| NSF Org: |
DRL Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 25, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | March 23, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 1503057 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
M. Alejandra Sorto
DRL Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2015 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $2,997,037.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $3,095,218.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2017 = $749,260.00 FY 2018 = $749,257.00 FY 2020 = $98,181.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
300 5TH AVE STE 2010 WALTHAM MA US 02451-8778 (617)618-2227 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
43 Foundry Avenue Waltham MA US 02453-8313 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Discovery Research K-12 |
| Primary Program Source: |
04001718DB NSF Education & Human Resource 04001819DB NSF Education & Human Resource 04002021DB NSF Education & Human Resource |
| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
The demands placed on mathematics teachers of all students have increased with the introduction of college and career readiness standards. At the same time, the mathematics achievement of English Language Learners (ELLs) lags behind that of their peers. This project addresses a critical need, developing professional development materials to address the teachers of ELLs. The project will create resources to help teachers build ELLs' mathematical proficiency through the design and development of professional development materials building on visual representations (VRs) for mathematical reasoning across a range of mathematical topics. The project will study how to enhance teachers' pedagogical content knowledge that is critical to fostering ELLs' mathematical problem solving and communication to help support fluency in using VRs among teachers and students. To broaden the participation of students who have traditionally not demonstrated high levels of achievement in mathematics, a critical underpinning to further success in the sciences and engineering, there will need to be greater support for teachers of these students using techniques that have been demonstrated to improve student learning.
The project will use an iterative design and development process to develop a blended learning model of professional development on using VRs with a 30-hour face-to-face summer institute and sixteen 2-hour online learning sessions. Teachers and teacher-leaders will help support the development of the professional development materials. A cluster randomized control trial will study the piloting of the materials and their impact on teacher outcomes. Thirty middle schools from Massachusetts and Maine serving high numbers of ELLs, with approximately 120 teachers, will be randomly assigned to receive the treatment or control conditions. Using a two-level random intercepts hierarchical linear model, the study will explore the impact of participation in the professional development on teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching and instructional practice. The pilot study will also explore the feasibility of delivering the professional development model more broadly. It builds on prior work that has shown efficacy in geometry, but expands the work beyond a single area in mathematics. At the same time, they will test the model for feasibility of broad implementation.
The Discovery Research K-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 (RMTs). 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.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Visual Access to Mathematics: Professional Development for Teachers of English Learners project (VAM; DRL-1503057) was an endeavor to develop and study professional development (PD) that could support the work of middle grades mathematics teachers who have students who are English learners (ELs) in their classes. During the VAM project, we collaborated with middle grades mathematics teachers, mathematics coaches, and EL specialists through multiple rounds of developing and testing to create a successful 60-hour hybrid face-to-face and online PD experience. (See image 1 for a screenshot from the course interface.) VAM PD centers on evidence-based practices such as: 1) use of visual representations (e.g., tape diagrams, number lines) to facilitate students? mathematical problem-solving and communication, and 2) use of instructional strategies that can be integrated into mathematics lessons to promote student language use and participation in mathematical communication. Teachers in VAM PD learn about these evidence-based strategies in the mathematical context of proportional reasoning and related topics?content that is key for students? later academic success.
Across multiple stages of development, study, and dissemination of VAM PD resources, we worked with over 200 educators. Across this work, teachers expressed that the engagement with student work and screencasts of students engaged with mathematics tasks expanded their understanding of what students knew and were able to do. The teachers also reported that interactions with this type of student work helped them to understand how students can use visual representations to show an understanding of the relationships and quantities in problems and in solutions to those problems. (See image 2 for a screenshot from a screencast of student work that teachers analyzed during the PD.) Teachers also reported that the interactive online tools, which we refer to as applets, assisted them personally to represent and understand the ratio and proportion content more fully, as well as helped their students? understanding of content. (See image 3 for a screenshot of an interactive applet used in the PD to solve mathematics tasks.) Teachers also reported that they gained a deepened understanding of strategies for supporting language access and production in mathematics.
During the final stage of the VAM project, over 100 teachers participated in a randomized controlled trial study of VAM PD. Findings about the impacts on teachers who experienced VAM PD included:
- Compared to a control group, participating teachers had greater ability to identify and interpret students? mathematical thinking, which is key to being able to support and build on that thinking.
- Compared to a control group, participating teachers had higher levels of self-confidence about their use of visual representations and about their instruction for ELs after participating.
- Participating teachers indicated through end-of-PD surveys that VAM PD increased their mathematical knowledge for teaching proportional reasoning content, skills using diagrams to solve proportional reasoning tasks, understanding of ELs? mathematical thinking, and planning and integrating supports for ELs in mathematics.
In addition, analyses of teachers? reflections and work during the VAM PD supported understanding how teachers develop their knowledge and practice for mathematics teaching. Teachers indicated in their reflections that opportunities to implement language and diagramming strategies in their classrooms was a strong contributor to growth in their self-confidence with these strategies. Analyses of their written reflections also suggested that changes for teachers during VAM PD included increases in familiarity with, knowledge about, and skills using mathematical diagrams in teaching.
By creating this comprehensive PD course focused on using mathematics visual representations with proportional reasoning content and integrating supports for students to access language and participate in mathematical communication, the VAM project has supported students who are ELs to participate more fully in classroom mathematics learning. Over the course of the VAM project, in addition to working with more than 200 educators, we have shared findings and resources through numerous conference presentations and journal articles for both researcher and educator audiences. We have also offered face-to-face and online workshops to share PD resources and made selected PD resources available online through a project website.
Last Modified: 10/05/2021
Modified by: Johannah Nikula
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