Research on the Impact of Inviting Early College Students to be Mathematicians

Drake University, Des Moines IA

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest in high quality undergraduate mathematics education and career pathways. Specifically, this exploratory research project will investigate whether mathematics research projects conducted early in students’ college mathematical careers will spark students’ engagement and interest in mathematics. To do so, the PI will work with 12 students in two weekly mathematics seminars of six students each. The students will pose their own questions to investigate, then develop skills in building innovative quantitative solutions to these complex problems. The project has a focus on students from populations that have not yet been equitably recruited into mathematics majors. Participating students will be recruited from non-major or pre-major mathematics courses, with an emphasis on recruiting students who are people of color. A second goal of the project is to capture the nuances in conducting educational research when the mathematician directing the research project is a Black man. The project aims to answer the following research questions: In what ways can undergraduate students enrolled in pre-Calculus and Calculus courses engage in developing and researching authentic mathematical research questions? In what ways does participation in authentic mathematics research shift how students think about themselves as mathematicians or potential mathematicians? How does race intersect with mathematics as the students do research with a faculty mentor? To address these questions, the project will collect data on students’ mathematical work, weekly student journals, and weekly surveys. The project will also collect journals from the Principal Investigator, and video recordings of two seminar meetings. These data will be analyzed using content analysis methods. Results of the study will contribute to the literature about undergraduate research in mathematics, about supporting student populations that have traditionally been excluded from upper level mathematics courses, and about the complexity of the experience of Black STEM faculty. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. 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.