Alejandra Duarte

Curricula enhanced through the use of digital games can benefit students in their interest and learning of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) concepts. Elementary teachers’ likelihood to embrace and use game-enhanced instructional approaches with integrity in mathematics has not been extensively studied. In this study, a sequential mixed methods design was employed to investigate the feasibility of a game-enhanced supplemental fraction curriculum in elementary classrooms, including how teachers implemented the curriculum, their perspectives and experiences as they used it, and their students’ resulting fraction learning and STEM interest. Teachers implemented the supplemental curriculum with varying adherence but had common experiences throughout their implementation. Teachers expressed experiences related to (1) time, (2) curriculum being too different, and (3) too difficult for students. Their strategies to handle those phenomena varied. Teachers that demonstrated higher adherence to the game-enhanced supplemental fraction curriculum had students that displayed higher STEM interest and fraction learning. While this study helps to better understand elementary teachers’ experiences with game-enhanced mathematics curricula, implications for further research and program development are also discussed.

People with disabilities are underrepresented in STEM as well as information, communication, and technology (ICT) careers. The underrepresentation of individuals with disabilities in STEM may reflect systemic issues of access. Curricular materials that allow students to demonstrate their current fraction knowledge through multiple means and provide opportunities to share and explain their thinking with others may address issues of access students face in elementary school. In this study, we employed a sequential mixed-methods design to investigate how game-enhanced fraction intervention impacts students’ fraction knowledge, engagement, and STEM interests. Quantitative results revealed statistically significant effects of the program on students’ fraction understanding and engagement but not their STEM interest. Qualitative analyses revealed three themes—(1) Accessible, Enjoyable Learning, (2) Can’t Relate, and (3) Dreaming Bigger—that provided contextual backing for the quantitative results. Implications for future research and development are shared.

Efforts to improve teachers’ knowledge of tools and strategies are often intertwined with their beliefs regarding mathematics teaching and learning. Yet, few studies have examined the impact of professional development designed to bolster teachers’ knowledge of and beliefs about young children’s mathematical development. In this study, we evaluated whether participants’ beliefs changed significantly after engaging in online professional learning on teaching math to young children, overall orientations of participants’ teaching practices and shifts over time, and how changed beliefs might coincide with changed orientations to practice. We employed a multilevel mixed methods design, with quantitative results showing changes in participants’ overall beliefs based on survey data. We discuss how trends in perceived instructional practices coincide with beliefs found to be statistically significant in the quantitative analysis and the potential for online professional development to influence beliefs. Considerations for design of online professional learning and implications for future research are shared.