A Conference and Workshop on Preparing Mathematics Graduate Students For Careers in Teaching and Advising Undergraduates

关于为数学研究生从事教学和为本科生提供咨询的职业做好准备的会议和研讨会

• 批准号: 1654273
• 负责人: Daniel Maki
• 金额: $ 9.98万
• 依托单位: Indiana University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-10-01 至 2019-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1654273&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Conference; Workshop; Preparing; Mathematics; Graduate

The imperative to recruit and train the American workforce in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is a critical challenge facing the United States in the coming decades. Because mathematics is an inextricable part of all STEM disciplines, undergraduate success in mathematics courses is a necessary part of addressing this challenge. Evidence suggests that most of the mathematical sciences graduate students, especially Ph.D. students, will spend a substantial portion of their professional careers teaching undergraduate students, including at community colleges, 4-year colleges, and universities, as well as having instructional responsibilities while they still are graduate students. Mathematical sciences faculty members in doctoral granting departments need not only to prepare graduate students for research careers, but also to do a more robust job for preparing these students for what likely will be one of their key professional activities - undergraduate teaching. The purpose of this workshop will be to advance and broaden the understanding of this issue of preparing mathematical sciences graduate students to be successful teachers and advisors and explore a variety of programs which have employed enhanced training components in an attempt to improve undergraduate student learning in mathematics. Goals of the workshop are to: (1) present and discuss different graduate teaching assistant (GTA) preparation models that have been developed and studied at a number of doctoral programs in the mathematics sciences; (2) explore ways that these models can be expanded for improving current projects and programs as well as for enhancing preparation of GTAs in the mathematical sciences; and (3) plan ways for disseminating and encouraging adoption of these or similar programs by a large portion of mathematical sciences departments across the country that work with GTAs. In concert with the goals, challenging and tractable research questions will be examined. The list of questions includes, but is not limited to: What are good enhancements to traditional instructional training methods for GTAs in the mathematical sciences? What are effective ways to encourage and educate graduate faculty to include GTA training that will foster an appreciation and understanding of the importance of undergraduate teaching and learning at post-secondary institutions in their graduate programs? How can the mathematical sciences community prepare GTAs to know and understand the practice of current pedagogies and technologies, as supported through the education literature, for preparing all levels of undergraduate students to be successful in college mathematics and statistics courses? Workshop participants, who will consist of mathematical sciences administrators and researchers along with mathematics education researchers, will collaborate to explore these questions and establish plans for future investigations. In the process, participants will examine strategies - including enlisting the help and involvement of leading mathematical sciences professional organizations - to encourage key senior faculty to become interested in promoting graduate student engagement with these issues, as part of their overall graduate student training, and, in the process, help alter the mindset of traditional mathematical sciences departments in the preparation of future faculty. Deliverables of the workshop will include a report on exploratory practices presently employed, their impact, and ways to achieve improved instructional preparation practices in graduate mathematical sciences programs across the nation along with a plan of action for participants at the conference to begin the process of changing the preparation of mathematics graduate students for teaching, advising, and mentoring undergraduates.

招聘和培训科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域的美国劳动力是美国在未来几十年面临的关键挑战。由于数学是所有STEM学科中不可分割的一部分，因此本科数学课程的成功是应对这一挑战的必要组成部分。有证据表明，大多数数学科学专业的研究生，尤其是博士生，将在他们职业生涯的很大一部分时间里教授本科生，包括在社区学院、四年制学院和大学，同时在他们还是研究生的时候就承担教学责任。博士学位授予部门的数学科学教师不仅需要为研究生的研究生涯做好准备，还需要为这些学生可能成为他们关键专业活动之一的本科教学做更有力的准备。本次研讨会的目的是促进和拓宽对数学科学研究生成为成功的教师和顾问这一问题的理解，并探索各种采用强化训练成分的计划，以试图提高本科生的数学学习。研讨会的目标是：(1)介绍和讨论在数学科学领域的一些博士项目中开发和研究的研究生助教（GTA）准备模式；(2)探索如何扩展这些模型，以改进现有的项目和计划，并加强数学科学中gta的准备；(3)计划如何在全国范围内与gta合作的大部分数学科学部门中传播和鼓励采用这些或类似的计划。与目标一致，具有挑战性和易于处理的研究问题将被审查。问题列表包括但不限于：在数学科学方面，对gta的传统教学培训方法有什么好的改进？什么是鼓励和教育研究生教师在研究生课程中加入GTA培训的有效方法，以培养他们对大专院校本科教学重要性的欣赏和理解？在教育文献的支持下，数学科学界如何使gta了解和理解当前的教学方法和技术的实践，从而使各级本科生在大学数学和统计学课程中取得成功？研讨会的参与者将包括数学科学管理人员和研究人员以及数学教育研究人员，他们将合作探索这些问题并制定未来调查的计划。在此过程中，参与者将研究策略，包括寻求领先的数学科学专业组织的帮助和参与，以鼓励关键的高级教师对促进研究生参与这些问题感兴趣，作为他们整体研究生培训的一部分，并在此过程中帮助改变传统数学科学部门的心态，为未来的教师做准备。研讨会的可交付成果将包括一份关于目前采用的探索性实践的报告，它们的影响，以及在全国研究生数学科学项目中实现改进教学准备实践的方法，以及会议参与者开始改变数学研究生教学、建议和指导本科生的准备过程的行动计划。