Investigating Relationships Between Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching and High-Leverage Teaching Practices

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal was submitted in response to EHR Core Research (ECR) program announcement NSF 15-509. The ECR program of fundamental research in STEM education provides funding in critical research areas that are essential, broad and enduring. EHR seeks proposals that will help synthesize, build and/or expand research foundations in the following focal areas: STEM learning, STEM learning environments, STEM workforce development, and broadening participation in STEM. The ECR program is distinguished by its emphasis on the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to (a) understand, (b) build theory to explain, and (c) suggest interventions (and innovations) to address persistent challenges in STEM interest, education, learning, and participation. The proposed research will examine STEM learning environments and STEM workforce development. The proposed project will use simulations with student teachers to explore the relationship between preservice teachers' mathematics knowledge for teaching (MKT) and their ability to promote student learning in a sample of the content areas covered in K-6 mathematics curriculum (e.g., number operations, and area). This research will accomplish three aims. It will contribute to foundational knowledge and theory about the relationships between mathematical knowledge for teaching and student teachers skill with eliciting and interpreting student thinking. It will provide the field with initial findings about the impact of design choices on the utility of a simulation for assessing MKT and HLPs, as well as critical insights on the utility of the simulation for nurturing the development of mathematical knowledge. Finally, it will contribute to the training of preservice teachers by developing actual simulations, including materials for implementing, which can be used to assess and enhance the MKT of preservice teachers.