Collaborative Research: Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning

来自教育研究的大量证据表明，在本科科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)课程中，主动学习教学技术比传统方法产生的学生学习效果要大得多。然而，到目前为止，很少有学院和大学教职员工在STEM入门课上采用积极的学习方法。在数学领域，有效性较高的实践与实际课堂教学之间的脱节尤其令人担忧，因为学生在所有STEM学科中的成功都依赖于坚实的数学基础。这个项目将调查六个机构的环境，这些机构通过使用数学中的主动学习(ALM)成功地改善了学生在从微积分到微积分2(P2C2)序列中的学习。这项工作的结果将为适应、实施、支持和评估P2C2课程中的ALM提供重要的策略。为了满足希望改善其数学教学的机构的需要，该项目将根据成功机构的案例研究提出多种实施方案。总体而言，该项目将通过以下方式使数学科学界受益：提高学生在高入学本科生课程中的成绩，为继续攻读STEM专业的学生做好更好的准备，并通过指导研究生来改善未来教师的教学。科罗拉多大学博尔德分校(1624628)、圣地亚哥州立大学(1624639)和内布拉斯加-林肯大学(1624643)的教职员工将与公共和土地赠与大学协会(1624610)合作，研究和推动如何影响和维持数学系的教育变革--最终在全国范围内。该项目的一个基本目标是更好地理解如何制定和支持在本科生学习环境中实施ALM的制度变革。潜在的研究问题是：在机构、部门和课堂层面上，哪些条件、战略、干预措施和行动有助于不同机构的本科生P2C2序列中ALM的启动、实施和制度可持续性？项目小组成员将作为APLU的ALM研究行动组的一部分，促进对影响和加强机构变革的因素的理解，这些因素通过在P2C2序列中实施ALM模型来体现。研究将遵循一种设计研究方法，将定性和定量数据收集和分析联系起来，以捕捉体制变革的迭代和循环过程。该项目将分两个阶段进行，第一阶段由六个机构的上述案例研究组成，第二阶段由九个不同机构的纵向案例研究组成，这些机构着手按照P2C2的顺序注入ALM并将其制度化。第一阶段将向该领域提供对有效的ALM变化模型的回顾，第二阶段将发展理论和洞察力，以了解关注ALM的变化可以随着时间的推移而展开的过程，以及与机构变化相关的负担能力和限制。该项目将积极主动地在APLU的大型成员机构网络中传播其结果和发现，以促进采用ALM方法。

Overwhelming evidence from education research has shown that active learning instructional techniques generate significantly greater student learning than traditional approaches in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. To date, though, few college and university faculty employ active learning approaches in their introductory STEM classes. This disconnect between practices with established higher effectiveness and actual classroom teaching is particularly troublesome in mathematics because student success in all STEM disciplines relies on a strong mathematics foundation. This project will investigate environments at six institutions that have successfully improved student learning in the Precalculus-to-Calculus 2 (P2C2) sequence by employing active learning in mathematics (ALM). The results of this work will lead to important strategies for adapting, implementing, supporting, and assessing ALM in P2C2 courses. In order to meet the needs of institutions wishing to improve their mathematics instruction, the project will produce multiple options for implementation based upon case studies of the successful institutions. Overall, the project will benefit the mathematical sciences community by: improving student success in high-enrollment undergraduate courses, better preparing those students who go on to STEM majors, and improving the teaching of future faculty through the mentoring of graduate students. Faculty members at the University of Colorado at Boulder (1624628), San Diego State University (1624639), and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1624643) will collaborate with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) (1624610) to research and advance how to influence and sustain educational change in mathematics departments--ultimately, at national scale. A fundamental goal of the project is to develop a better understanding of how to enact and support institutional change for implementing ALM in undergraduate learning environments. The underlying research question is: What conditions, strategies, interventions and actions at the institutional, departmental and classroom levels contribute to the initiation, implementation, and institutional sustainability of ALM in the undergraduate P2C2 sequence across varied institutions? Project team members will work as part of APLU's ALM Research Action Cluster to advance understanding of the factors that influence and enhance institutional change as manifested through implementation of models of ALM in the P2C2 sequence. Research will follow a design research methodology linking qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis to capture the iterative and cyclical processes of institutional change. The project will be carried out in two phases, with Phase 1 consisting of the aforementioned case studies at six institutions and Phase 2 consisting of longitudinal case studies of nine diverse institutions that set out to infuse and institutionalize ALM in the P2C2 sequence. Phase 1 will offer the field a retrospective account of ALM models of change that worked, and Phase 2 will develop theory and insights into the processes by which change focused on ALM can unfold over time, along with the affordances and constraints related to institutional change. The project will proactively disseminate its results and findings across APLU's large network of member institutions and beyond to promote adoption of ALM approaches.