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

未来的本科数学教师就是今天的数学研究生。这些研究生中有相当数量的人将从事涉及教学，咨询和研究的职业，和/或将在商业，政府或行业工作。事实上，有证据表明，很大一部分数学博士。学生们将花费他们职业生涯中相当大的一部分时间在社区学院、四年制学院和大学教授本科生。反过来，许多教授基础本科数学课程，而他们仍然是研究生。虽然这些研究生导师（GSI）的定位对这些课程的教学质量和学生学习有重大影响，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。该项目将影响GSI目前的教学实践以及他们作为潜在未来教师的实践和信念。具体来说，来自鲍林绿色州立大学和南卡罗来纳州大学的研究人员将合作创建和研究一个研究生导师模式，该模式将：（1）允许有经验的GSI指导学生;（2）创造一个GSI有支持结构的环境，以加强他们的教学和对学生学习的理解;（3）帮助有经验的和新的数学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。该项目的主要目标是为GSI提供专业发展（PD），包括培训有经验的GSI，以指导GSI的教学和学生学习。在参加PD研讨会后，导师GSI将观察，建议，并与学生GSI合作，通过为学生提供资源和具体反馈，以提高基础数学课程教学法，以纳入更多以学生为中心的教学技术。GSI导师模式将允许一个可持续的，支付它向前的设计，连接教育和数学部门。将发现、研究、分析和传播关于如何教育GSI有效教学策略（例如以学生为中心的教学）的变革性知识。特别是，将利用卡内基基金会网络改进社区研究方法进行调查并传播调查结果。使用这种方法，其他教育机构将能够确定解决其GSI需求的具体技术，而不必复制整个设计。这项研究将导致指导方针，以发展下一代的数学家精通，并赞赏，数学教育，更好地准备进入劳动力市场，特别是在本科教学是他们的责任的重要组成部分的位置。

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.