EAGER: Exploring Mathematics Graduate Teaching Assistants' Developmental Stages for Teaching

EAGER：探索数学研究生助教的教学发展阶段

基本信息

批准号：
1744139
负责人：
Mary Beisiegel
金额：
$ 29.63万
依托单位：
Oregon State University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2017-09-01 至 2020-08-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1744139&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
EAGER Exploring Mathematics Graduate Teaching

项目摘要

Mathematics plays a central role in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and student success in undergraduate mathematics courses is a crucial ingredient in meeting the Nation's need to prepare and sustain a globally competitive STEM workforce. However, mathematics courses often create barriers to student progress in obtaining degrees in STEM areas. To address this national problem, this project will focus on a research study to explore two critical issues in undergraduate mathematics education: (1) how future mathematics faculty members are prepared for teaching and (2) the format of mathematics teaching in undergraduate classrooms. These two issues are directly related to one another. How future mathematics faculty are prepared to teach mathematics is a determining factor in the quality and style of mathematics teaching in undergraduate classrooms. Unfortunately, all too often, this teaching does not have a positive impact on undergraduate students. Mathematics graduate teaching assistants (MGTAs) often receive minimal training for a career of teaching mathematics and, as a result, their teaching practices remain rooted in lecture-based instruction. Lecture-based mathematics teaching in undergraduate mathematics has been shown not to be the best form of instruction for the majority of students, indicating that there is critical need for research-based professional development programs for MGTAs. Yet, few studies have investigated MGTA needs for professional development at different points in their graduate programs. This study will fill this gap in the research by following MGTAs as they progress through their graduate programs. The findings will generate new knowledge to inform STEM departments across the country how to better prepare graduate students for teaching undergraduates, which, in turn, will lead to a better prepared United States STEM workforce.A fundamental goal of the project is to create a model of MGTAs' developmental stages for teaching that researchers and practitioners will be able to use to design effective, long-term professional development programs that will result in mathematics instruction that improves student outcomes in undergraduate mathematics courses. To investigate MGTAs' developmental stages for teaching, surveys and interview protocols will be created to capture any changes in knowledge, beliefs, views of mathematics, and teaching. The surveys will have open-ended questions that inquire into MGTAs' thoughts about teaching and learning mathematics and what influences the way they think about teaching. Other items will address their epistemic beliefs and self-efficacy. An interview process will provide a deeper view of their teaching practices, their most recent teaching experiences, whether they feel that they are receiving adequate support, and what other support they feel they need. MGTAs will be surveyed and interviewed for the duration of their graduate programs to determine any changes to their views of teaching and their need of support for teaching. Their responses to the survey and interview questions will be analyzed using the stages of deductive thematic analysis. A long-term goal of this study is to use this new knowledge to design a research-based, scaffolded training program model that will attend to the stages mathematics graduate students go through as their teaching and thoughts about teaching evolve.

数学在科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 学科中发挥着核心作用，学生在本科数学课程中的成功是满足国家准备和维持具有全球竞争力的 STEM 劳动力队伍的关键因素。然而，数学课程常常会阻碍学生在 STEM 领域获得学位。为了解决这一全国性问题，本项目将重点开展一项研究，探讨本科数学教育中的两个关键问题：（1）未来数学教师如何为教学做好准备；（2）本科课堂数学教学的形式。这两个问题是直接相关的。未来的数学教师如何准备好教授数学是本科课堂数学教学质量和风格的决定因素。不幸的是，这种教学常常不会对本科生产生积极影响。数学研究生助教 (MGTA) 通常只接受很少的数学教学培训，因此，他们的教学实践仍然植根于讲座式教学。事实证明，本科数学中基于讲座的数学教学对于大多数学生来说并不是最佳的教学形式，这表明 MGTA 迫切需要基于研究的专业发展计划。然而，很少有研究调查 MGTA 在其研究生课程的不同阶段对专业发展的需求。这项研究将通过跟踪 MGTA 的研究生课程进展来填补研究空白。研究结果将产生新的知识，告知全国各地的 STEM 部门如何更好地为研究生教学做好准备，从而为本科生的教学做好准备，从而为美国 STEM 劳动力做好更充分的准备。该项目的基本目标是创建一个模型研究人员和从业者将能够利用 MGTA 的教学发展阶段来设计有效的、长期的专业发展计划，从而提高数学教学的质量，从而提高学生在本科数学课程中的成绩。为了调查 MGTA 的教学发展阶段，将制定调查和访谈协议，以捕捉知识、信仰、数学观点和教学方面的任何变化。调查将提出开放式问题，探究 MGTA 对数学教学的看法以及影响他们对教学的看法的因素。其他项目将解决他们的认知信念和自我效能。访谈过程将更深入地了解他们的教学实践、最近的教学经历、他们是否认为自己得到了足够的支持以及他们认为需要哪些其他支持。 MGTA 将在研究生课程期间接受调查和访谈，以确定他们对教学的看法以及教学支持需求的任何变化。他们对调查和访谈问题的回答将使用演绎主题分析阶段进行分析。这项研究的长期目标是利用这些新知识来设计一个基于研究的支架式培训计划模型，该模型将关注数学研究生在教学和教学思想发展过程中所经历的各个阶段。