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

招募和培训科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)方面的美国劳动力是美国在未来几十年面临的一个关键挑战。由于数学是所有STEM学科不可分割的一部分，本科数学课程的成功是应对这一挑战的必要部分。有证据表明，大多数数学科学研究生，特别是博士生，将在他们的职业生涯中花很大一部分时间为本科生授课，包括在社区学院、四年制学院和大学，并在他们仍然是研究生的时候承担指导责任。博士授予系的数学科学教员不仅需要为研究生的研究生涯做好准备，还需要更有力地为这些学生做好准备，为他们的关键职业活动之一--本科教学--做准备。这次研讨会的目的将是促进和扩大对这一问题的理解，使数学科学研究生成为成功的教师和导师，并探索采用强化培训内容的各种方案，试图改善本科生在数学方面的学习。研讨会的目标是：(1)介绍和讨论已经在一些数学科学博士项目中开发和研究的不同的研究生助教(GTA)准备模式；(2)探索如何扩展这些模式，以改进现有的项目和计划，以及加强GTA的准备；以及(3)计划如何传播和鼓励全国大部分与GTA合作的数学科学系采用这些或类似的计划。与目标相一致，将审查具有挑战性和易于处理的研究问题。问题清单包括但不限于：对GTA在数学科学方面的传统教学培训方法有哪些好的改进？有什么有效的方法来鼓励和教育研究生教师将GTA培训纳入他们的研究生课程中，以促进对高等教育机构本科教学重要性的欣赏和理解？数学科学界如何准备GTA，以了解和理解通过教育文献支持的当前教学和技术的实践，为各级本科生在大学数学和统计课程中取得成功做好准备？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，并为未来的调查制定计划。在这个过程中，参与者将研究策略--包括争取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职员工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，并在这个过程中，帮助改变传统数学科学系在准备未来教员方面的思维定势。研讨会的成果将包括一份关于目前采用的探索性做法、其影响以及如何在全国各地的数学研究生课程中实现改进的教学准备做法的报告，以及一份供会议与会者开始改变数学研究生为教学、咨询和指导本科生做准备的过程的行动计划。

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.