Collaborative Research: Connecting Elementary Mathematics Teaching to Real-World Issues

长期以来，人们一直在呼吁让数学在K-12课堂内外更有意义、更相关、更适用。特别是，人们越来越认识到，数学是帮助学生理解影响他们生活和社会的重要现实问题的宝贵工具。此外，数学可以帮助学生成为通晓数学、积极参与的民主公民。尽管人们对在课堂上将数学与现实世界的问题联系起来的兴趣与日俱增，但许多教师觉得没有准备好这样做。这个项目将让学生和教师参与丰富的现实世界的数学任务；将支持未来的教师和数学教育工作者适应、设计和实施类似的任务；并将为进一步研究在数学课堂上设计和实施现实世界的最有效方法提供基础。初等数学与世界的连接项目的三个目标是：(1)探索数学教师如何适应、设计和制定将数学与现实世界联系起来的任务。我们将研究项目小组在两个夏令营和两个地点的小学教室从事这项工作时的教学做法。(2)制定示范任务集，丰富每项任务的实践记录。这些练习记录将详细说明数学和现实世界的学习目标、这两个目标所需的背景知识、常见的学生反应以及正在进行的任务的视频或小插曲。将在两个地点招聘一个由六名教师组成的小组，在整个项目期间与该小组合作。教师将就任务的设计、适当性和相关性以及实施现实世界任务所需的支持材料提供意见和反馈。最初的任务将在小学生中进行实地测试，并将为随后为期一周的夏令营和小学课堂教学制定额外的任务。(3)研究这些任务的制定和实施。我们将为创建和实施现实世界的任务开发一个理论框架，为未来在这一领域的实践和研究提供信息。该项目的研究成果将导致(A)了解将数学与现实世界问题联系起来的有效教学和设计实践，(B)这些实践如何相互联系的理论框架，以及(C)这些实践与教授典型学校数学任务时的实践有何不同。探索研究预科-12课程(DRK-12)旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，显著提高预科-12年级学生和教师的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和经验上的证明。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

There are long-standing calls to make mathematics more meaningful, relevant, and applicable both inside and outside of the K-12 classroom. In particular, there is a growing recognition that mathematics is a valuable tool for helping students understand important real-world issues that affect their lives and society. Further, mathematics can support students in becoming mathematically literate and engaged democratic citizens. Despite the increased interest in connecting mathematics to real-world issues in the classroom, many teachers feel unprepared to do so. This project will engage students and teachers in rich, real-world math tasks; will support future teachers and mathematics educators in adapting, designing, and implementing similar tasks; and will provide a basis for further research on the most effective ways to design and implement real-world tasks in the mathematics classroom.The three goals of the Connecting Elementary Mathematics to the World project are: (1) To explore how mathematics teachers adapt, design, and enact tasks that connect mathematics to the real world. We will study the teaching practices of the project team as they engage in this work in two summer camps and in elementary classrooms at two sites. (2) To develop a collection of exemplar tasks and rich records of practice for each task. These records of practice will detail the mathematical and real-world learning goals, background knowledge needed for both goals, common student responses, and videos or vignettes of the task in progress. A team of six teachers at two sites will be recruited to collaborate with the team throughout the project. Teachers will provide input and feedback on the design of, appropriateness of, and relevance of the tasks and the support materials needed to implement the real-world tasks. Initial tasks will be field tested with elementary students and additional tasks will be developed for subsequent week-long summer camps and for teaching in elementary classrooms. (3) To research both the development and enactment of these tasks. We will develop a theoretical framework for creating and implementing real-world tasks that can inform future practice and research in this area. The research products of this project will result in (a) an understanding of effective teaching and design practices for connecting mathematics to real-world issues, (b) a theoretical framework of how these practices are interconnected, and (c) how these practices differ from practices when teaching typical school mathematics tasks.The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.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.