Using Problem-Based Learning Analytics to Investigate Individual and Collaborative Mathematics Learning in a Digital Environment Over Time

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Supporting rich student learning, discourse, and collaboration in technology-enhanced classrooms can be a significant challenge as technology can act as an impediment to conversation. This project supports the development of a collaborative digital learning environment that embeds rich middle school mathematics tasks. The project aims to understand how students' individual and collaborative engagement in learning mathematics is enhanced by the digital platform, and how student engagement and learning is affected over the course of a year-long seventh grade course. The project will develop the initial digital collaborative platform using the Connected Mathematics Project materials, a rich, problem-based middle grades mathematics curriculum. Using digital notebooks, platform analytics, and other class artifacts, the team will develop a set of design characteristics for digital platforms that support student collaboration in learning mathematics.This project will explore two key questions related to student learning and collaboration in the technological platform: how does the platform enhance students' individual and collaborative engagement, and how do student learning outcomes, engagement, and attitudes develop over an academic year in which the platform is used repeatedly. The project will use the platform to collect data related to student collaboration, engagement, instructional practices, classroom artifacts, and written and spoken mathematical reflections from students and teachers. The research outcomes will include guidelines for a research-based approach to the use of learning analytics in technology-enhanced mathematics education, an understanding of design features that support meaningful STEM learning using digital notebooks, and the nature of the teacher-student boundaries in using digital learning resources to support students' individual needs. The project will focus on a deep examination of a key mathematical idea in the seventh-grade curriculum, proportional reasoning, to understand how students' understandings are influenced over time using the platform. Project activities will include development and testing of the platform with students, pilot and field testing with teachers, and professional learning opportunities for teachers to ensure thoughtful implementation of the platform in practice.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.