Linking Teacher Preparation to Student Learning in Mathematics and Science

Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

Investigators

Abstract

This full scale research project is examining relationships among pre-service teachers' developing understanding of learning in mathematics and science, the enactment of these understandings as they begin teaching and the learning outcomes of their students. The objectives are (1) to inform the design of teacher preparation programs, pushing beyond craft to evidence-based design choices based on models of teacher learning trajectories, and (2) to support the development of appropriate tools to assess the impact of teacher preparation program features on elementary- and middle-school student learning. Research teams at Vanderbilt University and the University of Pittsburgh are documenting and analyzing undergraduate and graduate students' developing conceptions of mathematics and science learning as they move through their teacher preparation programs and into their first teaching assignment. Analyses of participants' performances on structured assessments, supplemented by interviews and observations, are utilized in a longitudinal design to articulate trajectories of change in participants' understandings. In addition, the research teams are assessing the learning of participants' Grade 2-6 students, using tasks that tap understanding of these targeted ideas. The research addresses a well-documented gap in scholarship on the development of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and the impact of this knowledge on both teaching practice and student learning. The work includes the development of valid measures to assess the "value added" of teacher preparation programs for student learning. The project is a first step toward developing a network of scholars in university-based teacher preparation programs that vary in size, duration and approach. This network will pursue coordinated research on the typical trajectories of development in university-based teacher preparation programs and on how variations in learning affect teachers' later effectiveness in supporting student learning. The objective is to provide empirical findings on the implications of different program design choices and thus enable the optimization of key variants. The longitudinal investigation is organized around a small number of "linchpin" concepts in mathematics and science that are associated with a well-articulated research base on student learning. This study is intended to provide a model for conducting research on teacher preparation in a comparative manner. Moreover, the assessments of teacher and student learning will have wide value outside the participating network of scholars and will assist in the broader effort to enhance the contribution of teacher education programs to our national goals for improving education.