Website Description of the Textbook Design Working Group

Textbook Design

Working Group Members:

Mollie O’Neill, Brigus Group

Miroslav Loviric, McMaster University

Maritz Branker, Niagara University

Ed Sternin, Brock University

Ann Fleming, Parent

Doug Reeves, Parent

Therese Aycho, Parent

Objective

The aim of the Textbook Design Working Group is to:

  1. Encourage research into how users interact with math textbooks
  2. Develop a resource for publishers and writers on the design elements that have been identified by users in preliminary explorations as important design elements that enhance or distract from the learning experience with math textbook

To date, the Working Group has asked selected parents and teachers In Ontario about their experiences with math text from primary grades to university. Members of the working group are also examining selected textbooks against instructional design principles. The working group has also noted that there is paucity of research on parents as stakeholders in curriculum development.

The Canadian Council on Learning’s Work and learning Knowledge Centers has noted that ways should be found to enable parents to learn along with their children[1]. Textbooks that are stand-alone instructional guides would facilitate such family learning. They would also interrupt the pattern noted by some parents of elementary school children thinking their parents are stupid because they don’t understand the textbooks.

We encourage participants in our working group sessions to bring data, expertise or experience to contribute to the discussion. The following is the agenda set out by the Textbook Working Group

Proposed schedule

May 1, Friday 10 AM – 12:30:

Presentation of issues:

Mollie O’Neill: Analysis of parent and teacher comments about the pedagogical approach of selected textbooks

Maritz Branker: Pedagogical theories reflected in math textbooks

Discussion/group work

Miroslav Lovic: Presentation of selections from math textbooks for analysis by participants.

This session will be an opportunity for participants to share their knowledge and experience, with the discussion output to be a checklist of key design elements of a math textbook that can be used as a stand-alone resource.

May 1, Friday 15:30 – 17:00:

Discussion/group work

Critical evaluation of selected textbook material against

·  Problems encountered by parents and teachers with some textbooks

·  The key design elements developed in the morning session.

Participants who would like particular materials to be included in this afternoon session should bring along copies. To ensure that your textbook is discussed, please contact one of the working group facilitators ( or ) before April to ensure that your selection is included.

May 2, Saturday 8:30 – 10:00 and 13:30 – 15:15

Discussion clusters with other working groups (to be determined)

May 3, Sunday 8:30 – 10:00

Summary of work

References

Berndorff, Dave, Show me a Picture: the use of graphics to accelerate learning, The Canadian Learning Journal, Fall 2007 pp 28-29

Ross, Philip, The Expert Mind , Scientific American, July 2006 http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-expert-mind Studies of the mental processes of chess grandmasters have revealed clues to how people become experts in other fields as well.

Publications of researchers at the Centre for Cognitive Technology, University of Southern California: http://cogtech.usc.edu/recent_publications.php

Pushor, Debbie, Parent Engagement: Creating a Shared World, Invited Research Paper, Ontario Education Research Symposium, January 18 – 20 , 2007, Toronto, http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/research/pushor.pdf

Summary of Comments from parents and teachers:

In September 2008, the Field’s Institute for Research in Mathematical Science hosted a day of presentations on the textbook experience gathered informally by members of the Mathematics Education Forum. The findings of this session will be presented on Saturday morning of the CMEF conference. The responses included comments such as the following:

·  Parents whose children were not having difficulty with math did not tend to read the math textbooks

·  Teachers in one North Toronto High School felt the textbooks expressed few difficulties with the math textbooks

·  Teachers and parents who were dissatisfied with the math textbooks reported

  1. Instructions are not clear
  2. There is too little actual instruction
  3. There are too many graphics
  4. The text is too reliant on language; literacy is a prerequisite to mastering the math texts
  5. There should be more examples
  6. Expectations are unclear or too broad
  7. The material is inaccurate
  8. Resource material is missing, so the reader can not rely solely on the text to solve the problems
  9. Teachers report that learning objectives are unclear and they have to impose their own interpretation of what is expected
  10. Children tell their parents that they don’t know what they are doing because the teacher does it differently. One school principal reported that her children didn’t think she was qualified to help them with elementary school math homework
  11. Parents report crying and screaming as the outcome of math homework

Working Group Members

Name and affiliation / Related activities / Title of Presentation
Teachers (attendance subject to funding / ·  Teachers in junior and senior schools
Mollie O'Neill, MBA, MA, CFP, Partner Brigus Group
Parent / ·  Curriculum designer of certification program in the financial services industry
·  Presenter at Parents as Stakeholders in Mathematics Education, Field’s Institute of Mathematics Research, 2008 / Report on parent and teacher experiences with mathematics textbooks
Miroslav Lovric PhD (Ohio State), Associate Professor in Mathematics, McMaster University / ·  Vector Calculus, Addison Wesley, 2007
·  “Mathematics Textbooks And Their Potential Role In Supporting Misconceptions” co-authored with Ann Kajander (forthcoming in International Journal of Mathematics Education in Science and Technology”
·  Teaching Mathematics – course that received the McMaster University President’s Award for course and resource design / Implications of a lack of clarity in textbooks on the learning experience
Development of guidelines for textbook design
Maritza Branker PhD (University of Toronto), Assistant Professor in Mathematics, Niagara University (2006-2008) / ·  Teacher of teaching mathematics to pre-service teachers / Pedagogical approaches in mathematics
Ann Fleming, LLB - School Council President
Parent / ·  Organizer of Family Math Fun Night at King Edward Public School, Toronto
·  Presenter at Parents as Stakeholders in Mathematics Education, Field’s Institute of Mathematics Research, 2008 / Reflections on parents experiences with math education
Doug Reeves, PEng
Parent / School Council member and Parent / ·  Comparison of child success with different approaches to Math: Ontario approved textbooks, JUMP program, KUMON
·  Evaluation of elementary math textbooks
Ed Sternin, PhD, Associate Professor, Brock University
Parent / ·  2008 Distinguished Teaching Award of the Faculty of Math and Sciences, Brock University
·  Using the Web in Undergraduate Physics Courses, an invited talk at the annual congress of the Canadian Association of Physicists, Monday, June 17, 1996
·  Using the Web to teach Physics, a Niagara-Brock Science Interface Workshop, Wednesday, May 22, 1996
·  Presenter at Parents as Stakeholders in Mathematics Education, Field’s Institute of Mathematics Research, 2008 / (Grade 9 - university) – Critique of textbooks as instructional material
Therese Aycho
Parent / ·  Home-schooling several children / Quality of textbooks available for home schooling

[1] Personal communication with Alex Stephens, Coordinator of the Work and Learning Knowledge Center, October 2008