GISMO Creates New Math Database
The GISMO research team (Generating Increased Science and Math Learning) at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation is pleased to announce the launch of a new tool that compiles and reviews research findings related to rational number reasoning. The searchable database was designed to assist researchers, math practitioners, professional development specialists and anyone interested in the field of rational number reasoning.
Rational number reasoning is a foundational set of concepts and skills that students across all grades, especially K-8, must master in order to be well prepared for higher-level mathematics. Until now research on the subject was very difficult to access. By compiling over 600 articles on topics such as such as equipartitioning, multiplication and division, fractions, ratio, rate, decimals and percents, and similarity and scaling, the project hopes to help disseminate the research to a wider audience.
“Bringing together literature on how students learn from around the world should help the field of mathematics education accumulate knowledge around this key and critical topic," says Dr. Jere Confrey, Joseph D. Moore Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Education at NC State University and director of the GISMO team.
The database is more than an annotated bibliography. There are thumbnail summaries for each publication and a new synopsis was written for every publication reviewed.
“All this literature brought together and summarized in one searchable resource should save time for researchers, and, perhaps most importantly, help practitioners in classrooms gain access to more of the research literature,” says Dr. Alan Maloney, senior research fellow on the GISMO research team.
Articles are classified according to the age of the students studied, the length of the study, the number of participants, the type of study, etc. whenever possible. Assessment items from many of the research studies are also part of the searchable database.
The work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation and can be accessed online at http://gismo.fi.ncsu.edu/database.
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