Book Description

Writing in the subject matter is widely supported by authors and professional organizations. For example, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) lists communication, including writing, as an essential part of mathematics education in their Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000). The NCTM also states that students can use communications with peers, teachers, and others to organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking. In addition, effective classroom communications provide students with the opportunity to review, analyze, and evaluate the mathematical thinking and strategies of others so that mathematical ideas can be expressed more precisely. Similarly, Sutton and Krueger (2003) believe that reading and writing should be combined with mathematics at all times, and go on to state that the importance of writing in the mathematics classroom cannot be overemphasized. Aside from helping students to clarify their understanding of mathematics and improve their communications skills, writing also helps students to organize their ideas and thoughts more logically so that clear and coherent conclusions can be reached. The purpose of this study was to see if doing a significant amount of writing in a high school mathematics class will improve students' understanding of mathematical concepts. More specifically, the researcher wanted to know whether students gain more confidence and reduce their math phobia if asked to write about their difficulties and challenges when solving multistep problems and word problems. Additionally, this research focused on improving students' abilities to explain their reasoning behind required procedures. This study took place in a large urban high school in Connecticut. There were 51 participants of this study, all of them enrolled in Academic Geometry classes. Historically students in an academic track have been resistant when asked to explain their thinking and have avoided any kind of word problems. This investigation focused on students' attitude in math as well as their achievement. Although this study did not show any significant increase in grades on post-tests, students in the experimental group improved their ability to explain their reasoning behind required procedures and they gained more confidence when asked to solve word problems.