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Neil Mercer's Research

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Opening
Teacher: “The next equation you need to solve is 2x+8=30.”
Student: “11!”
Teacher: “Correct, now we are going to try a worded question. If the sum of two numbers is 30. One number exceeds the other by 8. What are the two number?”
The room was filled with blank faces.
Over the years I have completed placements in various environment; a primary school, secondary schools and an international school. Although these schools were different in many aspects there was one key problem that emerged in all these schools; students struggled with worded and problem-solving questions in maths and science. During my first-year placement in a primary school, I thought that the students’ inability to solve worded question was because their literacy …show more content…

Therefore, key terms I searched in the Monash library database included: content specific literacy in maths and science classrooms, science (maths) classroom discourse and science (maths) literacy strategies. Initial searches bought up several literature reviews, reading through some of these reviews Neil Mercer’s research seemed to be featured frequently. Consequently, I acquired one of his article’s, “Teaching children how to use language to solve maths problems”, which was co-authored by Claire Sams in 2006. The second article in focus is by Adams and Pegg (2012), “teachers’ enactment of content literacy strategies in secondary science and mathematics classes” related specifically to my research area, thus, I found it useful in illustrating a possible study design and data collection method for my research. The third article is authored by Cox et al. (2015), article “working with multilingual learners and vocabulary knowledge for secondary schools: developing word consciousness”, focuses on EAL/D learners, which is a group whom I have largely observed during practicum struggle with language in maths and science. Hence, I used this as my final article to analyse as it will provide some insight into effective language and literacy strategies which are tailored towards EAL/D …show more content…

However, in a small-scale study teacher induction may not be appropriate or viable since there is only one person implementing these strategies. Mercer and Sams (2006), and Adams and Peggy’s (2012) study design and research highlight the importance of collecting both quantitative and qualitative data for research. Therefore, there are five ways in which I am going to collect data from my small-scale research. First being test results from a pre and post-test, which should evaluate use of language in discussing and problem solving. Second being study pre and post survey on their confidence of using scientific or mathematical language. Also, I an important point noticed from both Mercer and Sams (2006), and Adams and Peggy’s (2012), was the importance of observation, which can be done personally, by third party or by re-viewing video footage. Due to ethical contrast of this small-scale research, video recordings will not be taken, as consent would be needed by parents. Therefore, the third method would be personal observation and observation by mentor (or other teachers). Fourth method would be reflection. Fifth and final method for collecting data would interviewing groups students and teachers, on effective literacy strategies in current or previous use. Upholding ethical guidelines, all participants will be kept anonymous, and

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