Conference: Eliminating the Mathematics Barrier for All Students: Bringing Innovation to Scale in Higher Education Mathematics

该项目旨在服务于国家利益，开发出一种方法，即可以扩大数学入门课程的本科教学改革，以扩大旨在帮助学生在本科数学方面取得成功的努力，并增加代表美国院校各种人才的学生的STEM参与。在过去的十年里，出现了几项重大的创新，以应对本科数学方面的特殊挑战，这些创新有助于帮助学生提高他们在STEM取得成功所需的基本数学能力。与此同时，在研究密集型机构中，以教学为重点的教员正在崛起，他们在影响数学入门课程方面处于独特的地位。以帮助国家满足STEM劳动力需求为目标，这次会议将探讨这些以教学为重点的教师如何利用有效的创新来创建一个全国可扩展的结构，以改善学生在入门数学课程中的体验和成功。本科数学教育改革旨在解决大学完成率和高等教育公平问题，对于满足国家STEM劳动力和国家安全需求至关重要。在改进入门级数学课程方面有许多创新努力，许多项目和机构创建、试行并偶尔复制有效的改革努力，以克服特殊挑战，如需要改革教育学或关注性别平等。这次会议旨在解决系统性改革的结构性障碍，这些障碍阻碍了许多此类以研究为后盾的创新的大规模实施。该项目渴望利用目前的做法，将大部分入门级数学课程的教学和协调分配给以教学为重点的教师，作为改革新途径的机会。因此，这次会议将汇集40多个利益攸关方，包括以教学为重点的教师，以制定一份概念文件，阐明社区的需求，以制定新的解决方案，以解决学生在入门数学课程中取得成功的公认障碍，并了解如何扩大基于研究的努力和创新，这些努力和创新在提高学生在这些课程中的成功方面表现出了希望。此外，会议将起草变革的结构，并将为今后的努力奠定基础，重点是在研究密集型大学建立以教学为重点的数学教师网络社区，以加快采用以研究为基础的解决方案，以应对入门数学课程的挑战。NSF IUSE：EDU计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过机构和社区转型轨道，该计划支持高等教育机构和学科社区转变和改进STEM教育的努力。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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing ways that undergraduate instructional reform in introductory mathematics courses could be scaled to expand efforts aimed at student success in undergraduate mathematics and increase STEM participation for students that represent the full spectrum of diverse talent at US institutions. Over the past decade, several significant innovations have emerged to address particular challenges in undergraduate mathematics, which contribute to helping students develop the basic mathematics proficiency they need to be successful in STEM. Concurrently, there has been a rise of teaching-focused faculty at research-intensive institutions who are uniquely positioned to influence introductory mathematics coursework. With a goal to help the nation meet its STEM workforce needs, this convening will explore how these teaching-focused faculty can leverage effective innovations to create a nationally scalable structure for improving student experiences and success in introductory mathematics courses.Reforms in undergraduate mathematics education that address college completion and equity in higher education are essential to meeting the nation’s STEM workforce and national security needs. There are many innovative efforts addressing the improvement of entry-level mathematics courses, and numerous projects and institutions have created, piloted, and occasionally replicated effective reform efforts that overcame particular challenges, like the need to reform pedagogy or attend to gender equity. This convening aims to address structural barriers to systemic reform that prevent implementation of many of these research-backed innovations at scale. The project aspires to leverage current practices, that distribute much of the entry-level mathematics course teaching and coordination to teaching-focused faculty, as an opportunity for new pathways to reform. As such, the convening will bring together more than 40 stakeholders, including teaching-focused faculty, to produce a concept paper articulating the needs of the community to develop new solutions to recognized obstacles for student success in introductory mathematics courses and to understand ways in which to scale research-based efforts and innovations that have shown promise in increasing student success in these courses. In addition, the convening will draft structures for change and will lay the groundwork, centered on building networked communities of teaching-focused mathematics faculty at research-intensive universities, for future efforts that could accelerate the uptake of research-based solutions to meet the challenges of introductory mathematics courses. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.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.