Collaborative Research: Improving the Preparation of College Mathematics Instructors to Implement Student-centered, Inclusive Teaching

该项目旨在通过改进大学数学教学来服务于国家利益。为了做到这一点，它将开发和分发一份专业发展计划设计指南，以帮助大学数学教师成为更有效的教师。为了创建本指南，该项目将借鉴现有的数学教师培训计划和资源。由此产生的教师准备设计工具将是可调整的，以便各部门可以使用它来满足其特定学生、教师、课程和部门的需求。例如，讲师准备设计工具可以根据学院的类型和系中新手数学讲师的类型进行定制。为了确定讲师准备设计工具的内容，项目组将确定要包括的关键主题和相关资源，调查机构中有关这些主题的现有准备计划的部门，并与正在创建或修订其大学数学教师计划的部门一起进行教师准备设计工具的试行测试版本。通过这一咨询和设计过程，该项目旨在生成和测试资源，演示如何将关于数学教学的最佳实践建议付诸实施。教师准备设计工具预计将支持本科生数学系做出变革性的改变，以提供更多以学生为中心的包容性教学。教师准备设计工具旨在为数学系如何支持其教师制定由美国数学协会和其他组织策划的新的循证策略提供“配方”。为了支持教师准备设计工具的创建，项目团队包括为每种类型的新手教学角色(例如，教学助理)提供准备的专家提供者。专家提供者来自不同的机构类型，并在其机构的教学准备方面做出了重大改进。该团队将收集、分析和分类有关现有计划的信息。在开发讲师准备设计工具时，项目团队将确定对每种类型的教学任务和机构类型有价值的关键主题，以及关于专业发展计划主题的讨论、修订和决策的时间表和建议顺序。讲师准备设计工具还将解决在承认、决定行动和对解决每种类型的教学角色和机构的不平等问题承担责任方面固有的挑战。最后，教师准备设计工具将开始制定评估数学教师专业发展计划有效性的方法，包括问责措施和将必要变化制度化的方法。将为每个结果开发的文献综述将为该领域的研究提供一个综合，从而提供除了教师准备设计工具之外的价值。该项目的成果有可能为改进数学教师培养的结构和课程奠定基础，从而改善本科数学教育。NSF IUSE：EHR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 improving college mathematics instruction. To do so, it will develop and disseminate a guide for designing professional development programs to help college mathematics instructors become more effective teachers. To create this guide, the project will draw from existing mathematics instructor preparation programs and resources. The resulting Instructor Preparation Design Tool will be adaptable so that departments can use to it meet the needs of their specific students, instructors, courses, and department. For example, the Instructor Preparation Design Tool can be tailored to the type of institution and types of novice mathematics instructors in the department. To identify the contents of the Instructor Preparation Design Tool, the project team will identify key topics and associated resources to include, survey departments at institutions with existing preparation programs about those topics, and pilot test versions of the Instructor Preparation Design Tool with departments that are creating or revising their college mathematics instructor programs. Through this process of consultation and design, the project aims to generate and test resources demonstrating how to put into action best-practice recommendations about mathematics teaching. The Instructor Preparation Design Tool is expected to support undergraduate mathematics departments in making transformative changes to deliver more student-centered and inclusive instruction.The Instructor Preparation Design Tool is intended to provide the “recipe” for how a mathematics department can support their instructors to enact new evidence-based strategies that have been curated by the Mathematical Association of America and other organizations. To support creation of the Instructor Preparation Design Tool, the project team includes Expert Providers of preparation for each type of novice instructional role (e.g., teaching assistants). Expert Providers come from diverse institutional types and have made significant improvements to instructional preparation at their institution. The team will collect, analyze, and categorize information about existing programs. In developing the Instructor Preparation Design Tool, the project team will determine critical topics of value to each type of instructional assignment and type of institution, with a timeline and recommended order for discussion, revision, and decision-making about professional development program topics. The Instructor Preparation Design Tool will also address challenges inherent in acknowledging, deciding on actions, and being accountable for addressing inequities with each type of instructional role and institution. Finally, the Instructor Preparation Design Tool will begin to develop ways to evaluate the effectiveness of professional development programs for mathematics instructors, including measures of accountability and ways to institutionalize necessary changes. The literature reviews that will be developed for each of these results will provide a synthesis of research for the field, and thus provide value apart from the Instructor Preparation Design Tool. The results of this project have the potential to create the foundation for improving the structure and curricula for mathematics instructor preparation, thus leading to improvements in undergraduate mathematics education. The NSF IUSE: EHR 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.