EAGER: Exploring Mathematics Graduate Teaching Assistants' Developmental Stages for Teaching

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

Mathematics plays a central role in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and student success in undergraduate mathematics courses is a crucial ingredient in meeting the Nation's need to prepare and sustain a globally competitive STEM workforce. However, mathematics courses often create barriers to student progress in obtaining degrees in STEM areas. To address this national problem, this project will focus on a research study to explore two critical issues in undergraduate mathematics education: (1) how future mathematics faculty members are prepared for teaching and (2) the format of mathematics teaching in undergraduate classrooms. These two issues are directly related to one another. How future mathematics faculty are prepared to teach mathematics is a determining factor in the quality and style of mathematics teaching in undergraduate classrooms. Unfortunately, all too often, this teaching does not have a positive impact on undergraduate students. Mathematics graduate teaching assistants (MGTAs) often receive minimal training for a career of teaching mathematics and, as a result, their teaching practices remain rooted in lecture-based instruction. Lecture-based mathematics teaching in undergraduate mathematics has been shown not to be the best form of instruction for the majority of students, indicating that there is critical need for research-based professional development programs for MGTAs. Yet, few studies have investigated MGTA needs for professional development at different points in their graduate programs. This study will fill this gap in the research by following MGTAs as they progress through their graduate programs. The findings will generate new knowledge to inform STEM departments across the country how to better prepare graduate students for teaching undergraduates, which, in turn, will lead to a better prepared United States STEM workforce. A fundamental goal of the project is to create a model of MGTAs' developmental stages for teaching that researchers and practitioners will be able to use to design effective, long-term professional development programs that will result in mathematics instruction that improves student outcomes in undergraduate mathematics courses. To investigate MGTAs' developmental stages for teaching, surveys and interview protocols will be created to capture any changes in knowledge, beliefs, views of mathematics, and teaching. The surveys will have open-ended questions that inquire into MGTAs' thoughts about teaching and learning mathematics and what influences the way they think about teaching. Other items will address their epistemic beliefs and self-efficacy. An interview process will provide a deeper view of their teaching practices, their most recent teaching experiences, whether they feel that they are receiving adequate support, and what other support they feel they need. MGTAs will be surveyed and interviewed for the duration of their graduate programs to determine any changes to their views of teaching and their need of support for teaching. Their responses to the survey and interview questions will be analyzed using the stages of deductive thematic analysis. A long-term goal of this study is to use this new knowledge to design a research-based, scaffolded training program model that will attend to the stages mathematics graduate students go through as their teaching and thoughts about teaching evolve.