Using social situations in fourth grade arithmetic

78 Pages·03.667 MB·English

by  Charlesworth, M. Wilma

This thesis, having been approved by the
special Faculty Committee, is accepted by
the Graduate School of the
University of Wyoming,
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree nf Master of Arts_____
______
Dean of the Graduate School.
DateAugust_l6^125l___
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
USING- SOCIAL SITUATIONS
IN FOURTH GRADE
ARITHMETIC
by
M. Wilma Charlesworth
A Thesis
Submitted to the Department
of Education and the Graduate School
of the U niversity of Wyoming in P a rtia l
F ulfillm ent of Requirements fo r the Degree of
M aster of A rts
U niversity of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming
August, 1951
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
UMI Number: EP20714
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®BARD ROOM
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The w riter wishes to express her appreciation of the
encouragement and assistance given her in the preparation of
th is th esis by Dr. George E. H o lliste r.
Thanks are also due those school superintendents, e le ­
mentary supervisors and teachers who co-operated in the ques­
tio n n aire study by which data fo r the th esis were co llected .
182079
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I . INTRODUCTION................................................................................. 1
Purpose of the In v e stig a tio n ....................... 1
Procedure .................................................................................. 1
Related S tu d ie s ...................................... 3
O rganization of the Thesis ............................................ 7
I I . CURRENT PRINCIPLES AND SOCIAL TRENDS IN
TEACHING ARITHMETIC .......................................................... 8
H istory in Use of N u m b ers............................................ 8
Areas to be Considered in Teaching
A rithm etic . . . . . . . ............................................ 10
Functions of A rith m e tic ................................................. 14
I I I . SURVEY- OF FOUR FOURTH GRADE ARITHMETIC
TEXTBOOKS.................................................................................. 17
IV. SURVEY OF SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL................................. 21
V. TEACHING U N IT ............................................................................ 30
Wheat and Related In d u s trie s ....................................... 30
VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................. 50
C o n c lu sio n s............................................................................. 50
R ecom m endations.................................................................... 52
SELECTED REFERENCES................................. 54
APPENDIX...................................... 56
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LIST OF TABLES
TABLES PAGE
I . Analysis of Verbal Problems in Four Fourth
Grade A rithm etic T extbooks................................. 19
II . Survey of Q uestionnaire R e tu r n s ................................ 22
I I I . Length of Daily A rithm etic Glass Periods . . . . 23
IV. Use of the T hirteen Social A ctiv ities as
Reported by 140 T each ers................................. 24
V. Range and Median Number of M in u tes............................ 25
VI. Summary of A ctiv ities and S ituations . . . . . . 27
V II. F ield Trips Reported on the Q uestionnaire . . . 64
V III. Devices or Aids Used in Teaching Arithm etic
as Reported in the Q u e stio n n a ire s......................... 66
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Purpose of the Investigation
The purposes of th is study were! (l) to survey four re ­
cently published fourth grade arithm etic textbooks to discover
to what extent problem situ atio n s found in textbooks can be
applied In social situ atio n s in Kansas; (2) to determ ine the
social situ atio n s th at are being used by fourth grade a rith ­
metic teachers in the f ir s t class c itie s of Kansas th at would
Improve on the problem m aterials; (3) to present a teaching
unit on a major industry of Kansas to show how community re ­
sources may be used by fourth grade teachers of arithm etic as
sources fo r supplementary reasoning problems; (4) to show how
arithm etic may be made more meaningful by co rrelatin g i t with
social studies and language a rts .
Procedure
Pour fourth grade arithm etic textbooks^ were used in th is
•^Clifford Woody, Frederick S. Breed, James R. Overman,
A rithm etic For You. Chicagoi Lyons and Carnahan, 1945, 312 pp
Leo J . Brueckner, F oster E. G rossnickle, Elda L. Merton,
A rithm etic We Use. Chicago: The John C. Winston Company, 1947
308 pp*
Robert Lee Morton, Merle Gray, E lizabeth Springstun,
W illiam L. Schaef, Making Sure of A rithm etic. New York: S il­
ver Burdett Company, 1946, 346 pp,
V irgil S. M allory, Dennis H. Cook, Amanda Laughren,
Using A rithm etic. Chicago: Benjamin H. Sanborne Company, 1946
313 pp.
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2
Investigation. These hooks were the four selected In 1948 by
the Kansas S tate Textbook Committee fo r fin al consideration
In the adoption of a sta te textbook. The w riter analyzed each
of these books as to the subject m atter contained In the rea­
soning problems. These problems were recorded as related or
unrelated; th at Is , If a group of problems were a ll on the
same subject, they were called "related ", but if they were on
heterogeneous subjects, they were considered "unrelated".
Twenty-three related subject groups and many unrelated prob­
lems were discovered in the four textbooks. Problems were not
included th at showed methods of solution or problems dealing
w ith measurements of quantity and tim e not Involving a social
situ atio n .
The second phase of th is study was lim ited to the survey
of fourth grade arithm etic m aterials in the twelve f ir s t class
c itie s of Kansas. I t was concerned only with th a t phase of
arithm etic th at deals w ith reasoning problems at the fourth
grade lev e l.
L etters were sent to the supervisors of elem entary edu­
cation or superintendents of public schools in the twelve
f ir s t class c itie s of Kansas, requesting the names of a ll
teachers who were teaching fourth grade arithm etic. Complete
lis ts were received from eleven c itie s . The elem entary school
supervisor in the tw elfth city subm itted the names of two
teachers who were approved by the superintendent to p a rtic i­
pate in the in v estig atio n .
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A le tte r and questionnaire^ were sent to each teacher of
fourth grade arithm etic in these c itie s . Since some did not
return the questionnaire promptly a second le tte r and a ques­
tio n n aire were sent to those who had not returned the f ir s t
one. Of the 200 teachers of fourth grade arithm etic to whom
the questionnaires were sent, 140, or 70 per cent, returned
them w ith answers. Eighteen teachers returned the blank ques­
tio n n aires without comment.
A teaching unit was developed on wheat and related indus­
trie s to show th a t a ll areas of learning may be correlated to
make the experiences most valuable to the learn er. Emphasis
was placed on arithm etic and arithm etic a c tiv itie s in order to
illu s tra te how social situ atio n s and community resources may
be Integrated w ith other subject areas to b e tte r develop a rith ­
m etic a b ilitie s .
Belated Studies
Wilson^ made a study of verbal problems in seventh grade
arithm etic textbooks to find the sociological im plication in ­
volved in them.
Problems which have some reference to social situ atio n s
were called verbal problem s, and problems dealing with numbers
p
A copy of the questionnaire appears in the appendix,
pp. 57.
N ellie A. W ilson, "An Analysis of the Sociology of Ver­
bal Problems in A rithm etic T exts.” Unpublished M aster's The­
s is , S tate U niversity of Iowa, Iowa C ity, 1936, 38 pp.
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