Coherent Asynchronous Online Mathematics Teacher Professional Learning for Equitable Instruction

To provide equitable mathematics instruction to their students, middle grades mathematics teachers need easily accessible professional learning (PL), including opportunities to participate in discussions about both mathematics content and equity-based teaching practices. The project will help address this need by producing a refined version of the existing Video in the Middle design and development prototype.

The team will also produce an asynchronous, collaborative online PL course comprising ten 2.5-hour sessions. These sessions interweave equitable mathematics teaching by incorporating the use of positioning into the classroom learning environment so that students' mathematical competence can be recognized and valued. An equitable mathematics approach will be integrated with a mathematical content thread that is central to middle grades mathematics such as representing and conceptualizing transformations-based similarity, slope, or linear functions.

In Years 1 and 2, the Math-Equity PL project will focus on iterative development and usability and feasibility testing. In Years 3 and 4, the team will conduct a pilot study with 100 middle grades mathematics teachers in order to determine its how it informs teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching related to transformations-based similarity, slope, or linear functions and their understanding of the equity-based teaching practice of positioning students as competent.

Data collection will include observations and survey administration. The Math-Equity PL project will provide the field with a model for developing content-specific PL in which equity-based teaching practices are presented as inherently intertwined with and inseparable from issues of effective mathematics instruction, as well as a model for scaling rich, professional learning to make such PL readily accessible to more teachers.

The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.

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.