A Conference and Workshop on Preparing Mathematics Graduate Students For Careers in Teaching and Advising Undergraduates

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

The imperative to recruit and train the American workforce in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is a critical challenge facing the United States in the coming decades. Because mathematics is an inextricable part of all STEM disciplines, undergraduate success in mathematics courses is a necessary part of addressing this challenge. Evidence suggests that most of the mathematical sciences graduate students, especially Ph.D. students, will spend a substantial portion of their professional careers teaching undergraduate students, including at community colleges, 4-year colleges, and universities, as well as having instructional responsibilities while they still are graduate students. Mathematical sciences faculty members in doctoral granting departments need not only to prepare graduate students for research careers, but also to do a more robust job for preparing these students for what likely will be one of their key professional activities - undergraduate teaching. The purpose of this workshop will be to advance and broaden the understanding of this issue of preparing mathematical sciences graduate students to be successful teachers and advisors and explore a variety of programs which have employed enhanced training components in an attempt to improve undergraduate student learning in mathematics. Goals of the workshop are to: (1) present and discuss different graduate teaching assistant (GTA) preparation models that have been developed and studied at a number of doctoral programs in the mathematics sciences; (2) explore ways that these models can be expanded for improving current projects and programs as well as for enhancing preparation of GTAs in the mathematical sciences; and (3) plan ways for disseminating and encouraging adoption of these or similar programs by a large portion of mathematical sciences departments across the country that work with GTAs. In concert with the goals, challenging and tractable research questions will be examined. The list of questions includes, but is not limited to: What are good enhancements to traditional instructional training methods for GTAs in the mathematical sciences? What are effective ways to encourage and educate graduate faculty to include GTA training that will foster an appreciation and understanding of the importance of undergraduate teaching and learning at post-secondary institutions in their graduate programs? How can the mathematical sciences community prepare GTAs to know and understand the practice of current pedagogies and technologies, as supported through the education literature, for preparing all levels of undergraduate students to be successful in college mathematics and statistics courses? Workshop participants, who will consist of mathematical sciences administrators and researchers along with mathematics education researchers, will collaborate to explore these questions and establish plans for future investigations. In the process, participants will examine strategies - including enlisting the help and involvement of leading mathematical sciences professional organizations - to encourage key senior faculty to become interested in promoting graduate student engagement with these issues, as part of their overall graduate student training, and, in the process, help alter the mindset of traditional mathematical sciences departments in the preparation of future faculty. Deliverables of the workshop will include a report on exploratory practices presently employed, their impact, and ways to achieve improved instructional preparation practices in graduate mathematical sciences programs across the nation along with a plan of action for participants at the conference to begin the process of changing the preparation of mathematics graduate students for teaching, advising, and mentoring undergraduates.