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）学科中起着核心作用，而学生在本科数学课程方面的成功是满足国家准备和维持全球竞争性STEM劳动力的需求的重要成分。但是，数学课程通常会为学生在STEM领域获得学位方面的进步带来障碍。为了解决这个国家问题，该项目将重点介绍一项研究，以探讨本科数学教育中的两个关键问题：（1）如何为未来的数学教职员工做好教学的准备以及（2）在本科教室中数学教学的格式。这两个问题直接相关。未来的数学教师如何准备教学数学是本科教室中数学教学质量和风格的决定性因素。不幸的是，这种教学经常对本科生产生积极影响。数学研究生教学助理（MGTA）通常会接受最少的培训，以进行数学教学的职业，因此，他们的教学实践仍然植根于基于讲座的教学。基于讲座的数学教学在本科数学中已被证明不是大多数学生的最佳教学形式，这表明对MGTA的基于研究的专业发展计划至关重要。然而，很少有研究调查了MGTA在其研究生课程中不同地点的专业发展需求。这项研究将通过遵循MGTA在研究生课程中进行MGTA来填补这一空白。这些发现将产生新的知识，以告知全国各地的STEM部门如何为研究生提供教学本科生的准备，这反过来，这将导致该项目的基本目标是一个更好的美国STEM劳动力。数学课程。为了调查MGTA的教学发展阶段，将创建调查和访谈协议，以捕获知识，信念，数学观点和教学的任何变化。这些调查将有开放式的问题，可以调查MGTA关于教学数学的想法以及影响他们对教学方式的影响。其他项目将解决他们的认知信念和自我效能。面试过程将为他们的教学实践，最新的教学经验，是否认为他们获得足够的支持以及他们认为需要的其他支持。将在其研究生课程的期限内对MGTA进行调查和采访，以确定其教学观点和对教学的支持的任何变化。他们对调查和面试问题的回答将使用演绎主题分析的阶段进行分析。这项研究的一个长期目标是利用这种新知识来设计一种基于研究的脚手架培训计划模型，该模型将参加阶段数学研究生，以此作为他们对教学的教学和思想的发展。