A Multi-Requisite Mathematics-Intensive Summer Program for Pre-service Elementary Teachers

Utah Valley University, Orem UT

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing a mathematics-intensive multi-requisite program for pre-service elementary teachers who have low college-entry scores in mathematics. The multi-requisite course will allow students to complete in one semester a course sequence which would traditionally take four semesters. This Track 1: Engaged Student Learning Project incorporates peer mentoring, affective-domain interventions, alternative assessments, and research-based pedagogical practices. The course is designed to increase the completion and retention rates of pre-service elementary teachers, enhance their mathematics efficacy, decrease their mathematics anxiety, and improve their mindsets toward mathematics. Utah Valley University students who have a declared major of Elementary Education and have a mathematics placement score that falls below that required for entry into traditional college-level mathematics courses are targeted. Successful completion of the course meets the entry-level mathematics requirements for the Elementary Education program. Increased mathematics self-efficacy and reduced mathematics anxiety among those completing the course is expected which should increase the potential for becoming effective teachers of elementary mathematics. It is expected this can increase the number of elementary teachers who communicate positive mathematics attitudes to their students because these future teachers have developed a growth mindset towards mathematics coupled with reduced mathematics anxiety. The primary goal of this project is to establish a model math-intensive multi-requisite curriculum for developmental—math-level students majoring in Elementary Education which will be transformative for these future educators. This curriculum intends to incorporate interventions to effectively improve persistence and completion, develop efficacy for learning and teaching mathematics, improve students’ mindsets toward mathematics, and address students’ mathematics anxiety. Along with this goal, this project aims to bolster the research base on pre-service teachers who are placed into remedial or developmental mathematics. Thus, this project intends to contribute to the existing research pertaining to mathematics efficacy levels, mathematics anxiety levels, and mindset tendencies for students majoring in Elementary Education at a primarily undergraduate, open-enrollment institution. The project utilizes an experimental research, two-iteration program development design. In the research design, data is collected from the treatment groups of each iteration of the program while comparative data is collected from a single control group at the beginning of their course sequence and again at either the end of their course sequence or at the end of a two-year tracking timeframe. The project intends to collect quantitative data on mathematics self-efficacy, mathematics teaching efficacy, mindset, and mathematics anxiety through pre/post-tests from treatment and control groups. Additional quantitative data is expected to be collected in the form of sequence completion rates and next-semester retention rates for treatment and control groups. In addition, the project intends to collect qualitative data measuring mathematics efficacy, mindset, and anxiety from the treatment groups through individualized teaching portfolios. The project has the potential to broaden participation in Elementary Education to those who are not initially strong in mathematics and may help retain educators who might otherwise leave the profession citing lack of content knowledge in mathematics. 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. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship (Noyce) Program is providing co-funding for this IUSE: EHR project to support the project's pre-service teacher preparation goals, which are well-aligned with Noyce Program goals. 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.