The EA intervention made the most difference on assessment items involving variables, functional relations, intra-mathematical contexts, tables, and algebraic expressions¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2013 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Correspondence factorial analysis showed experimental group grades associated with items involving variables, functional relations, intra-mathematical contexts, tables, and algebraic expressions, while comparison grades associated with natural language, equalities, inequalities, graphs, unknowns, and pseudo-algebraic expressions. → Brizuela 2013 q2 i? Hierarchical cluster analysis confirmed the grouping of experimental grades versus comparison groups, with comparison students under-characterized by algebraic expression items. → Brizuela 2013 (2)

Evidence¶

Brizuela 2013¶

Brizuela, B.M., Martinez, M.V., and Cayton-Hodges, G.A. (2013). The Impact of Early Algebra: Results from a Longitudinal Intervention. Journal of Research in Mathematics Education, 2(2), 209-241. https://doi.org/10.4471/redimat.2013.28

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Correspondence factorial analysis (SPAD Recherche 5.6) of 43 common assessment items relating the 12 item sub-categories to grade/group membership for 15 experimental and 22 comparison students; the intervention "m ade the m ost diffe re nce on stude nts' pe rform ance" on those five item kinds.

"A nothe r w ay to se e this is to say that our inte rve ntion m ade the m ost diffe re nce on stude nts' pe rform ance on ite m s that involve variables,functionalrelations,intra-mathematicalcontexts, tables,andalgebraicexpressions."

Brizuela 2013 (2)¶

Brizuela, B.M., Martinez, M.V., and Cayton-Hodges, G.A. (2013). The Impact of Early Algebra: Results from a Longitudinal Intervention. Journal of Research in Mathematics Education, 2(2), 209-241. https://doi.org/10.4471/redimat.2013.28

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Hierarchical cluster analysis using Ward's method on the main CFA components confirmed the split between experimental and comparison grades; comparison students were "unde r-characte rize d by ite m s that involve alge braic e xpre ssions" (test value = -2.60, p = 0.0047).

"T he cluste r analysis also confirm e d that the group form e d by the com parison group stude nts is unde r-characte rize d by ite m s that involve alge braic e xpre ssions (te st value = -2.60, p = 0.0047)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Algebraic Thinking — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• On items requiring algebraic generalization, experimental students tended to express rules algebraically and reason with variable quantities, while comparison students gave single numeric answers, left items blank, or treated the number line as static — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Grades 3-4 students in an EALP-based early algebra intervention made significant improvements in constructing function tables and outperformed control students at posttest — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Experimental students significantly outperformed control students at posttest in expressing a functional relationship in words (grades 3-4) and in symbols (all grades), with no students writing correct symbolic rules at pretest — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Third graders found assessment items involving inequalities and graphs most challenging, with items T13A and T13B the only items on which 3rd graders scored zero points — related
• After the intervention, posttest differences in identifying patterns in a function table were only marginally significant at grade 3, but experimental fifth graders more often described covariational relationships than recursive patterns — related
• On a 'far' prediction to 10 tables, both conditions improved with no significant posttest differences in correctness, but the experimental group increasingly used a function rule as its strategy — related