Research Projects

The current work of this Mathematics Education group spans numerous mathematics education research projects.

  • Algebra Teaching Study (ATS) [formally, Collaborative Research: Cognitive Processes – Classroom Practices that Lead to Student Proficiency with Word Problems in Algebra]
  • Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum (CSMC)
  • CME Project Mathematical Practices Implementation Study
  • Collaborative Research: Cognitive Processes – Classroom Practices that Lead to Student Proficiency with Word Problems in Algebra
  • Collaborative Research: Learning About New Demands in Schools: Considering Algebra Policy Environments (LANDSCAPE)
  • Collaborative Reserach: Preparing to Teach Algebra: A Study of Teacher Education
  • Connected Mathematics Project (CMP)
  • Core-Plus Mathematics Project (CPMP)
  • Culture in the Mathematics Classroom (CIMC)
  • Documentary Analysis of Assessments in Advanced Algebra (DA4)
  • Mathematics Discourse in Secondary Classrooms (M-DISC): A Case-Based Professional Development Curriculum
  • STEM II: Strengthening Measurement Curriculum, Teaching and Research
  • Teachers Empowered to Advance Change in Mathematics: Preparing PreK-8 Teachers to Connect Children’s Multiple Mathematical Knowledge Bases
  • Completed Projects

 

Project Description:

Algebra Teaching Study (ATS) [formally, Collaborative Research: Cognitive Processes – Classroom Practices that Lead to Student Proficiency with Word Problems in Algebra]

Rachel Ayieko, Adrienne Hu, Jamie Wernet, Bob Floden

Principal Investigators: Bob Floden, Alan Schoenfeld (University of California, Berkeley)
Current Graduate Students: Rachel Ayieko, Adrienne Hu, Jerilynn Lepak, Jamie Wernet
Funding: National Science Foundation
Dates: 8/16/09 –8/15/13
Website: http://ats.berkeley.edu/index.html

This project is focusing on the detailed description and analysis of mathematics classroom practices that result in students’ development of proficiency in word problems in algebra. The products of this research will be (a) an enhanced understanding of the mechanisms of “teaching for mathematical proficiency” in a centrally important area of the mathematics curriculum, (b) a set of research tools that supports deeper investigation into the mechanisms of teaching for robust mathematics learning, and (c) a set of practical tools that can be used on a large scale for benchmarking and improving teaching practice.

Specifically, we propose to explore the following two questions: (1) What instructional practices are frequently used by teachers judged to be doing an exceptional job of helping students to develop proficiency in solving word problems? and (2) What analytic procedures can be developed and used to characterize these promising teaching practices, with low enough cost so that connections between teaching and learning can be examined for a large number of classrooms?

 

Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum (CSMC)

Principal Investigators: Glenda Lappan, Elizabeth Phillips and Jack Smith
Current Graduate Students: Funda Gonulates,  Nic Gilbertson, Jennifer Nimtz, Eun Mi Kim, Kevin Lawrence, Joanne Philhower
Funding: National Science Foundation
Dates: 2004-2013
Website: http://mathcurriculumcenter.org/

The Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum was originally funded by the National Science Foundation for a five year period January 2004 –2009, and has been extended through June 30, 2013. The Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum will expand the base of expertise and leadership for K-12 mathematics curriculum design, analysis, implementation, and evaluation.

Major areas of Center work include understanding the influence and potential of mathematics curriculum materials; enabling teacher learning through curriculum material investigation and implementation; and building capacity for developing, implementing, and studying the impact of mathematics curriculum materials. Over a five-year period, the Center will support 30 Doctoral Fellows in mathematics education, 30 Curriculum Interns, 100 K-12 school, district and/or state curriculum leaders, and 200 K-12 teachers in at least 6 partner school districts. It will also engage in systemic research efforts designed to illuminate the essential characteristics of curriculum materials and related teacher support that contribute to increased student learning.

Four goals will guide the work of the Center, namely: support leadership development related to K-12 mathematics curriculum design, analysis, implementation, and evaluation; enhance teachers’ mathematical and pedagogical knowledge through curriculum investigation and implementation; investigate the role and impact of curriculum materials on school mathematics; stimulate communication and productive collaboration and disseminate information related to curriculum design, analysis, implementation, and evaluation.

Three institutions of higher education ( Michigan State University , University of Missouri , and Western Michigan University ), the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (UCSMP) group, Horizon Research, Inc., and a set of school partners associated with each institution will form the core partnership team for the Center. The three institutions of higher education each offer a doctorate with an emphasis in mathematics education. In addition, each institution has an active group of mathematics educators and mathematicians with experience in curriculum design, implementation, and/or research. The partner school districts will serve as curriculum implementation laboratories as well as sites for professional development focused on curriculum, for pre-service teacher learning, for leadership development, and for research. CSMC is directed by Barbara Reys, University of Missouri. Glenda Lappan, Elizabeth Phillips and Sandra Wilcox are the principal investigators of CSMC at Michigan State University.

 

Center for Mathematics Education (CME) Project
Mathematical Practices Implementation (MPI) Study

Jill Cavanna, Mike Steele, Frances Harper

Co-Principal Investigators: Michael Steele, Al Cuoco and Sarah Sword (Education Development Center)
Current Graduate Students: Jillian Cavanna, Frances Harper
Funding: National Science Foundation Discovery Research K-12 Program
Dates: 2010-2014

The Center for Mathematics Education (CME) at Education Development Center, in partnership with Michigan State University, is leading a four-year research project to study teachers’ implementation of the CME Project Algebra 1 curriculum. This project, the CME Project Mathematical Practices Implementation study, is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Discovery Research K-12 program. The study has two primary goals:

  • To understand the role of CME Project and specifically the mathematical habits of mind principles of the curriculum in supporting teacher learning and instructional practice.
  • To understand the factors that contribute to or detract from the faithful implementation of the goals intended by a curriculum, including teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching, teachers’ fidelity to the curriculum, and teachers’ school context.

The CME Project is a student-centered problem-based four-year high school curriculum organized around the ways of thinking that are indigenous to mathematics and used by mathematicians in their work. These mathematical habits of mind or mathematical practices are featured throughout CME Project and are central elements of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. The MPI study will examine teachers’ use of CME Project and its role in the mathematics classroom. It will be conducted with an estimated 80 ninth grade Algebra 1 teachers from across the country. Findings from this research will contribute evidence-based guidance on the conditions, learning supports, and capacities teachers and schools need to effectively implement curricular changes that have the potential for improving student achievement in mathematics.

 

Collaborative Research: Learning About New Demands in Schools: Considering Algebra Policy Environments (LANDSCAPE)

Mike Steele, Beth Herbel-Eisenmann, Lindsay Keazer

Principal Investigators: Beth Herbel-Eisenmann, Janine Remillard (University of Pennsylvania), and Michael Steele
Funding: National Science Foundation
Dates:  2011 to 2014

This project is an empirical research project in the national educational research policy strand. The purpose is to investigate and report on how school districts are responding to the demand experienced across the U.S. for universal early algebra, the expectation that students will successfully complete Algebra 1 at or before grade 9. Specifically, the study examines 1) how districts are interpreting and framing the demand; 2) what strategies they have developed to respond to it; 3) how their strategies shape students’ opportunities to learn algebra.

Algebra has long served as a gatekeeper to educational and career opportunities. The current policy environment across the U.S. has increasingly emphasized the need for all students to take algebra early in their secondary schooling. Yet, the demands of universal access create serious challenges that schools are now struggling to address. The LANDSCAPE project is a mixed-methods study that examines both broadly and intensely, the challenges with which schools are struggling related to universal early algebra.

The study has two components. Component 1 involves a multi-state survey of curriculum leaders in about 1400 districts, aimed at uncovering trends in how early algebra pressures are perceived and acted upon. Component 2 allows particular landmarks within this algebra landscape to be probed through 12 case studies of purposefully selected districts. Both components are guided by two framing concepts: how district decisions structure opportunities to learn, which makes visible the kinds of learning possibilities created through the creating of structures and policies, and the mobilizations of human and material resources.

 

Collaborative Research: Preparing to Teach Algebra: A Study of Teacher Education

MSU PTA Team: Abe Edwards, Jeff Craig, Lynette Guzman, Sharon Senk, Eryn Stehr, Jia He

Principal Investigator: Sharon Senk
Co-PIs: Yukiko Maeda and Jill Newton, Purdue University
Current Graduate Students:  Jia He, Eryn Stehr, Abe Edwards, Lynette Guzman, and Jeff Craig (MSU); Vivian Alexander, Hyunyi Jung, Tuyin An, Alexia Mintos and Kari Wortinger, (Purdue)
Current Undergraduates: Jules McGee, Adam Hakes
Funding:  National Science Foundation/REESE Program
Dates:  August 2011 – July 2014

Preparing to Teach Algebra: A Study of Teacher Education (PTA) is a collaborative Empirical Research study addressing two REESE research strands: (1) National STEM Education Policies and (2) Research on Implementation.

 For more than a century high school algebra courses have served as the foundation for higher mathematics and as gatekeepers for entrance to college mathematics. In recent decades, desires for equity and for higher achievement have resulted in suggestions that algebra be required for all students. Many states currently mandate completion of Algebra I or Algebra II as a high school graduation requirement, and/or an algebra course in Grade 8. However, failure rates in algebra are high (Loveless, 2008).

 Recent research highlights the importance of both strong content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge for pre-service mathematics teachers, but little is known about programs of study in mathematics (NRC, 2010). PTA will study whether and how recommendations from mathematics professional societies, recently released standards for school algebra, and state-level policies related to algebra are addressed in secondary mathematics teacher preparation programs. The research questions are:

 1)   What opportunities do secondary mathematics teacher preparation programs provide to learn about algebra, algebra teaching, and issues in achieving equity in algebra learning?

 2)    In what ways do secondary mathematics teacher preparation programs address the algebra, functions, and modeling standards and mathematical practices described in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM)?

Mixed-methods will be used to gather and analyze data from three sources: (1) A national survey of a stratified random sample of at least 200 secondary teacher preparation programs, (2) Case studies of algebra-related learning in four purposefully chosen secondary mathematics teacher preparation programs, and (3) Focus groups with 8 student teachers at each of the four case study programs.

 

Betty, Judi, and Glenda

Connected Mathematics Project

Principal Investigators: Glenda Lappan, Elizabeth Phillips
Graduate Students: Abe Edwards, Nic Gilbertson, Funda Gonulates, Eun Mi Kim, Kevin Lawrence, Jen Nimtz, Joanne Philhower
Special Curriculum Consultants: Yvonne Grant, Jacqueline Stewart
Funding: National Science Foundation (development), royalties (current)
Website: http://connectedmath.msu.edu/
Executive Assistant: Judith Miller

The Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1991 to develop a mathematics curriculum for grades 6, 7, and 8 that reflected the 1989 NCTM Standards and Evaluation (NCTM 1989). Based on extensive input and review of the 1989 Standards, NCTM published the 2000 Standards and Principles (NCTM 2000). In 2000 NSF funded a revision of CMP that reflected the 2000 Standards and information gained from the field during the first six years of implementation of CMP in schools. The result was Connected Mathematics 2 and like CMP 1, it is a complete curriculum that develops both students’ and teachers’ understanding of important concepts, skills, procedures, and ways of thinking and reasoning in number, geometry, measurement, algebra, probability and statistics.

CMP was developed at Michigan State University under the direction of Glenda Lappan, Elizabeth Phillips, and the late William Fitzgerald with support from James Fey at the University of Maryland and Susan Friel at the University of North Carolina. Due in part to the long record of curriculum development and professional development by the authors, CMP has been enthusiastically received by the public. It is estimated that CMP has approximately 20-25% of the market share for middle schools mathematics curriculum. CMP a substantial impact on mathematics education here at MSU as well as across the country.

Seated: Nic Gilbertson, Funda Gonulates, Betty Phillips Standing: Jacqueline Stewart, Jen Nimtz, Glenda Lappan, Eun Mi Kim, Joanne Philhower, Abe Edwards, Kevin Lawrence

The overarching goal of CMP is
All students should be able to reason and communicate proficiently in mathematics. They should have knowledge of and skill in the use of the vocabulary, forms of representation, materials, tools, techniques, and intellectual methods of the discipline of mathematics, including the ability to define and solve problems with reason, insight, inventiveness and proficiency.

The royalties due MSU and the MSU authors have created two endowment funds that have funded:

  • The Lappan, Phillips, Fitzgerald Endowed Chair of Mathematics Education
  • A research grant to Horizons Research to study the effectiveness of CMP 2.
  • A research grant to Edward Silver at the University of Michigan to create and study a professional development model that helps CMP teachers develop students’ understanding of mathematics
  • Four annual graduate fellowships for PhD candidates in mathematics education
  • The Phillips Distinguished Lectureship in the Department of Mathematics
  • Start-up research funds for young MSU faculty and graduate students in mathematics education.

A substantial body of research and evaluation has been and is being conducted on CMP. These doctorial studies and other research projects are centered on aspects of CMP that have added important information to research on teacher knowledge, student understanding, and professional development. Currently, there are three national research studies being conducted on the effectiveness of CMP on student achievement. No other mathematics curriculum has had as much focused research and study as CMP.

CMP has been recognized nationally as seen in the following awards:

  • The American Association for the Advancement of Science (1999), in its review of twelve nationally available middle school mathematics curricula, ranked Connected Mathematics highest, stating that it “contains both in-depth mathematics content and excellent instructional support.”
  • Connected Mathematics was the only middle school mathematics curriculum awarded “exemplary” status by the U.S. Department of Education’s Mathematics and Science Education Expert Panel (1999). Of the 61 elementary, middle school, and high school curricula submitted for review, only five received this exemplary status.

Since 1997 we (CMP office at MSU) have conducted an annual Getting to Know CMP week-long workshop and one annual CMP Users’ Conference which bring approximately 800 – 900 teachers, administrators and teacher educators annually to the MSU campus. In 2008 we conducted our first CMP Leadership Conference. We collaborate with other universities and school districts to conduct similar conferences in their regions. Currently, we are working on leadership training models to accommodate the growing need for math coaches and teacher leaders in CMP schools. We maintain an extensive website and consult daily with teachers, administrators, teacher educators, researchers and parents about activities related to CMP.

Since 2010, we have been revising and field testing CMP 3 which will be ready for the fall of 2013 (copyright of 2014.) CMP 3 will be compliant with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The CMP philosophy on teaching and learning embodies the Standards for the Mathematical Practices. The extensive teacher support for CMP 3 will be delivered electronically. The student book will be available in paper as well as an interactive electronic student edition.

 

Core-Plus Mathematics Project

Curriculum Developer: Brin Keller
Funding: National Science Foundation
Website: http://www.wmich.edu/cpmp/

The Core-Plus Mathematics Project is a comprehensive four year secondary curriculum supported in part with funds from the National Science Foundation and is centered at Western Michigan University. Brin Keller is a senior curriculum developer for the project and has worked on developing a suite of mathematical software to accompany the text materials. The software includes dynamic geometry, symbolic algebra (CAS), statistical, discrete mathematics, and spreadsheet tools. The software is freely available at http://www.wmich.edu/cpmp/CPMP-Tools.

 

Culture in the Mathematics Classroom

Principal Investigators: Jodie Novak (University of Northern Colorado), Tonya Bartell,  Freida Parker (University of Northern Colorado)
Funding: National Science Foundation (supplemental award to a previously funded MSP grant)
Dates: January 2013-June 2014

The Culture in the Mathematics Classroom (CIMC) project proposes to research and document a Culture in the Mathematics Classroom Course that seeks to help secondary mathematics teachers grapple with the interactions among mathematics, teaching, learning and culture and the huge role these interactions play in student access to and understanding of mathematics. The CIMC course emphasizes intercultural competence, the knowledge of how cultural differences operate in human interactions (Bennett, 2004), because culture plays a major role in the teaching and learning of mathematics. As Stigler and Hiebert (1999) note in their book The Teaching Gap, “teaching is a cultural activity [and] recognizing the cultural nature of teaching gives us new insights into what we need to do if we wish to improve it” (p. 12). In the education literature, applying intercultural competence in the classroom is sometimes referred to as culturally responsive teaching (Gay, 2000) or culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Little published research exists, however, that focuses on the development of culturally competent secondary mathematics teachers (see for exception Leonard, 2008) and which considers the role of teachers’  lived experience with respect to their development. The essential question driving this project is: How does the CIMC course support the development of culturally competent mathematics teachers? In addition, the project aims to consider explicitly how teachers’ lived experiences frame their understandings of cultural competence in the classroom. By studying the impact of the CIMC course on secondary mathematics teachers’ understandings of the intersections of culture, mathematics, teaching, and learning, we aim to contribute to the knowledge base about teacher learning and inform revisions to teacher preparation and professional development programs for teachers.

 

Documentary Analysis of Assessments in Advanced Algebra (DA4)

Michael Weiss and Mike Morissette

Principal Investigator: Michael Weiss
Graduate Students: Michael Morissette

Assessments — the tests, quizzes, and other written instruments that teachers use to determine what their students have and have not learned — make possible a description of the didactical contract, in terms of what the teacher does (and does not) hold his students (and himself) accountable for. The presence or absence of particular kinds of tasks on an exam signals to the student what is and is not important to learn. Additionally, prior research has shown that assessments can function as a site for cultivating some of the elements of a mathematical sensibility; that is, for teaching students how to “be like” a mathematician. In this study, a collection of assessments used in secondary courses in advanced algebra (“Algebra 2” courses and equivalents) are being analyzed to uncover tacit assumptions about what students are, and are not, expected to know, understand, learn, and care about.

Although the first-year Algebra course and the high school Geometry course have long received a great deal of scholarly attention, comparatively little research has investigated the secondary advanced algebra course.  This deficit in our understanding is in many respects  surprising.  Like Algebra 1 and Geometry, the Algebra 2 course functions as a gatekeeper to careers in STEM (science, technology, education and mathematics) fields; students cannot pass on to Calculus and more advanced courses without successfully mastering the material in an advanced algebra course.  Indeed, the importance of this course was brought into focus in 2006 when Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm signed into law the “Michigan Merit Standard”, requiring all students to complete Algebra 2 in order to graduate high school.

This pilot study addresses the teaching and learning of advanced algebra from the perspectives of the intended curriculum and the didactical contract. We ask:  What kind of mathematical work are students expected to carry out in the context of a course in advanced algebra, and what does such work count for in the symbolic economy of the classroom?  Towards answering these questions, a collection of 3,500 assessment items (written and used by seven teachers in different schools) in secondary courses in advanced algebra are coded and analyzed in order to describe and classify the types of academic tasks students are called upon to solve in advanced algebra.

 

DRK-12, Development of Resources and Tools: Instruction of K-12 Students and Teachers

Mathematics Discourse in Secondary Classrooms (M-DISC): A Case-Based Professional Development Curriculum

Beth Herbel-Eisenmann, Heejoo Suh, Kate Johnson, Mike Steele, Jill Cavanna

Principal Investigators: Beth Herbel-Eisenmann, Michael Steele and Michelle Cirillo (University of Delaware)
Current Graduate Students: Jill Cavanna, Faith Muirhead, Kate Johnson, Heejoo Suh, Shannon Sweeney, Alexandria Theakston
Funding: National Science Foundation
Dates: 2009-2014
Website:  http://www.mdisc.org

The purpose of the proposed project is to develop, design, and test innovative materials to assist professional development leaders to support secondary mathematics teachers in negotiating classroom norms that promote productive discourse practices. More specifically, the materials will help professional development leaders: a) increase mathematics teachers’ understanding of classroom discourse and its relationship to supporting student learning; b) raise teachers’ awareness of the discourse patterns at work in their own classrooms; c) assist secondary mathematics teachers in identifying discourse patterns that could be used more purposefully to support student learning; and d) support teachers in more purposefully negotiating classroom discourse patterns that can help students develop increasingly complex discourse practices involving high-level mathematical explanation, justification, and argumentation. The M-DISC instructional materials that will be developed and tested will center on narrative and video cases of teaching, in which teachers and students are observed engaging in these discourse practices, making the practices and their impact on student learning an object of inquiry for teacher learning. The materials will be comprised of an introductory module, 5 constellations of activities each built around a case, and a module to help professional developers support secondary mathematics teachers to do action research on their discourse practices. Each constellation (set of activities anchored around the five “talk moves” described by Chapin et al., 2003) will consist of professional learning tasks that engage teachers in: solving mathematical tasks of high cognitive demand featured in the case; analyzing the case with respect to the five talk moves and the ways in which the talk moves supported the learning of mathematics; reading and discussing relevant literature on classroom discourse; analyzing student work; and field-based assignments of small and large scale. Participating teachers will design action research cycles as a capstone in order to study their evolving discourse patterns and the impact of those changes on student learning.

The intellectual merit of the proposed M-DISC project lies in the creation of new materials that have the potential to help teachers develop new understandings of classroom discourse. Although we know that inquiry-based discourse practices are beneficial for student learning, mathematics teachers continue to engage students in forms of discourse that focus on the transmission of information because they have not learned about, considered, or been exposed to alternative interaction patterns. Hence, the M-DISC materials will assist professional developers in working with secondary mathematics teachers on alternative discourse patterns with the goal of helping them promote productive classroom discourse. The PIs of this project bring extensive experience in analyzing mathematics classroom discourse, doing PD with secondary teachers related to math classroom discourse, and developing PD materials.

The M-DISC project has the potential to have a broad impact on mathematics education because unless teachers become more purposeful about their classroom discourse, they will continue to undermine some of the intended goals they have for their students. By drawing on a range of expertise in the Advisory Board, we will develop and test the materials that will incorporate specific attention to mathematics and assistance for teachers teaching students for whom English is a second language, thereby broadening the participation of students in mathematics. Dissemination will take place at professional conferences and through university websites and communications offices (e.g., marketing materials that will be distributed widely).

 

Strengthening Measurement Curriculum, Teaching, and Research (STEM II)

STEM Project Team

Principal Investigator: Jack Smith
Graduate Students: Dan Clark, Nic Gilbertson, Funda Gonulates, Jia He, Aaron Mosier, Eryn Stehr
Undergraduate Students: Danny Johns, Andrew League, Kelli Siebers, Ashley Taglauer
Funding: National Science Foundation, REESE program
Dates: August 2009 – August 2012
Website: https://www.msu.edu/~stemproj

This project builds on the resources and results of the Strengthening Tomorrow’s Education in Measurement (STEM) project that has produced a fine-grained analysis of the character and limitations of the spatial measurement content (length, area, and volume) in three elementary mathematics curricula. Evidence from national and international assessments and smaller-scale research studies have repeatedly shown that U.S. students’ understanding of measurement is poor, but empirical research has not revealed the source of the problem. The STEM results have shown that fundamental deficits in written curricula are very likely one contributing factor (though not the sole factor). One aspect concerns content placement: Measurement appears late in primary grade texts, decreasing the likelihood of sufficient attention. The second concerns content: Curricular treatments of length and area have not sufficiently focused on the iteration of units (the core of measurement) and moved too quickly to the use of rulers and counting units. Weak attention to unit iteration makes it difficult for students to understand the process of measurement (how sweeping through space produces measure numbers) and limits students’ success to highly routine and practiced contexts. The costs of poor measurement learning severely limit latter learning in mathematics and science.

Jack Smith, Funda Gonulates (and newest Gonulates!), Eryn Stehr, Lorraine Males, Jia He at Conference, 2012

This project will expand, deepen, and report STEM results for length, area, and volume, but will also centrally address the tasks of putting that knowledge to work to improve educational practice (curriculum and teaching). Measurement teaching and learning in the elementary grades can be very successful (e.g., Stephan, Bowers, Cobb, & Gravemeijer, 2003), though it remains unclear what ordinary teachers working with commercial curricula need to know to use those materials more effectively. This project will complete the primary grades analysis of length, area, and volume and explore with the authors of the three elementary curricula ways of strengthening their existing materials. It will analyze the highly-regarded Singapore mathematics curriculum and compare and contrast findings with the U.S. results. It will develop and test effective ways of enriching pre-service teachers’ knowledge of core measurement principles and work with practicing teachers to improve their measurement lessons, using both innovative activities and existing curricular content. Finally, it will implement a three-year measurement “mini-center” to bring together the major U.S. research and development scholars and projects for sustained interaction, innovation, and collaboration.

 

Teachers Empowered to Advance Change in Mathematics: Preparing PreK-8 Teachers to Connect Children’s Multiple Mathematical Knowledge Bases

TEACH MATH MSU Team: Lateefa Id-deen, Rebecca Ellis, Corey Drake, Tonya Bartell

Principal Investigators:  Corey Drake,  Erin Turner (University of Arizona), Tonya Bartell, Julia Aguirre (University of Washington, Tacoma), Mary Foote (Queens College CUNY), Amy Roth McDuffie (Washington State University TriCities)
Current Graduate Students: Rebecca Ellis and Lateefa Id-deen
Funding: National Science Foundation, DRK-12 grant
Dates:  2010-2015
Website: mathconnect.hs.iastate.edu

The central aim of the TEACH MATH project is to transform preK-8 mathematics teacher preparation so that new generations of teachers will be equipped with powerful tools and strategies to increase student learning and achievement in mathematics in our nation’s increasingly diverse public schools. We intend to accomplish this by studying  the iterative refinement of instructional modules for preK-8 mathematics methods courses that explicitly develop teacher competencies related to mathematics, children’s mathematical thinking and community/cultural funds of knowledge.

The design and scope of the TEACH MATH project have been informed by four identified needs.

First, the field of mathematics education lacks a deep understanding of how mathematics instruction might integrate children’s mathematical thinking with the cultural, linguistic, and community-based knowledge that children bring to classrooms in ways that support student learning. Other research documents that historically underrepresented groups benefit from instruction that draws upon their cultural, linguistic and community-based knowledge (Ladson-Billings, 1994; Lee, 2007; Silver & Stein, 1996; Turner, Celedón-Pattichis & Marshall, 2008). This research has argued that teachers need to understand how students’ home and community-based funds of knowledge – the knowledge, skills and experiences found in students’ homes and communities – can support their mathematical learning (Civil, 2002; González, Andrade, Civil, & Moll, 2001; González, Moll & Amanti, 2005; Moll, Amanti, Neff & Gonzalez, 1992). We contend that experiences that help preservice preK-8 teachers understand the mathematical knowledge and practices of students’ communities can enhance teachers’ ability to provide effective mathematics instruction for diverse learners (see also Gay, 2009; Ladson-Billings, 1994, 2001; Nieto, 2004; Rodriguez & Kitchen, 2005; Villegas & Lucas, 2002). However, research on how pre-service teacher (PST) preparation might integrate these multiple knowledge bases is limited (e.g., Aguirre, 2009; Leonard, 2007). The primary goal of TEACH MATH is to study ways to support pre-service teachers in developing the knowledge, beliefs, dispositions, and practices needed to effectively plan, adapt and implement mathematics instruction in culturally, linguistically, and socio-economically diverse schools.