Conference: What, where, and for what purpose is the mathematics in mathematics teacher education?

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by building capacity for a mathematical education of teachers that fosters equitable mathematics teaching. In the past two decades, mathematicians and educators have partnered to improve the quality of mathematics courses for teachers, particularly those offered in departments of mathematics. Many departments now recognize the importance of preparing teachers in the special ways that skillful teaching harnesses mathematics knowledge. Yet recent results suggest that despite overall successes in how well teachers teach and how well students learn, there is more that the mathematics teacher education community needs to do to challenge educational inequities. This conference will convene leaders in mathematics and education across levels. Conference participants will be asked to consider how mathematics courses and sequences can be transformed to develop teachers’ knowledge of the mathematical sciences while also working toward equity. The conference will aim to support program transformation toward equity in the context of evolving mathematics curriculum from kindergarten through college. The goals of the conference will be to: (1) Provide resources to stakeholders to transform the mathematical education of teachers so that teachers can reach more students from historically under-served communities; (2) Articulate principles for the roles of mathematics departments in designing mathematical work for teachers so their future students from historically under-served communities have more opportunity to flourish. To do so, the conference speakers and more than 50 stakeholders, including mathematicians and mathematics teacher educators, will contribute to proposed guidelines for collaborating across different groups to design mathematics courses and sequences of courses that work toward equity in the context of the mathematical education of teachers; and proposed principles and metrics for assessing mathematical and pedagogical practices used in mathematics courses and sequences with an eye on equity. These products will be novel in scope. They will represent a synthesis of expertise and experience across grade bands and stakeholders, and they will focus simultaneously on equity and knowledge in the mathematical sciences. Findings of this conference have the potential to shape updates of guiding documents for the mathematical education of teachers such as those published by the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences and the Mathematical Association of America’s Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program has also contributed funding to this project. 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.