NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant: Developing a Shared Vision for Supporting the Mathematics Identities of Underrepresented Individuals

American Institute Of Mathematics, Pasadena CA

Investigators

Abstract

This NSF INCLUDES planning grant is funded by NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion and broadening participation in STEM at scale. The goal of this planning grant is to develop a shared vision to address the broadening participation challenge that individuals from underrepresented groups do not have equitable access to opportunities and experiences that support positive identities as mathematical learners, doers, and professionals by bringing together formal and informal mathematics education leaders to develop a shared vision for how to work together to address this challenge. The creation this shared vision will constitute a significant step toward attaining the NSF INCLUDES objective of increasing the active participation of those who have been traditionally underserved and underrepresented in STEM fields. The project includes three primary activities: a workshop; working groups; and a synthesis meeting. The three-day workshop will include forty formal and informal education leaders representing the entire mathematics education ecosystem across K-12 and higher education to begin building community, sharing best practices and areas for improvement, and articulating a common agenda including key topics that will need to be addressed in order to make progress on the broadening participation challenge. Working groups composed of workshop participants will meet monthly by videoconference throughout the six months following the workshop. Each working group will focus on a key topic identified at the workshop in order to develop recommendations for how their topic might be addressed through the five INCLUDES design elements, including what technical infrastructure and research might be needed. Each group will generate a report providing an overview of their findings for use by the PI team in writing the strategic plan. Finally, the PIs will meet in a two-day synthesis meeting to integrate the recommendations of the working groups into a publicly disseminated strategic plan for a collaborative network that will have the potential to transform how underrepresented students and professionals view themselves in relation to mathematics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.