Message Design For the Math Classroom

1. Message DesignFor the Math Classroom K. Hitt PSHS February 2011

2. What is Message Design? • It’s the way you use signs and symbols to change the cognitive, affective or psychomotor behavior of the students. • Signs are the forms that instruction takes • It describes anything that stands place for something else

3. When do you use it? • Whenever you create instructional materials in your classroom • Printed Material • Worksheets • Tests • Notes • Electronic Material • PowerPoint • Webpage

4. Why Does Message Design Matter? • It affects what the learner pays attention to and perceives • Hopefully, but not necessarily, it will help student comprehension, retention or retrieval

5. Printed Materials • Type Size • Use 10, 11, or 12 point font • Most textbooks use these sizes • below 10 point is too small • above 12 point is too large (except as a heading) EXAMPLES: This is way to small to read. This is pretty good when on printed material. This takes up too much space to be used for the entire page.

6. Printed Materials • Typeface • Consider the purpose of the text • Make sure the character set contains mathematical symbols • Serif (finishing strokes on ends of letters) versus San Serif • Consider how well it will stand up to repeated copying This font is not good for tests. Neither is this one. This is a serif type font and this is a san serif type font. This is a good font to use. This is another good font. Remember: Math Symbols!! > <%$≠÷±

7. Printed Materials • Color • Extra colors need to be used sparingly • Watch for color combinations of text on colored paper • Certain color combinations do not print well in black and white • Capital Letters • Should not be used for the entire paper • Italics • Use for emphasizing words and variables only IT WOULD BE HARD TO READ THIS IF I WROTE THE ENTIRE WORKSHEET LIKE THIS. It would be just as hard if I wrote the paper like this. This is the best way to write on printed material. SOLVING SYSTEMS OF EQUATIONS 2x + 3y = 10 y = 2x + 3 2x + 3(2x + 3) = 10

8. Printed Materials • Spacing • Must have spacing between words. • Separate sections with a space. • Use of Justified or Unjustified HowhardisittoreadthissentenceifIdon’tusespacingbetweenmyletters? Or Quadrilaterals Kite Trapezoid Isosceles Trapezoid Parallelogram Rhombus Rectangle Square How hard is it to read this sentence if I don’t use spacing between my letters? Or Quadrilaterals KiteParallelogram Rhombus Trapezoid Rectangle Isosceles Trapezoid Square

9. Electronic Material • Type Size • Size 32 font or larger is recommended • Typeface • Similar to Printed Material • Color • Color and background need to be contrasting • Capital Letters • Should not be used for the entire material • Italics • Use for emphasizing words and variables only • Spacing • Same as printed materials

10. Section 2-4: Deductive Reasoning VOCABULARY: Deductive Reasoning – the process of reasoning logically from given statements or facts to a conclusion LAW OF DETACHMENT Step 1: Identify the hypothesis of the given true conditional Step 2: Check that the second given statement matches the hypothesis Step 3: Make a conclusion EXAMPLE

11. Summary Suggestions • Use consistent spacing • Beware of nonstandard typefaces, capitals, italics and underlining that impair reading flow • Be cautious with the use of color • Keep tables and graphs simple • Use signaling strategies • Remember to K.I.S.S.

12. References • Chapter 17 in Anglin’s BOOK 2nd EDITION: Message Design-Issues & Trends by Grabowski • Hartley, J. (2004). Designing instructional and informational text. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.) Handbook of Research in Educational Communications and Technology (2nd edition). Mahwah, N.J: Erlbaum. ISBN 0 8058 4145 8. Retrieved August, 28, from http://www.aect.org/edtech/34.pdf