Mid-Atlantic Center for Mathematics Teaching and Learning
The University of Delaware mathematics education group, along with the Delaware State Department of Education, is a partner with the University of Maryland and the Pennsylvania State University in the Mid-Atlantic Center for Mathematics Teaching and Learning. The Center is the latest in a series of collaborative ventures between mathematics educators at the University of Delaware and the Delaware State Department of Education.
The Center, one of the first two awarded by the National Science Foundation in Fall 2000 and the only Center to receive a five year renewal (through 2010), is funded to rebuild the infrastructure of mathematics education in this country by preparing its next generation of leaders and to pursue a collaborative research agenda on the development of knowledge for teaching mathematics. The Center sponsors joint doctoral program activities among the three universities and supports the research and development of model programs in mathematics teacher preparation and professional development.
The Delaware site is focusing on the mathematics preparation of teachers. Doctoral students funded through the Center teach one section of a mathematics course and participate, with colleagues teaching the same course, in a process of course improvement. This involves planning lessons together, soliciting feedback on lesson effectiveness, and using the information to steadily improve lessons over time.
