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NSF renews math education funding
The NSF’s renewed five-year commitment extends the current five-year project aimed at providing high-quality education for both future mathematics teachers and doctoral trained researchers in mathematics education. At a time when the United States is experiencing a renewed concern about the mathematics performance of its students, NSF is responding by awarding large competitive grants to university and school partnerships to strengthen the training of mathematics educators at all levels of the system, according to UD’s James Hiebert, Robert J. Barkley Professor of Mathematics Education and co-principal investigator for the grant. Five years ago, UD joined with the University of Maryland and Pennsylvania State University, along with school partners in each state, to form the Mid-Atlantic Center for Mathematics Teaching and Learning. The mission of the center, the first to be funded by NSF, is to study and improve teacher training programs both before and after teachers begin teaching, and to strengthen the advanced levels of training provided to doctoral students who will become the next generation of national leaders in mathematics education. Contingent on the continuing availability of funds, UD expects to receive more than $3 million during the renewal period. That will bring the total award to nearly $6 million. “With this renewal, we can continue the work already under way to provide our undergraduates with increasingly effective preparation for teaching mathematics,” Hiebert said. The major research questions that will guide the next five years of work focus on how prospective teachers develop mathematical and pedagogical knowledge during their undergraduate preparation and how they use this knowledge when they begin teaching, Hiebert said. Answers to these questions have important implications for teacher preparation programs at UD and throughout the country. Currently, the faculty and doctoral students in mathematics education at UD work in research and instructor teams to teach the mathematics and methods courses for prospective elementary and middle school teachers and, at the same time, to study the effectiveness of the courses and improve them each semester based on the information collected from the students, Hiebert said. “This setting also provides a rich training site for the doctoral students,” Hiebert said, “both in terms of teaching and research.” The practical aim of the project is twofold: to provide increasingly well-prepared teachers for Delaware schools and to ensure well-prepared national leadership in mathematics education for the future. Article by Neil Thomas To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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