Education Student's Research Project Published by Vendor

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A recent University of Arkansas graduate’s research project about mathematics instruction was published by the vendor that produces a teaching tool used in the research.

Chelsea Ullrich of Coweta, Oklahoma, graduated earlier this month with her Master of Arts in Teaching from the College of Education and Health Professions. Students in the M.A.T. program are required to complete an action-research project at one of their internship placements during the school year.

Ullrich studied the effects of mathematics instruction incorporating the TouchMath program on addition computational fluency in a third-grade classroom in Springdale. TouchMath markets multisensory remedial math products.

In her research project, Ullrich looked at students’ computational fluency on addition problems when they learned using the “touch points” outlined by the program. She conducted the study over eight weeks, 30 minutes a day, four days a week. She used pre-tests, post-tests, daily and weekly testing and timed tests to evaluate student progress.

The program teaches students how to touch points on numerals with the points corresponding to that number. The concept behind the method is that it helps students understand how a symbol represents a quantity.

Ullrich’s results indicated that TouchMath led to an increase in math fluency regardless of gender, first language spoken or regularity of school attendance. She also found that the TouchMath program improved students’ attitude toward math.

Ullrich received $500 from the company for permission to publish her research, which is now available for other education students and teachers to use.