understood simultaneously as a "praxis" informed by desires for malice, as well as a creative site for us to reconsider the possibilities and limitations of teaching and learning in a digital era. How do we hack beyond the limits of circumscribed experiences, regulated subjective encounters with knowledge and the limits imposed by an ever constrained 21st century schooling system in the hopes of imagining better and more meaningful futures? How do we foster ingenuity and learning as the end itself (and not learning as economic imperative) in a world where technology, in part, positions individuals as zombie-like and as an economic end in itself? Can we "hack"...
Journal of Mathematics Education at Teachers College, 2017
Mathematics teachers frequently provide concrete manipulatives to students during instruction; ho... more Mathematics teachers frequently provide concrete manipulatives to students during instruction; however, the rationale for using certain manipulatives in conjunction with concepts may not be explored. This article focuses on area models that are currently used in classrooms to provide concrete examples of integer and binomial multiplication. The innovation of combining the representations for negative numbers with both algebra tiles and Algeblocks is provided, with a mathematical justification for its development. Teachers’ effective integration of tools such as these in mathematics instruction can help students develop conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.
Teaching Children Mathematics, 2018
Use this Japanese organizational strategy to facilitate multiple problem representations and bett... more Use this Japanese organizational strategy to facilitate multiple problem representations and better classroom communication.
Journal of Research in Mathematics Education, 2019
The purpose of this study was to use meta-analytic thinking to evaluate the results of a three-we... more The purpose of this study was to use meta-analytic thinking to evaluate the results of a three-week professional development on mathematics teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). The study aims to elucidate the necessity of technology professional development activities to support mathematics teaching and learning in urban schools. This study utilizes mean difference confidence intervals as measures of the effectiveness of a professional development intervention in an urban school district in the U.S. This article presents a practical application of meta-analytic thinking to better contextualize the results through direct comparisons to similar studies. The results of this study suggest that the professional development increased mathematics teachers’ perceptions of their pedagogical knowledge, technological knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and technological content knowledge. The study results indicate that despite smaller overall effect sizes the r...
Investigations in Mathematics Learning, 2017
ABSTRACT Middle-grades mathematics prospective teachers (PSTs) participated in three iterations o... more ABSTRACT Middle-grades mathematics prospective teachers (PSTs) participated in three iterations of a design experiment that explored their current conceptualizations of integer and binomial multiplication; this study analyzed whether that knowledge changed after engaging in a series of scaffolded tasks while using area models as concrete manipulatives. Understandings were measured by participants composing word problems to model the multiplication of two integers, with at least one negative, and the multiplication of two binomials, first as a pre-assessment then as a post-assessment. Changes in participants’ word problems were examined. Findings from the three iterations of the design experiment exhibited shifts in participants’ understandings of multiplication across all three. The inclusion of Algeblocks and quadrant mat as area models facilitated conversations for PSTs to make meaning of integer and binomial multiplication. From the findings of this study, the researchers argue that future iterations of the design experiment should include an additional measure of PST pedagogical content knowledge related specifically to algebraic reasoning as well as opportunities for more exploration structural comparisons of integers to binomials so as to facilitate conversations around the concept of what is a binomial in a real-world context.
Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 2011
Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 2008
Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 2006
The world becomes our representation as we solemnly become the singular representatives of all th... more The world becomes our representation as we solemnly become the singular representatives of all things. We become, here, the grand colonizers. We become the ones that savage those whom we consider unorganized, uncivilized, illogical, immoral, immature, by rendering them in our own image. We don't allow them a face (difference, here, must be fixed, for to be different is to fail to be at the center); we give them a façade of our own making. Deep in our Western heritage, and threading lines into contemporary educational theory and practice, there is a pleasant, attractive name for this colonization-we wish to understand. (Jardine, 1992/2004, p. 270) About the Author Sarah Smitherman Pratt completed her Ph.D. at Louisiana State University this past May, under the direction of William Doll. She is currently working as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, teaching mathematics teacher education courses.
Teaching Children Mathematics, 2015
Students can create an image of the measurement model of division as an alternative to the long d... more Students can create an image of the measurement model of division as an alternative to the long division algorithm.
Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum …, 2008
Constructivists herald their learning theories different frombetter thandirect instruction; how... more Constructivists herald their learning theories different frombetter thandirect instruction; however, deeply embedded in the mantra of constructivism is the idea that the teacher is the understander and the student is the understandee. The act of interpretation is imposed ...
Concept maps have been used in many research studies to analyze content knowledge transformation,... more Concept maps have been used in many research studies to analyze content knowledge transformation, but very few studies examine their use in large-scale projects. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the growth of in-service teacher content knowledge across 37 professional development projects, which include over 1,000 mathematics and/or science teachers. Project directors participate in an orientation to concept maps, which provides a rationale for using them, and instruction for creating an expert C-map. During the project director training, each project director generated C-maps. The C-maps are specific to the content for each institute and align with the major project content objective. The C-maps are used as a template for the creation of S-maps, which are used as pre/post-assessment tools for the evaluation of in-service teacher content knowledge. A team of researchers including science/mathematics education faculty and academic faculty verify the C-maps and provide feedback to project directors prior to the construction of the S-map template. In addition to the concept maps, the number of content courses taken by the in-service teacher and interviews are used for purposes of analyzing teacher content knowledge.
Middle-grades mathematics prospective teachers (PSTs) participated in three iterations of a desig... more Middle-grades mathematics prospective teachers (PSTs) participated in three iterations of a design experiment that explored their current conceptualizations of integer and binomial multiplication; this study analyzed whether that knowledge changed after engaging in a series of scaffolded tasks while using area models as concrete manipulatives. Understandings were measured by participants composing word problems to model the multiplication of two integers, with at least one negative, and the multiplication of two binomials, first as a pre-assessment then as a post-assessment. Changes in participants’ word problems were examined. Findings from the three iterations of the design experiment exhibited shifts in participants’ understandings of multiplication across all three. The inclusion of Algeblocks and quadrant mat as area models facilitated conversations for PSTs to make meaning of integer and binomial multiplication. From the findings of this study, the researchers argue that future iterations of the design experiment should include an additional measure of PST pedagogical content knowledge related specifically to algebraic reasoning as well as opportunities for more exploration structural comparisons of integers to binomials so as to facilitate conversations around the concept of what is a binomial in a real-world context.
Teaching Children Mathematics, Sep 2015
Students can create an image of the measurement model of division as an alternative to the long d... more Students can create an image of the measurement model of division as an alternative to the long division algorithm.
Teaching Children Mathematics, 2015
The world becomes our representation as we solemnly become the singular representatives of all th... more The world becomes our representation as we solemnly become the singular representatives of all things. We become, here, the grand colonizers. We become the ones that savage those whom we consider unorganized, uncivilized, illogical, immoral, immature, by rendering them in our own image. We don’t allow them a face (difference, here, must be fixed, for to be different is to fail to be at the center); we give them a façade of our own making. Deep in our Western heritage, and threading lines into contemporary educational theory and practice, there is a pleasant, attractive name for this colonization—we wish to understand. (Jardine, 1992/2004, p. 270) David Jardine (1992/2004) questions our very sensibility about what it means to “understand. ” In the act of understanding, which he claims is a colonizing act, we as educators seek to shape others into our own rendering. When we believe we “understand ” something, we are acting upon someone or some-thing else, bringing them into our intern...
n this collection, the authors put forth different philosophical conceptions of "hacking edu... more n this collection, the authors put forth different philosophical conceptions of "hacking education" in response to the educational, societal, and technological demands of the 21st century. Teacher Educators are encouraged to draw on the collection to rethink how "hacking education" can be understood simultaneously as a "praxis" informed by desires for malice, as well as a creative site for us to reconsider the possibilities and limitations of teaching and learning in a digital era. How do we hack beyond the limits of circumscribed experiences, regulated subjective encounters with knowledge and the limits imposed by an ever constrained 21st century schooling system in the hopes of imagining better and more meaningful futures? How do we foster ingenuity and learning as the end itself (and not learning as economic imperative) in a world where technology, in part, positions individuals as zombie-like and as an economic end in itself? Can we "hack"...
Journal of Mathematics Education at Teachers College, 2017
Mathematics teachers frequently provide concrete manipulatives to students during instruction; ho... more Mathematics teachers frequently provide concrete manipulatives to students during instruction; however, the rationale for using certain manipulatives in conjunction with concepts may not be explored. This article focuses on area models that are currently used in classrooms to provide concrete examples of integer and binomial multiplication. The innovation of combining the representations for negative numbers with both algebra tiles and Algeblocks is provided, with a mathematical justification for its development. Teachers’ effective integration of tools such as these in mathematics instruction can help students develop conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.
Teaching Children Mathematics, 2018
Use this Japanese organizational strategy to facilitate multiple problem representations and bett... more Use this Japanese organizational strategy to facilitate multiple problem representations and better classroom communication.
Journal of Research in Mathematics Education, 2019
The purpose of this study was to use meta-analytic thinking to evaluate the results of a three-we... more The purpose of this study was to use meta-analytic thinking to evaluate the results of a three-week professional development on mathematics teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). The study aims to elucidate the necessity of technology professional development activities to support mathematics teaching and learning in urban schools. This study utilizes mean difference confidence intervals as measures of the effectiveness of a professional development intervention in an urban school district in the U.S. This article presents a practical application of meta-analytic thinking to better contextualize the results through direct comparisons to similar studies. The results of this study suggest that the professional development increased mathematics teachers’ perceptions of their pedagogical knowledge, technological knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and technological content knowledge. The study results indicate that despite smaller overall effect sizes the r...
Investigations in Mathematics Learning, 2017
ABSTRACT Middle-grades mathematics prospective teachers (PSTs) participated in three iterations o... more ABSTRACT Middle-grades mathematics prospective teachers (PSTs) participated in three iterations of a design experiment that explored their current conceptualizations of integer and binomial multiplication; this study analyzed whether that knowledge changed after engaging in a series of scaffolded tasks while using area models as concrete manipulatives. Understandings were measured by participants composing word problems to model the multiplication of two integers, with at least one negative, and the multiplication of two binomials, first as a pre-assessment then as a post-assessment. Changes in participants’ word problems were examined. Findings from the three iterations of the design experiment exhibited shifts in participants’ understandings of multiplication across all three. The inclusion of Algeblocks and quadrant mat as area models facilitated conversations for PSTs to make meaning of integer and binomial multiplication. From the findings of this study, the researchers argue that future iterations of the design experiment should include an additional measure of PST pedagogical content knowledge related specifically to algebraic reasoning as well as opportunities for more exploration structural comparisons of integers to binomials so as to facilitate conversations around the concept of what is a binomial in a real-world context.
Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 2011
Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 2008
Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 2006
The world becomes our representation as we solemnly become the singular representatives of all th... more The world becomes our representation as we solemnly become the singular representatives of all things. We become, here, the grand colonizers. We become the ones that savage those whom we consider unorganized, uncivilized, illogical, immoral, immature, by rendering them in our own image. We don't allow them a face (difference, here, must be fixed, for to be different is to fail to be at the center); we give them a façade of our own making. Deep in our Western heritage, and threading lines into contemporary educational theory and practice, there is a pleasant, attractive name for this colonization-we wish to understand. (Jardine, 1992/2004, p. 270) About the Author Sarah Smitherman Pratt completed her Ph.D. at Louisiana State University this past May, under the direction of William Doll. She is currently working as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, teaching mathematics teacher education courses.
Teaching Children Mathematics, 2015
Students can create an image of the measurement model of division as an alternative to the long d... more Students can create an image of the measurement model of division as an alternative to the long division algorithm.
Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum …, 2008
Constructivists herald their learning theories different frombetter thandirect instruction; how... more Constructivists herald their learning theories different frombetter thandirect instruction; however, deeply embedded in the mantra of constructivism is the idea that the teacher is the understander and the student is the understandee. The act of interpretation is imposed ...
Concept maps have been used in many research studies to analyze content knowledge transformation,... more Concept maps have been used in many research studies to analyze content knowledge transformation, but very few studies examine their use in large-scale projects. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the growth of in-service teacher content knowledge across 37 professional development projects, which include over 1,000 mathematics and/or science teachers. Project directors participate in an orientation to concept maps, which provides a rationale for using them, and instruction for creating an expert C-map. During the project director training, each project director generated C-maps. The C-maps are specific to the content for each institute and align with the major project content objective. The C-maps are used as a template for the creation of S-maps, which are used as pre/post-assessment tools for the evaluation of in-service teacher content knowledge. A team of researchers including science/mathematics education faculty and academic faculty verify the C-maps and provide feedback to project directors prior to the construction of the S-map template. In addition to the concept maps, the number of content courses taken by the in-service teacher and interviews are used for purposes of analyzing teacher content knowledge.
Middle-grades mathematics prospective teachers (PSTs) participated in three iterations of a desig... more Middle-grades mathematics prospective teachers (PSTs) participated in three iterations of a design experiment that explored their current conceptualizations of integer and binomial multiplication; this study analyzed whether that knowledge changed after engaging in a series of scaffolded tasks while using area models as concrete manipulatives. Understandings were measured by participants composing word problems to model the multiplication of two integers, with at least one negative, and the multiplication of two binomials, first as a pre-assessment then as a post-assessment. Changes in participants’ word problems were examined. Findings from the three iterations of the design experiment exhibited shifts in participants’ understandings of multiplication across all three. The inclusion of Algeblocks and quadrant mat as area models facilitated conversations for PSTs to make meaning of integer and binomial multiplication. From the findings of this study, the researchers argue that future iterations of the design experiment should include an additional measure of PST pedagogical content knowledge related specifically to algebraic reasoning as well as opportunities for more exploration structural comparisons of integers to binomials so as to facilitate conversations around the concept of what is a binomial in a real-world context.
Teaching Children Mathematics, Sep 2015
Students can create an image of the measurement model of division as an alternative to the long d... more Students can create an image of the measurement model of division as an alternative to the long division algorithm.