MATH: EAGER: Collaborative Research: Implementing a Peer-Mentorship Model for Mathematics Graduate Student Instructors

未来的本科数学教师是今天的数学研究生。这些研究生中有相当一部分将从事教学、咨询和研究工作，和/或在商业、政府或工业领域工作。事实上，有证据表明，相当大比例的数学博士生将把他们职业生涯的很大一部分花在社区学院、四年制学院和大学的本科生教学上。反过来，许多人在他们还是研究生的时候就教授基础本科数学课程。虽然这些研究生讲师(GSI)被定位为对这些课程的教学质量和学生学习产生重大影响，但他们往往缺乏有效教学的背景和具体培训。此外，教师的教学实践和信念通常与他们在GSI期间学习和应用的策略、技能、实践和知识有关。这个项目将影响GSI目前的教学实践，以及他们作为未来潜在教职员工的实践和信念。具体地说，来自鲍灵格林州立大学和南卡罗来纳大学的研究人员将合作创建和研究一种研究生导师模式，该模式将：(1)让有经验的GSI指导门生；(2)创造一个环境，让GSI有一个支持结构，以加强他们对学生学习的教学和理解；以及(3)帮助有经验的和初学数学的GSI增加他们的教学知识基础，激发他们对数学教育的欣赏，并提高他们作为未来教师的教学技能。该项目的一个主要目标是为地理信息系统提供专业发展(PD)，其中包括培训有经验的地理信息系统人员，以便在教学和学生学习方面指导受保护的地理信息系统。在参加了PD工作坊后，导师GSI将观察、建议并与ProtégéGSI合作，通过为ProtégéS提供资源和具体反馈来改进基础数学课程教学，以融入更多以学生为中心的教学技巧。GSI导师模式将允许可持续的、付费的设计，将教育部门和数学部门联系起来。将发现、研究、分析和传播关于如何在有效的教学策略(例如，以学生为中心的教学)方面教育GSI的变革性知识。特别是，将利用卡内基基金会的网络改善社区研究方法进行调查并传播结果。使用这种方法，其他教育机构将能够准确地确定满足其地理信息系统需求的特定技术，而不必复制整个设计。这项研究将为培养精通和欣赏数学教育并为进入劳动力市场做好准备的下一代数学家提供指导方针，特别是在本科教学是他们职责的重要组成部分的职位上。

Undergraduate mathematics teachers of the future are the mathematics graduate students of today. A significant number of these graduate students will have careers which will involve a combination of teaching, advising, and research, and/or will be working in business, government, or industry. In fact, evidence suggests that a significant percentage of mathematics Ph.D. students will spend a substantial portion of their professional careers teaching undergraduate students at community colleges, 4-year colleges, and universities. In turn, many teach foundational undergraduate mathematics courses while they are still graduate students. Although these graduate student instructors (GSIs) are positioned to have a significant impact on the quality of instruction and student learning for these courses, they often lack the background and specific training to teach effectively. Moreover, faculty members' teaching practices and beliefs usually are related to the strategies, skills, practices, and knowledge they learned and applied while they were GSIs. This project will affect GSIs' current teaching practices as well as their practices and beliefs as potential future faculty members. Specifically, investigators from Bowling Green State University and the University of South Carolina will collaborate to create and investigate a graduate student mentorship model that will: (1) allow experienced GSIs to mentor protégé GSIs; (2) create an environment where GSIs have a support structure to enhance their teaching and understanding of student learning; and (3) help experienced and novice mathematics GSIs to increase their pedagogical knowledge base, stimulate their appreciation of mathematics education, and improve their teaching skills as future faculty. A main goal of the project is to provide professional development (PD) for GSIs that includes training experienced GSIs for mentoring protégé GSIs about teaching and student learning. After participating in PD workshops, mentor GSIs will observe, advise, and collaborate with protégé GSIs to improve foundational mathematics course pedagogy by providing protégés with resources and specific feedback to incorporate more student-centered teaching techniques. The GSI mentor model will allow for a sustainable, pay-it-forward design, bridging education and mathematics departments. Transformative knowledge on how to educate GSIs about effective teaching strategies (e.g. student-centered instruction) will be discovered, researched, analyzed, and disseminated. In particular, investigations will be conducted and results will be disseminated using the Carnegie Foundation methodology of Network Improvement Community Research. Using this methodology, other educational institutions will be able to pinpoint specific techniques for addressing their GSIs' needs without necessarily replicating the entire design. This study will lead to guidelines to develop the next generation of mathematicians proficient at, and appreciative of, mathematics education, and better prepared to enter the workforce, especially in positions where undergraduate teaching is an important component of their responsibilities.