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

长期以来，人们一直呼吁让数学在K-12课堂内外都更有意义、更相关、更适用。特别是，越来越多的人认识到，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具有数学素养和参与民主的公民。尽管人们对将数学与课堂上的现实问题联系起来越来越感兴趣，但许多教师对此感到措手不及。该项目将让学生和教师参与丰富的、真实的数学任务；将支持未来的教师和数学教育者适应、设计和实施类似的任务；并将为进一步研究在数学课堂中设计和实施现实世界任务的最有效方法提供基础。将小学数学与世界联系起来的项目有三个目标：(1)探索数学教师如何适应、设计和实施将数学与现实世界联系起来的任务。我们将研究项目团队在两个夏令营和两个地点的小学教室中从事这项工作的教学实践。(2)为每个任务建立一个范例任务集和丰富的实践记录。这些练习记录将详细说明数学和现实世界的学习目标，实现这两个目标所需的背景知识，学生的共同反应，以及正在进行的任务的视频或小插曲。将在两个地点招募一个由六名教师组成的团队，在整个项目中与团队合作。教师将对任务的设计、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输入和反馈。最初的任务将在小学生中进行实地测试，随后将为为期一周的夏令营和小学课堂教学开发额外的任务。(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，可以为该领域的未来实践和研究提供信息。该项目的研究成果将导致(a)理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。

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.