Preparing mentors to support novices in eliciting student thinking during mathematics discussions: Developing and testing a simulation-based PD program

每年有近20万名候选人从教师培训项目中毕业，导师教师在准备教师候选人方面发挥着至关重要的作用，因为他们比任何其他教师教育者花更多的时间与候选人接触。对教师候选人进行有效的指导可以帮助弥合当今小学数学课堂以教师为中心的实践与培养好奇和有能力的STEM学生所需的以学生为中心的实践之间的差距。然而，导师在如何支持候选人发展方面几乎没有得到任何支持。本项目旨在帮助指导教师在自己的教学中更好地为候选人建模有效的数学教学实践，并在候选人学习小学数学教学时为这些实践提供可操作的反馈。该项目支持导师：(1)教师学习者，他们从雄心勃勃的数学教学中获得额外的支持；(2)教师教育工作者，他们在识别候选人的优势和成长领域，以及提供有用的反馈方面需要支持。该项目将设计和研究一个在线便携式导师教师专业发展（PD）项目，以导师在小学数学方面的教学和反馈技能为目标。设计在线模块将支持大规模的工作，这是面对面的PD所不能做到的。此外，该项目将确定导致PD摄取差异的因素。更广泛地说，该项目旨在(1)通过产生关于如何帮助导师支持教师候选人学习的新知识来促进教育工作者的发展；(2)扩大历史上被边缘化和少数族裔青年对数学的参与，他们比同龄人更有可能由一年级老师教；(3)通过生成可大规模使用和研究的PD材料和措施，加强研究和教育的基础设施。本计划旨在透过培养导师，以提升小学数学教学质素，协助新一代教师候选人。教学模拟作为专业学习设计的基石，为导师提供了一个低风险的实践空间来实践和模拟有效的小学数学教学。该课程的重点是激发学生的思维，这是利用学生的数学资源和思想的基础教学实践。专业学习也侧重于导师的技能，在他们启发学生的数学思维时，给予候选人可操作的反馈。本研究采用混合方法，随机对照试验设计，其中150对导师-候选人被随机分配到PD或控制（一切照旧）条件。在模拟和现场课堂互动中观察导师和候选人，以回答以下问题：(1)导师PD是否影响导师的教学和反馈技能，以及候选人的教学技能？(2)导师的教学和反馈技能在模拟课堂和现场课堂环境中有何相似之处？(3)导师给候选人的反馈是什么性质的？PD组和对照组的反馈在一年中有什么不同吗？很少有研究使用实验设计来可靠地估计教师教育改革对候选人（或导师）结果的因果关系。本研究将为实践准备对小学数学导师和考生教学发展的影响提供急需的因果证据。探索研究preK-12项目（DRK-12）旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，显著提高preK-12学生和教师对科学、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实证依据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Nearly 200,000 candidates graduate from teacher preparation programs each year, and mentor teachers have a crucial role in the preparation of teacher candidates as they spend far more time engaging with candidates than any other teacher educator. Effective mentoring of teacher candidates can help to bridge the gap between the teacher-centered practices of today’s elementary mathematics classrooms and the student-centered practices that are needed to grow curious and competent STEM students. And yet, mentors receive little to no support about how support candidate development. This project aims to support mentor teachers in better modeling the effective mathematics teaching practices for candidates in their own teach and providing candidates with actionable feedback on those practices as they learn to teach elementary mathematics. The project supports mentors as both: (1) teacher learners who benefit from additional support in ambitious teaching in mathematics; and (2) teacher educators who need support in recognizing candidates’ strengths and areas for growth, as well as in giving useful feedback. The project will design and study an online, portable mentor teacher professional development (PD) program that target mentors’ teaching and feedback skills in elementary mathematics. Designing online modules will support large-scale work in ways that in-person PD cannot. Additionally, the project will identify factors that contribute to the differential uptake of the PD. More broadly, this project aims to (1) promote educator development by generating new knowledge about how to help mentors support teacher candidate learning; (2) broaden participation in mathematics by historically marginalized and minoritized youth, who are far more likely than their peers to be taught by a first year teacher; and (3) enhance infrastructure for research and education by generating PD materials and measures that can be used and studied at scale.This project aims to enhance the quality of elementary mathematics teaching by developing mentors who can better support the next generation of teacher candidates. Teaching simulations are used as a cornerstone of the design of the professional learning, providing a low-stakes practice space for mentors to practice and model effective elementary mathematics teaching. The PD will focus on eliciting students’ thinking, a teaching practice that is fundamental to leveraging students’ mathematical resources and ideas. The professional learning also focused on mentors’ skills in giving candidates actionable feedback on their elicitation of student thinking in mathematics. This study uses a mixed-methods, randomized control trial design in which 150 mentor-candidate pairs are randomly assigned to either PD or control (business-as-usual) conditions. Mentors and candidates are observed in both simulations and live classroom interactions to answer the following questions: (1) Does the mentor PD impact mentors’ teaching and feedback skills, as well as candidates’ teaching skills? (2) How are mentors’ teaching and feedback skills similar in simulated and live classroom settings? And (3) What is the nature of the feedback that mentors give candidates? Are there differences between the feedback of PD and control groups across the year? Very few studies have used experimental designs to estimate credibly causal effects of teacher education reforms on candidate (or mentor) outcomes. This study will provide much-needed causal evidence for the effects of practice-based preparation on the development of both mentors’ and candidates’ teaching in elementary mathematics.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.