CAREER: Knowledge Exchange for Supporting Youth with or at Risk for Mathematics Difficulty

教育中最持久的挑战之一是研究和课堂实践之间的差距，这意味着可以支持学生数学学习的研究建议和实践并不总是到达课堂。在小学高年级学习数学的学生经历了层层叠叠的困难，进入科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域的机会有限。改善以数学为重点的教育研究如何向教师受众传达--使用从教师角度来看有用和有价值的策略--是减轻研究-实践差距后果的关键途径之一。这个项目将开发、评估和提炼创新的关键摘要(即，简明的、信息图类型的资源)，用于与教师受众交流以数学为重点的从业者文章。教师的观点将贯穿整个项目，为关键的抽象设计提供信息。该项目还包括与大学残疾中心合作，为残疾大学生提供资助的STEM教育研究机会。该项目建立在一系列序列的基础上，从系统的期刊分析为后续的项目研究开发从业者文章数据库；到定性探索教师对关键摘要的感知；到混合方法研究；最后，到实验性的前测-后测控制组设计，以调查抽象类型对教师感知和行为意图的影响。这项研究的背景是传播以数学为重点的实践者文章，以支持有数学困难或有数学困难风险的高年级学生。如上所述，在美国，提高学生的数学和STEM整体成绩是一项迫切的需求。研究的重点与PI的早期职业研究计划保持一致并取得了进展。项目成果具有增强研究人员、教师和学生能力的潜力。研究人员将拥有基于证据的策略，以改善他们的沟通，这反过来可能支持在课堂上使用有效的数学实践，以提高学生的结果。这是一个教师早期职业发展计划项目，响应国家科学基金会的一项活动，该活动提供最负盛名的奖项，以支持有潜力在研究和教育中充当学术榜样的早期职业教师。该提案被提交给发现研究K-12项目，该项目旨在显著加强K-12年级学生和教师在科学、技术、工程和数学方面的学习和教学。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。

One of the most persistent challenges in education is the gap between research and classroom practice, meaning that research-informed recommendations and practices that could support students’ mathematics learning do not always reach the classroom. Students struggling with mathematics in upper elementary grades experience cascading difficulties and limited access to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Improving how mathematics-focused education research is communicated to a teacher audience—using strategies that are useful and valuable from the teacher perspective—is one key avenue for mitigating consequences of the research-practice gap. This project will develop, assess, and refine innovative key abstracts (i.e., concise, infographic-type resources) for communicating mathematics-focused practitioner articles with a teacher audience. Teacher perspectives will be embedded throughout the project to inform key abstract design. The project also involves a collaboration with the university disability center to provide funded research opportunities in STEM education to university students with disabilities.This project builds on a sequence from a systematic journal analysis that will develop a database of practitioner articles for subsequent project studies; to a qualitative exploration of teachers’ perceptions of key abstracts; to a mixed methods study; and finally, to an experimental pretest-posttest control group design to investigate the impact of abstract types on teachers’ perceptions and behavioral intentions. The context for the research is communication of mathematics-focused practitioner articles for supporting upper elementary students with or at risk for mathematics difficulty. As noted, promoting students’ mathematics and overall STEM achievement is a critical need in the United States. The focus of the research aligns with and advances in the PI’s early-career research program. Project outcomes hold potential for empowering researchers, teachers, and students. Researchers will have strategies grounded in evidence for improving their communication which may, in turn, support use of effective mathematics practices in the classroom that bolster student outcomes.This is a Faculty Early Career Development Program project responsive to a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers the most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education. The proposal was submitted to the Discovery Research K-12 program, which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics by preK-12 students and teachers.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.