[maine-math] STUDENTS MAY BE LEARNING MORE ABOUT AVOIDANCE STRATEGIES THAN

[Kim Schroeter]

Here is an informative piece to read and think about. Kim

Kimberly Schroeter
Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance
Mathematics and Assessment Specialist
142 Free Street
Portland, Maine 04101
207-772-7141
kschroeter@mmsa.org
www.mmsa.org



from Cathy Kinzer
http://www.apa.org/releases/mathavoidance.html


     Contact: David Partenheimer
     Public Affairs Office
     (202) 336-5706
     dpartenheimer@apa.org

     STUDENTS MAY BE LEARNING MORE ABOUT AVOIDANCE STRATEGIES THAN
     ARITHMETIC IN MATH CLASS; STUDY SHOWS WHAT TEACHERS CAN DO

     WASHINGTON - "Please don't call on me" can be a pervasive thought by
students who are not doing well
     in math class. By early adolescence, it is common for some students to
 become experts in avoidance
     strategies -- avoiding asking for help when they need it, withdrawing
effort and resisting novel
     approaches to learning -- in order to deflect attention from low
ability. This type of behavior can cause
     students to fall further behind academically and may eventually lead
some to drop out of school. But
     new research shows that teachers that emphasize learning rather than
performance may help prevent
     this self-destructive behavior. The findings appear in the current
issue of the Journal of Educational
     Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

     In their study involving 1,092 sixth-grade students in 65 sixth-grade
classrooms in four ethnically and
     economically diverse school districts in three Midwestern states,
Julianne C. Turner, Ph.D. of the
     University of Notre Dame and co-authors surveyed the students to
determine use of avoidance
     strategies. The study also included the use of trained observers who
watched and audiotaped nine of
     the students' teachers while they taught their math classes.

     The researchers found that students reported using fewer avoidance
techniques in classrooms
     perceived as emphasizing learning, understanding, effort and
enjoyment. In those classrooms,
     teachers helped students who had problems understanding, gave them
opportunities to demonstrate
     new competencies and provided substantial motivational support for
learning. Teachers in these
     "mastery-oriented" classrooms made sure their students did not feel
inadequate or ashamed when
     they did not understand. "By modeling their own thinking processes,
these teachers demonstrated
     that being unsure, learning from mistakes, and asking questions were
natural and necessary parts of
     learning," according to the authors. By contrast, "students reported
higher incidences of avoidance
     strategies in classrooms in which teachers devoted little attention to
 helping students build
     understanding and in which motivational support was low."

     The teacher observations, say the authors, provided valuable insight
into how teaching methods affect
     avoidance behaviors. For instance, in a classroom where students used
more avoidance strategies, the
     teacher placed greater emphasis on getting an answer correct, with
little discussion about the
     important concepts in a lesson and little explanation of why an answer
 was correct. If a student did not
     know the answer, the teacher would ask another student and did not
usually stop to explain the
     answer. "Because the teacher typically did not respond to mistakes and
 misunderstandings with
     explanations or allow students to explain their strategies, his
students may have felt vulnerable to
     public displays of incompetence and adopted more avoidance
strategies," explained the researchers.

     In classrooms where students used fewer avoidance strategies, the
teachers tended to model, hint
     and elicit support from other students to help their students learn.
In those classrooms, the students
     were active participants in instructional discourse that stressed
understanding and explanation.
     "Perhaps because they knew their teachers and peers would help,
students in these classrooms did
     not seem to need to adopt avoidance strategies to appear able to
others," said the authors.

     Classrooms with students who reported using avoidance strategies less
also had teachers that used
     math-related humor as part of their lessons. Humor may lessen tension
and encourage students to
     view their math classes as more enjoyable, say the authors.

     Article: "The Classroom Environment and Students' Reports of Avoidance
 Strategies in Mathematics: A
     Multimethod Study," Julianne C. Turner, University of Notre Dame,
Carol Midgley, University of
     Michigan, Debra K. Meyer, Elmhurst College, Margaret Gheen, University
 of Michigan, Eric M.
     Anderman, University of Kentucky, and Yongjin Kang, University of
Michigan; Journal of Educational
     Psychology, Vol. 94, No. 1.

     The research reported in the article was made possible by a grant from
 the Spencer Foundation.

     Full text of the article is available from the APA Public Affairs
Office or at

http://www.apa.org/journals/edu/press_releases/march_2002/edu94188.html.

     Lead author Julianne C. Turner, Ph.D., can be reached at (574)
631-3429 or by e-mail at
     turner.37@nd.edu.

     The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is
the largest scientific and
     professional organization representing psychology in the United States
 and is the world's largest
     association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than
155,000 researchers, educators,
     clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53
subfields of psychology and
     affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial
associations, APA works to advance
     psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting
human welfare



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