Researching the impact of an online MOOC designed to transform student engagement and achievement in mathematics

该项目旨在研究大规模开放在线课程(MOOC)，预计将有大约200万名学生，该课程将补充中学数学课程，以了解对学生数学学习和参与的影响。MOOC学习环境与学龄儿童的常规数学课程相配合，专注于帮助学生对自己的数学潜力发展积极和富有成效的信念或成长心态，并向学生传授一系列导致数学成功的策略。在常规课堂教学的背景下，更好地理解成长心态并学习如何学习数学，可能会对向数万名学生介绍一种新的干预措施做出重要贡献。这一贡献与使用MOOC结合学龄儿童课堂教学对学生学习产生影响的证据是一致的。如果研究发现，数学干预MOOC显著提高了学生的成绩和对数学的参与度，那么它可以在全国范围内推广，并可能改变美国数学教育的面貌。本研究在MOOC与数学课堂教学相结合的背景下，考察了非认知因素、心态、认知因素和学习数学的策略。之前的思维定势研究还没有研究过思维定势信息在数学中的影响，拟议中的研究将为这一领域增加重要的知识。这项研究还将有助于对MOOC的新知识、其作为学习机会的潜力以及创新教学方法的设计。使用在加州两个学区对1万名学生进行的随机分组对照试验，所采用的统计设计将使学校能够在整个班级实施该计划。这项研究采用了数学投入、思维定势、数学策略使用和数学成绩的前后变化的测量方法，并仔细考察了这些变化对女孩、有色人种学生、不同社会经济地位的学生和成绩低下学生的影响。

This project is designed to study a Massively Open Online Course (MOOC), expected to have approximately 2 million students, which will supplement middle grades mathematics classes to understand the impact on students' mathematical learning and engagement in mathematics. The MOOC learning environment, used with school aged children in concert with their regular mathematics course, focuses on helping students to develop positive and productive beliefs, or growth mindsets, about their own potential in mathematics and to teach the students a range of strategies that lead to mathematics success. A better understanding of growth mindsets and learning how to learn mathematics in the context of regular classroom instruction potentially makes important contributions in introducing a new intervention to tens of thousands of students. This contribution is made in concert with providing evidence of impact of using MOOCs coupled with classroom instruction with school aged children on student learning. If the study finds that the mathematics intervention MOOC significantly increases students' achievement and engagement with mathematics, it can be scaled nationally and potentially change the face of mathematics education in the United States.This study examines non-cognitive factors, mindsets, cognitive factors, and strategies for learning mathematics, in the context of a MOOC combined with classroom instruction for middle grades students in mathematics. No previous mindset study has researched the impact of mindset messages within mathematics, and the proposed study will add important knowledge to this field. The study will also contribute to new knowledge of MOOCs, of their potential as learning opportunities and of the design of innovative pedagogies. Using a blocked randomized control trial of 10,000 students in two California districts, the statistical design employed will enable schools to implement the program across entire classes of students. The study employs measures of pre/post changes in mathematics engagement, mindset, use of mathematics strategies, and mathematics achievement, with close examination of the implications for girls, students of color, students of different socio-economic-status and low achieving students.