|
Project Status
|
| Freda |
Posted on December 18 2006 02:33 PM
|
Member
Location: Germany
Posts: 194
Joined: 2006-09-19
|
This year, I decided to research mental math vs dyscalculia symptoms- ie which were most prevalent in people with low scores on the mental math test. I'm not really sure what i plan to do with this info yet, but... erm... yeah. In my abstract, I had to define dyscalculia as a math learning disorder, and then I said, due to dyscalculics inability to visualize and remember numbers with ease, we generally do worse in mental math than other people.
[I have asked people not to use their fingers, talk to themselves, etc- it must be completely mental. I know how we're all visual people  ]
I know this is sort of a generalization... but hopefully it suffices.
Does this seem redundant? Hopefully not, because er.. I'm doing a big report on it. xD My mind's still working to get everything written in a manner that makes sense.
Tomorrow and Wednesday I will be distributing my tests and Likert's survey to about 90 people. The survey is basically 10 statements related to dyscalculia symptoms. (ie. "I have difficulty reading analog clocks." I also printed out 15 "Spread the word" folders and I'm gonna let the class know if they answered always to most of the things, they might be interested in picking up a brochure at the end of class. ;D |
| |
|
|
| Countess |
Posted on December 18 2006 02:39 PM
|
Administrator
Location: Germany
Posts: 850
Joined: 2005-10-02
|
Great Freda 
'You should really be sympathetic to people who suffer 'Normalism' (Geoff)
My Child (born 97) has Dyscalculia
Sorry for any spelling mistakes ;-) |
| |
|
|
| dawn |
Posted on December 18 2006 11:28 PM
|
Member
Location: england
Posts: 463
Joined: 2006-09-10
|
What is a Likert's survey? Good luck with it . But warning...sometimes you can open Pandora's box. You may have a sudden overwhelming mass of panicking students who all think they have dyscalculia when your test is not going to be diagnostic. You must make it abundantly clear that this is not a diagnostic test and students who score badly may not have a learning disability. Think of the consequences and the worry you may cause and cover yourself with loads of provisos.Nb some of them may ,in fact just be crap at maths ...there are actually some people out there who do not warrant an ld label. I am crap at music but I do not have a learning disability. Do you see my concern? |
| |
|
|
| Freda |
Posted on December 19 2006 06:42 AM
|
Member
Location: Germany
Posts: 194
Joined: 2006-09-19
|
dawn wrote:
What is a Likert's survey? Good luck with it . But warning...sometimes you can open Pandora's box. You may have a sudden overwhelming mass of panicking students who all think they have dyscalculia when your test is not going to be diagnostic. You must make it abundantly clear that this is not a diagnostic test and students who score badly may not have a learning disability. Think of the consequences and the worry you may cause and cover yourself with loads of provisos.Nb some of them may ,in fact just be crap at maths ...there are actually some people out there who do not warrant an ld label. I am crap at music but I do not have a learning disability. Do you see my concern?
Likert's scale survey is something where you answer a statement to a certain degree: never, seldom, sometimes, usually, always (as an example)
ANd yeah, that's why I've been considering not doing it. I still haven't made up my mind xD If there is anyone with dyscalculia, I want to get them, but I have a feeling lots of people will just get nervous and think they have it.... so I'm still weighing the good with the bad.
At least it would put more pressure on my councelor to get dyscalculia testing working |
| |
|
|
| ert |
Posted on December 19 2006 07:47 AM
|
Member
Location: Denmark
Posts: 1388
Joined: 2005-03-11
|
Well, it sounds like a fantastic idea Freda. I agree that you have to make clear that NO ONE can be diagnosed by anyone else than a person who is specifically trained for that.
I guess the whole testing could be interesting because... How should I put this... Oh I have the flu, so my head is spinning - just ask if nothing makes sense.
In the term of "well everyone hates math", "no one can do maths because it's boring" and all that - maybe you can add that thought and debate it in your paper with yourself. The fact that everyone thinks that math is boring can be one of the reasons to why dyscalculia hasn't been approved (in the real world) yet. Because... People are just being lazy, they can if they want to, but they don't want to because math is boring. Debate (with yourself on paper) the whole "well is this even real"-thing. And somehow end the debate with proof that it does exist, of course |
| |
|
|
| ert |
Posted on December 19 2006 08:01 AM
|
Member
Location: Denmark
Posts: 1388
Joined: 2005-03-11
|
Oh, and by the way, those userbars, that would be a good project for me... I just found http://ubdesigner..., that page is really easy... Well, when I figure out how to add graphics, because text only is a little boring.
 |
| |
|
|
| Freda |
Posted on December 19 2006 02:07 PM
|
Member
Location: Germany
Posts: 194
Joined: 2006-09-19
|
ert wrote:
Well, it sounds like a fantastic idea Freda. I agree that you have to make clear that NO ONE can be diagnosed by anyone else than a person who is specifically trained for that.
I guess the whole testing could be interesting because... How should I put this... Oh I have the flu, so my head is spinning - just ask if nothing makes sense.
In the term of "well everyone hates math", "no one can do maths because it's boring" and all that - maybe you can add that thought and debate it in your paper with yourself. The fact that everyone thinks that math is boring can be one of the reasons to why dyscalculia hasn't been approved (in the real world) yet. Because... People are just being lazy, they can if they want to, but they don't want to because math is boring. Debate (with yourself on paper) the whole "well is this even real"-thing. And somehow end the debate with proof that it does exist, of course
I totally agree ^^ I'll be sure to post my finished paper up for discussion and suggestions. It's nice to know people care enough to donate ideas to my research! (thanks )
Userbars - I was thinking of creating some as well. A graphic is somewhat more difficult because well.. yeah. Maybe... hold on, I'll open up Photoshop and post something in a few minutes
[edit] Okay, imageshack isn't working, so I'll just have to try again later
Project Update: I decided not to tell the people that if they answered always to everything there was a chance they had dyscalculia, but I told all the groups if they had any questions about what they were doing or about what it was for they could ask. Someone actually did know about dyscalculia!
I'm giving a "point value" for each thing put on the Likert's scale survey, out of 50, and the higher you score the more symptoms you exibit. I took it myself and I've scored the highest out of the 50 or so people I've tested so far. ;_;
Edited by Freda on December 19 2006 03:03 PM |
| |
|
|
| Cathie13 |
Posted on December 20 2006 02:34 AM
|
Member
Location: No value
Posts: 12
Joined: 2006-12-03
|
Your assumption that everyone hates math, just ain't so. I happen to like it. And I know others who are fascinated with it. But I do not have dyscalculia, of course. And my granddaughter who does have dyscalculia does not like math at all after having battled with it for all of her school years and now into her working adult life. |
| |
|
|
| Freda |
Posted on December 20 2006 12:50 PM
|
Member
Location: Germany
Posts: 194
Joined: 2006-09-19
|
I enjoy math [sometimes] and do have dyscalculia [I think], but in general, it's one of the most hated classes in school.
Many students are dissasisfied with math in the classroom because they feel it gives them no "real world" skills (ie when do you need to graph polar graphs??)
But I think what Mette is trying to say is that dyscalculia hasn't been seen as a real disease because most people who are bad at math just don't like it or are too lazy to do it. It's not that they CAN'T, it's that they WON'T.
I could've stopped taking math like... last year, but I decided to keep going because if I want to get into a science college, I need math. The only class I can take after the one I'm taking right now is AP Calculus.... ugh. The teacher is anti-calculator, so I don't know how that's going to work out. |
| |
|
|
| ert |
Posted on December 21 2006 01:23 PM
|
Member
Location: Denmark
Posts: 1388
Joined: 2005-03-11
|
Yeah, excactly what you said Freda. |
| |
|
|
| gooup |
Posted on December 21 2006 10:12 PM
|
Member
Location: Louisiana, USA
Posts: 140
Joined: 2006-01-25
|
HEHEHEHEHE
one of my FAVORITE ralph quotes, EVER!!!
ert wrote:
Me fail English? That's unpossible! |
| |
|
|
| Freda |
Posted on January 21 2007 05:16 PM
|
Member
Location: Germany
Posts: 194
Joined: 2006-09-19
|
I just want to say thanks to anyone who reads this... any of the members All your experiences, thoughts, and even input really helped out in my project.
I had to write the entire paper today because it's due tomorrow and I haven't had any time to work on it.. LOL. I guess that's the procrastination we were talking about ;p
[ps] some interesting stats that I found in a book by Glynis Hannell:
9 year olds with dyscalculia have, on average, the same level of mathematics knowledge and understanding as a typical 6-year old
17-year-olds with dyscalculia have, on average, the same level of mathematics knowledge and understanding as a 10-year-old.
Pupils with dyscalculia seem to reach a plateau at the end of primary school and may oly make one more yaer of progress in mathematics throughout their secondary schooling.
And I know this has been said before, but... according to the "general agreement" of the number of students with dyscalculia (5-8%), on average 2-3 students in every class of 30 have dyscalculia!
Inspiration enough for me to spread the word
Once this project is over I n eed to get started on my gold award project, which will hopefully go over well!
Edited by Freda on January 21 2007 05:45 PM |
| |
|
|
| ert |
Posted on January 21 2007 10:44 PM
|
Member
Location: Denmark
Posts: 1388
Joined: 2005-03-11
|
Is it Action Plans for Successful Learning in Mathematics? Still haven't found the money to buy that book, but it's on my list. With 465464565434 other books. If I won a million dollars I would buy 645653534 books instead of a car and all that jazz... I'm weird.
Ah, procrastination. I have an exam tomorrow, in less than 9 hours, but I haven't prepared... Typical. I've had 2½ months. Oh well. |
| |
|
|
| Freda |
Posted on January 22 2007 01:31 AM
|
Member
Location: Germany
Posts: 194
Joined: 2006-09-19
|
ert wrote:
Is it Action Plans for Successful Learning in Mathematics? Still haven't found the money to buy that book, but it's on my list. With 465464565434 other books. If I won a million dollars I would buy 645653534 books instead of a car and all that jazz... I'm weird.
Ah, procrastination. I have an exam tomorrow, in less than 9 hours, but I haven't prepared... Typical. I've had 2½ months. Oh well.
Yeah, it is. I also got umm... one by Butterworth (<3) and Dorian Yeo.. can';t think of the name atm...
I leant them to the ld head at our school but I can mail them to you at some point if you'd like to take a look
I have 6 exams this week and the plan is to study the period before each one. Woooh let's see how that works out. |
| |
|
|
| ert |
Posted on January 22 2007 11:01 AM
|
Member
Location: Denmark
Posts: 1388
Joined: 2005-03-11
|
Are you in Germany or the states? It costs a whole lot of money to send books, they are heavy. So it would probably pay of better that I just buy the book
I got a B... My own fault, I could have gotten an A if I tried harder. Oh well, I'll live - school's out forever, I'm done, yay!
Well... the next school I'm going to starts on feb 1st... 3½ years to go. |
| |
|
|
| Freda |
Posted on February 06 2007 06:12 PM
|
Member
Location: Germany
Posts: 194
Joined: 2006-09-19
|
I'm in Germany.. but the book is pretty thin  But it's up to you!
And ... congrats XD
I just wanted to let you guys know... my paper was 1/8 DoDDS-Europe wide to get accepted into the oral presentations category. So, in March, I will be presenting my research and spreading the word about dyscalculia in the process! I have a 50% chance of going on to nationals as well, so... wish me luck!
Girl Scout Gold Award project is gonna get started soon. We'll see how that goes. |
| |
|
|
| Freda |
Posted on March 09 2007 05:55 PM
|
Member
Location: Germany
Posts: 194
Joined: 2006-09-19
|
haven't been around in a while- incredibly busy.
I just thought I would let people know how I've been spreading the word. I think about 70+ people got my presentation, 5-10 of which were math teachers, who later came up to me and asked for more information.
I placed second and was invited to the nationals to present orally. This will be much bigger thing than what I just presented, so many more people will be able to find out about it.
I'm pretty excited. |
| |
|
|
| Countess |
Posted on March 09 2007 06:24 PM
|
Administrator
Location: Germany
Posts: 850
Joined: 2005-10-02
|
Wonderful Freda
I keep my thumbs up.
Countess
'You should really be sympathetic to people who suffer 'Normalism' (Geoff)
My Child (born 97) has Dyscalculia
Sorry for any spelling mistakes ;-) |
| |
|
|
| ert |
Posted on March 22 2007 06:45 PM
|
Member
Location: Denmark
Posts: 1388
Joined: 2005-03-11
|
A very late "THAT'S AMAZING!" Keep going where you're going |
| |
|
|
| Freda |
Posted on May 05 2007 12:15 PM
|
Member
Location: Germany
Posts: 194
Joined: 2006-09-19
|
So, I'm at the Nationals right now... I presented yesterday, and since my category had double the number of presentors in the other categories, they did "finalists" for the day, who have to present again to be chosen (or not). I am one of the 6 finalists, so I have to present again today at 11. Yaaay @_@ |
| |
|
