Four Big Ideas of Algebra Given Top Billing In Randomized Study
University experiment aims to help students digest core concepts.
If you heard just the name, you might think it was something for sale at Radio Shack, or maybe Home Depot—a generator, perhaps, or a high-tech battery. About the last thing “Powersource” would conjure up is a conceptual rethinking of how to teach algebra.
But that’s exactly what’s been developed by a team of education researchers at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing, or CRESST, at the University of California, Los Angeles. Powersource, to be piloted with about 70 randomly selected 6th and 7th grade teachers this fall at 25 middle schools in four school districts in the Southwest, is designed to get students learning algebra like experts, so they can quickly connect new concepts to those they’ve already learned.
“How do experts look at knowledge versus people who don’t know?” said Noelle Griffin, an assistant director for research and evaluation at CRESST. “The difference is that experts are able to group information around big ideas. Those big ideas help organize all...
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