Improving Undergraduate Mathematics Education with Interleaving

通过交错改进本科数学教育

• 批准号: 2225258
• 负责人: Steve Bennoun
• 金额: $ 34.99万
• 依托单位: University of California-Los Angeles
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-11-01 至 2025-10-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225258&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Improving; Undergraduate; Mathematics; Education; Interleaving

This project aims to serve the national interest by enhancing student learning in calculus with a teaching method called interleaving. Unlike the common practice of studying and practicing one topic at a time and them moving to the next topic, interleaving consists in intermixing the study and practice of different topics together. Research conducted in middle school mathematics classrooms shows evidence that interleaving can help improve student learning. Yet, it is currently unknown if similar results can be obtained in college mathematics courses. This project will study how effective interleaving is at improving student learning in the undergraduate calculus classroom. In parallel to the research component, the principal investigator will take part in an intensive professional development plan to expand his knowledge and skills in fundamental theories in mathematics education, qualitative and quantitative methods, and equity in education.The goal of this project is to determine to what extent interleaving helps students learn calculus. In order to answer this question, blocked and interleaved problem sets will be created for a calculus for life sciences course. Students will be divided into two groups, one using interleaving homework sets and the other one using blocked homework sets. Using a cross-over design, the groups will switch from one type of homework to the other type half-way through the term. Learning will be measured by scores on unannounced tests as well as scores on midterm and final exams, and supported through interviews with students to ensure validity. The scores will be analyzed for the class as a whole and also disaggregated by demographic groups. This project will advance our understanding of the extent to which interleaving can help students learn calculus. The project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目旨在通过一种称为“交错”的教学方法来增强学生的微积分学习，从而服务于国家利益。与通常一次学习和练习一个主题然后转向下一个主题的做法不同，交错在于将学习和实践混合在一起。在中学数学课堂上进行的研究表明，交叉学习可以帮助提高学生的学习水平，但目前尚不清楚在大学数学课程中是否可以取得类似的结果。本科期间的学习在研究部分的同时，首席研究员将参加密集的专业发展计划，以扩展他在数学教育、定性和定量方法以及教育公平方面的基础理论的知识和技能。该项目的目标是为了确定交错在多大程度上帮助学生学习微积分。为了回答这个问题，将为生命科学微积分课程创建分块和交错的习题集，一组使用交错作业集，另一组使用交错作业集。另一种使用封闭的作业集。采用交叉设计，各小组将在学期中途从一种类型的作业切换到另一种类型，学习将通过突击测试以及期中和期末考试的分数来衡量，并通过面试提供支持。学生的分数将作为一个整体进行分析，并按人口群体进行分类。该项目将加深我们对交错可以帮助学生学习微积分的程度的理解。该项目得到了 NSF 的 EHR 核心研究的支持。建筑STEM 教育研究能力 (ECR: BCSER) 计划，旨在培养研究人员开展高质量 STEM 教育研究的能力。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，被认为值得支持以及更广泛的影响审查标准。