Research on the Impact of Inviting Early College Students to be Mathematicians

该项目旨在服务于高质量的本科数学教育和职业道路的国家利益。 具体来说，这个探索性的研究项目将调查是否在学生的大学数学生涯早期进行的数学研究项目将激发学生对数学的参与和兴趣。为此，PI将与12名学生一起参加每周两次的数学研讨会，每次六名学生。 学生们将提出自己的问题进行调查，然后发展技能，建立创新的定量解决方案，这些复杂的问题。 该项目的重点是尚未被公平招收进入数学专业的学生。参与的学生将从非专业或预科数学课程招募，重点是招募有色人种的学生。 该项目的第二个目标是捕捉在进行教育研究时，指导研究项目的数学家是一个黑人的细微差别。 该项目旨在回答以下研究问题：在什么样的方式可以本科生就读于微积分预科和微积分课程从事开发和研究真实的数学研究问题？参与真正的数学研究在哪些方面改变了学生对自己作为数学家或潜在数学家的看法？当学生们与教师导师一起做研究时，种族与数学是如何相交的？为了解决这些问题，该项目将收集学生的数学作业，每周学生日记和每周调查的数据。该项目还将收集主要研究者的期刊和两次研讨会会议的录像。这些数据将使用内容分析方法进行分析。该研究的结果将有助于有关数学本科研究的文献，关于支持传统上被排除在高级数学课程之外的学生群体，以及关于黑人STEM教师经验的复杂性。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest in high quality undergraduate mathematics education and career pathways. Specifically, this exploratory research project will investigate whether mathematics research projects conducted early in students’ college mathematical careers will spark students’ engagement and interest in mathematics. To do so, the PI will work with 12 students in two weekly mathematics seminars of six students each. The students will pose their own questions to investigate, then develop skills in building innovative quantitative solutions to these complex problems. The project has a focus on students from populations that have not yet been equitably recruited into mathematics majors. Participating students will be recruited from non-major or pre-major mathematics courses, with an emphasis on recruiting students who are people of color. A second goal of the project is to capture the nuances in conducting educational research when the mathematician directing the research project is a Black man. The project aims to answer the following research questions: In what ways can undergraduate students enrolled in pre-Calculus and Calculus courses engage in developing and researching authentic mathematical research questions? In what ways does participation in authentic mathematics research shift how students think about themselves as mathematicians or potential mathematicians? How does race intersect with mathematics as the students do research with a faculty mentor? To address these questions, the project will collect data on students’ mathematical work, weekly student journals, and weekly surveys. The project will also collect journals from the Principal Investigator, and video recordings of two seminar meetings. These data will be analyzed using content analysis methods. Results of the study will contribute to the literature about undergraduate research in mathematics, about supporting student populations that have traditionally been excluded from upper level mathematics courses, and about the complexity of the experience of Black STEM faculty. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.