CAREER: Advancing Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Quantitative Reasoning

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Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics [STEM] and STEM education researchers and policy documents have directed mathematics educators at all levels to increase emphasis on quantitative reasoning so that students are prepared for continued studies in mathematics and other STEM fields. Often, teachers are not sufficiently prepared to support their students' quantitative reasoning. The products generated by this project fill a need for concrete materials at the pre-service level that embody research-based knowledge in the area of quantitative reasoning. The accessible collection of research and educational products provides a model program for changing prospective mathematics teachers' quantitative reasoning that is adoptable at other institutions across the nation. Additionally, the support of early CAREER scholars in mathematics education will add to the capacity of the country to address issues in mathematics education in the future. Advancing Reasoning addresses the lack of materials for teacher education by investigating pre-service secondary mathematics teachers' quantitative reasoning in the context of secondary mathematics concepts including function and algebra. The project extends prior research in quantitative reasoning to develop differentiated instructional experiences and curriculum that support prospective teachers' quantitative reasoning and produce shifts in their knowledge. Three interrelated research questions guide the project: (i) What aspects of quantitative reasoning provide support for prospective teachers' understanding of major secondary mathematics concepts such as function and algebra? (ii) How can instruction support prospective teachers' quantitative reasoning in the context of the teaching and learning of major secondary mathematics concepts such as function and algebra? (iii) How do the understandings prospective teachers hold upon entering a pre-service program support or inhibit their quantitative reasoning? Advancing Reasoning addresses these questions by enacting an iterative, multi-phase study with 200 prospective teachers enrolled in a secondary mathematics education content course over 5 years. The main phase of the study implements a series of classroom design experiments to produce knowledge on central aspects of prospective teachers' quantitative reasoning and the instructional experiences that support such reasoning. By drawing this knowledge from a classroom setting, Advancing Reasoning contributes research-based and practice-driven deliverables that improve the teaching and learning of mathematics.