[Carnegie Mellon University] Think-aloud math study for high school students

Hi everyone,

We are a research group from Carnegie Mellon University that develops and tests software to help high school students become flexible math problem-solvers. We’re interested in your math learning experiences!

You will take part in a Remote Think-Aloud activity, which includes several math-related tasks, such as problem-solving, worked-example walk-through, reflection, and some follow-up questions. These activities will be conducted on paper (and will be shown to us via web camera/photo) or online collaborative canvas tools. We will collect your draft work and audio recordings. These activities are totally voluntary, would take about an hour of time, and you may choose to stop at any time.

Here is one example problem that we may use in the activity:

A number is called a decreasing number if it has two or more digits and each digit is smaller than the digit to its left. For example $7421$ , $964310$ and $52$ are all decreasing numbers but $3421$ , $6642$ , $8$ and $963212$ are not. How many decreasing numbers are there?

To take part in the study, you have to be between 14-17 years old and studying in the US. We offer a $25 gift certificate for participating.

Your participation means a lot to us. If you have any question or would like to sign up, please send an email to:

Professor Bruce McLaren, Principal Investigator, Carnegie Mellon University

[email protected]

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bmclaren/

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[example link](https://brilliant.org)

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    # I indented these lines
    # 4 spaces, and now they show
    # up as a code block.

    print "hello world"

# I indented these lines
# 4 spaces, and now they show
# up as a code block.

print "hello world"

Math

Appears as

Remember to wrap math in $ ... $ or \[ ... \] to ensure proper formatting.

2 \times 3

2 \times 3

2^{34}

2^{34}

a_{i-1}

a_{i-1}

\frac{2}{3}

\frac{2}{3}

\sqrt{2}

\sqrt{2}

\sum_{i=1}^3

\sum_{i=1}^3

\sin \theta

\sin \theta

\boxed{123}

\boxed{123}

Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

Markdown	Appears as
`italics` or `_italics_`	italics
`bold` or `__bold__`	bold
- bulleted - list	bulleted list
1. numbered 2. list	numbered list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1 paragraph 2	paragraph 1 paragraph 2
`[example link](https://brilliant.org)`	example link
`> This is a quote`	This is a quote
# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"	# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

What about in the UK? I am in the UK and after reading your note, I am interested. I study in the UK as well. I am 15 years, 2 weeks and 4 days old. @Anh Huy Nguyen

A Former Brilliant Member - 1 year ago

Hi, I just got reply from my professor. Unfortunately we can only interview students in the US :(

Anh Huy Nguyen - 1 year ago

Ok. Thanks for letting me know! @Anh Huy Nguyen

I read your article and am interested in testing mathematical thinking and developing software necessary for further use by high school students. This will be useful as I am a teacher and strive to adapt my students' learning.

Zoe Lambert - 12 months ago

@Brilliant Mathematics, @Charles Chandler has posted a comment not related to mathematics.

A Former Brilliant Member - 12 months ago

Thanks. We will take action on this account shortly.

Brilliant Mathematics Staff - 12 months ago

@Brilliant Mathematics, @Zoe Lambert has only one comment, I think she is a bot...

Hi Yajat, it doesn't appear to be so.

Oh, very great question, and this post are most important for students. Because with the help of this, Students can learn more things. Gustavo Woltmann

Gustavo Woltmann - 5 months ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$