Collaborative Research: PROfessional Development and Uptake through Collaborative Teams (PRODUCT) Supporting Inquiry Based Learning in Undergraduate Mathematics

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

Education research continues to produce evidence that teaching methods that use active-learning strategies yield improved learning outcomes and student success across the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Yet, many college mathematics classes are not yet taught using such strategies. To address this problem, the project, "PROfessional Development and Uptake through Collaborative Teams (PRODUCT): Supporting Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) in Undergraduate Mathematics through Workshops, Research and Capacity-Building", is designed to increase institutional capacity to offer professional development for instructors. The active learning strategy of focus, known as "inquiry-based learning" (IBL), places emphasis on student creation, exploration, communication, collaboration, and experimentation with mathematical concepts, under the mentorship and guidance of an instructor. Building directly on previously funded work that produced and studied a successful professional development workshop model, this project will develop multiple new teams to conduct workshops and outreach activities on IBL teaching strategies (known as a "train the trainers" propagation model). Research conducted alongside the workshop activities will contribute to knowledge about effective strategies for encouraging use of active learning approaches such as IBL, and for supporting instructors as they learn to apply and adapt these approaches in their own classrooms. PRODUCT will conduct 12 four-day intensive IBL workshops, as well as 15 short workshops and five Professional Development (PD) Preparatory Meetings, and will host a Professional Development Summit for mathematics faculty developers. Through these activities, PRODUCT will directly provide professional development for 320 undergraduate mathematics faculty, adapt and improve IBL PD materials, develop multiple new teams of faculty developers who will be prepared to engage additional faculty in the future, and develop a framework for building professional development capacity. A research-with-evaluation study will provide formative feedback, study the process and outcomes for development of the professional development teams, gather data to benchmark workshops led by new teams against a model known to be effective, and investigate the classroom practices of workshop participants to understand how the professional development experience shapes their teaching. The project will produce new knowledge about scaling up professional development programs through a careful and collaborative process to prepare teams of faculty developers and provide them with well-supported leadership experiences.