First Advisor

McConnell, Christine

Document Type

Dissertation

Date Created

12-2021

Department

College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Teacher Education, Teacher Education Student Work

Abstract

This research study explored the experiences of this teacher-researcher and eight student-participants in a Montessori-inspired, nature-based mathematical environment. I utilized an action research study framework with a critical event narrative analysis to describe mine and my student-participants’ experiences throughout this study, using Uhrmacher et al.’s (2017) instructional arc as a guide. I restoried each participants’ lived and told stories as the curriculum seamlessly moved through the arc: intended to operational to received curriculum. The restoried narratives revolved around the identified critical events each participant experienced throughout the mathematical learning experience. The multiple restoried narratives required data collection that included observations, documents, interviews, and photographs to understand and interpret the different and unique experiences of each participant. Findings of this study suggest that students are able to see the mathematical connections in nature with a noted reduction in their mathematical anxiety and increase in their productivity while learning and creating piecewise-defined mathematical equations outside. In addition, this study found that prior experiences influenced this teacher-researcher’s curriculum design planning and these student-participants’ ability to access their prior mathematical knowledge.

Extent

193 pages

Local Identifiers

Tucker_unco_0161D_10974.pdf

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

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