MATH: EAGER: Collaborative Research: Implementing a Peer-Mentorship Model for Mathematics Graduate Student Instructors

Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green OH

Investigators

Abstract

Undergraduate mathematics teachers of the future are the mathematics graduate students of today. A significant number of these graduate students will have careers which will involve a combination of teaching, advising, and research, and/or will be working in business, government, or industry. In fact, evidence suggests that a significant percentage of mathematics Ph.D. students will spend a substantial portion of their professional careers teaching undergraduate students at community colleges, 4-year colleges, and universities. In turn, many teach foundational undergraduate mathematics courses while they are still graduate students. Although these graduate student instructors (GSIs) are positioned to have a significant impact on the quality of instruction and student learning for these courses, they often lack the background and specific training to teach effectively. Moreover, faculty members' teaching practices and beliefs usually are related to the strategies, skills, practices, and knowledge they learned and applied while they were GSIs. This project will affect GSIs' current teaching practices as well as their practices and beliefs as potential future faculty members. Specifically, investigators from Bowling Green State University and the University of South Carolina will collaborate to create and investigate a graduate student mentorship model that will: (1) allow experienced GSIs to mentor protégé GSIs; (2) create an environment where GSIs have a support structure to enhance their teaching and understanding of student learning; and (3) help experienced and novice mathematics GSIs to increase their pedagogical knowledge base, stimulate their appreciation of mathematics education, and improve their teaching skills as future faculty. A main goal of the project is to provide professional development (PD) for GSIs that includes training experienced GSIs for mentoring protégé GSIs about teaching and student learning. After participating in PD workshops, mentor GSIs will observe, advise, and collaborate with protégé GSIs to improve foundational mathematics course pedagogy by providing protégés with resources and specific feedback to incorporate more student-centered teaching techniques. The GSI mentor model will allow for a sustainable, pay-it-forward design, bridging education and mathematics departments. Transformative knowledge on how to educate GSIs about effective teaching strategies (e.g. student-centered instruction) will be discovered, researched, analyzed, and disseminated. In particular, investigations will be conducted and results will be disseminated using the Carnegie Foundation methodology of Network Improvement Community Research. Using this methodology, other educational institutions will be able to pinpoint specific techniques for addressing their GSIs' needs without necessarily replicating the entire design. This study will lead to guidelines to develop the next generation of mathematicians proficient at, and appreciative of, mathematics education, and better prepared to enter the workforce, especially in positions where undergraduate teaching is an important component of their responsibilities.