The Urban Mathematics and Science Teacher Collaborative

Tufts University, Medford MA

Investigators

Abstract

The growing population of English Language Learners (ELLs) in US schools calls for greater attention to preparing mathematics and science teachers to teach students from linguistically diverse backgrounds. The Tufts Urban Mathematics and Science Teacher Collaborative, a Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Teaching Fellow/Master Teaching Fellow Phase II project, is a collaboration among three Arts & Sciences departments at Tufts University (Education, Mathematics, and Physics & Astronomy), two public schools in the local Malden Public Schools District (Linden STEAM Academy, focusing on grades 1-8, and Malden High School, focusing on grades 9-12), and a local non-profit organization, the Cheche Konnen Center at TERC, which will provide professional development around learning and teaching Mathematics and Science with students from linguistically diverse backgrounds. The proposal builds on successes and lessons learned during a Phase I project at Tufts. The focus on language diversity is especially relevant given that 65 different language groups are represented in the Malden Schools student body. The Tufts University Urban Mathematics and Science Teacher Collaborative will prepare 8 new Mathematics and Science Teaching Fellows (TFs), and contribute to the development of 4 Master Teaching Fellows (MTFs) over 5 years. It builds on more than 15 years of experience in the preparation of teachers for work in urban schools through the Urban Teacher Training Collaborative (UTTC) in which pre-service teachers work in their assigned schools full-time for a full academic year under the guidance of mentor teachers and university professors. The Collaborative will include grades 1-12 in district-wide conversations about STEM teaching; incorporate more explicit use of video case studies of teaching and learning as tools to reflect on student thinking; tightly integrate Virtual Learning Communities where Phase I and II TFs/MTFs can collaborate; and focus on language practices and equity as ways of understanding students' sense-making in STEM. The Collaborative will bring together the expertise of faculty in the Mathematics, Physics & Astronomy, and Education departments in Arts & Sciences, to provide an enriching and nurturing context in which teachers can deepen and broaden their understanding of Mathematics and Science content, as well as how to teach Mathematics and Science. Concurrently, the investigators will seek to identify and better characterize the conditions under which the teaching fellows and master teaching fellows are able to deepen their own understanding of science and mathematics and to translate that deeper understanding into effective teaching. The Tufts University Urban Mathematics and Science Teacher Collaborative model offers a research-based model for introducing a deeper approach to Mathematics and Science education in a school district that serves a student population from a wide range of language groups. The courses, course materials, examples of effective teaching, and teacher discussion forums will be built as free, open-source, cross-platform modules that universities and schools can use and modify. The project will disseminate the video case studies of student thinking in Science and Mathematics and of reflective practice that the TFs and MTFs develop to form a collection of exemplars shared through a project-designed secure website that can be used by teachers, teacher educators, and researchers for professional development purposes. The research team will use online surveys, classroom observations, and analysis of Common Core State Standards Initiative assessments to follow the Phase I and Phase II Teaching Fellows and Master Teaching Fellows so as to document the impact of project participation on their teaching and on student learning.