By: Audrey Malagon, Lead Editor of DUE Point

As professors, we carefully craft lessons that will inspire, engage, and hopefully pass on the joy of learning mathematics to our students. Some of these students are preparing to be teachers themselves, completing upper-level mathematics courses as part of the requirements for secondary mathematics teaching certification. But how often do we think about whether or not the instruction we are providing is improving the quality of instruction they will take to their future classrooms? The MODULE(S^2) project: Mathematics of Doing, Understanding, Learning, and Educating for Secondary Schools aims to improve the preparation of secondary mathematics teachers by contextualizing upper-level mathematics courses for prospective teachers. Jeremy Strayer, Professor of Mathematics at Middle Tennessee State University and PI on this grant, tells us about the project.

Where did you get the idea for this project?

The MODULE(S^2) project originated in one of the Research Action Clusters (RAC) of the Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership, a national collaborative network of institutions working to improve the quantity and quality of beginning secondary mathematics teachers. The MTE-Partnership identified areas of focus for this improvement work, including developing mathematical content knowledge of prospective teachers in upper-level mathematics courses.  

Our grant arose from the work of this RAC and research findings in the literature that showed prospective secondary mathematics teachers often find a disconnect between the upper-level content courses they are required to take and teaching in a secondary school.  We wanted to strengthen the skills with which beginning secondary mathematics teachers enter the teaching profession by creating materials that incorporate the best understandings of mathematics, mathematics education, and practice-based mathematical knowledge.

How does the MODULE(S^2) project help students connect math content courses with teaching?

The project provides curriculum materials for upper-level mathematics content courses that place this content in the context of teaching. Our purpose is to develop materials for semester-long use in four mathematics content courses: geometry, algebra, statistics, and modeling. We also provide professional development opportunities for faculty to learn how to use these materials.

Research has shown the importance of prospective teachers developing mathematical knowledge needed for teaching (MKT). Our MKT-focused activities provide opportunities for prospective teachers to apply the mathematical knowledge from upper-level undergraduate math courses to the work of teaching secondary level mathematics. We also support university instructors in implementing these activities so that prospective teachers can better connect undergraduate-level math content to their future teaching and increase their MKT.  

Tell us about someone impacted by the project:

Here are a few quotes from prospective secondary students as they reflected on their learning experiences in their course that used MODULE(S2) materials: 

“I learned that there is an entirely new way to teach geometry now, by using the method of rigid transformations. This may help students visualize and give them a better understanding of how it all relates together.” 

“The process of teaching algebra is a two-way street. The information that is presented and how it is presented is only as good as the amount of knowledge actually learned by the students. Understanding how a student thinks in terms of covariance and correspondence when learning about functions will lead to a more accurate adjustment of my teaching of the material.”

“I learned that there is a reasoning to everything in algebra. We usually just base our justifications on formulas or because the book or instructors said so. We rarely think of the reason as to why certain things work. This course helped [me] understand this idea. This will help in future math course teaching.”

Learn more about NSF DUE   1726723

Full Project Name: Collaborative Research: Mathematics of Doing, Understanding, Learning and Educating for Secondary Schools

Abstract: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1726723

Project Contact: Dr. Jeremy Strayer,  jeremy.strayer@mtsu.edu 

For more information on any of these programs, follow the links, and follow these blog posts. This blog is a project of the Mathematical Association of America, produced with financial support of NSF DUE Grant #1626337.

*Responses in this blog were edited for length and clarity.

Audrey Malagon is lead editor of DUE Point and a Batten Associate Professor of Mathematics at Virginia Wesleyan University with research interests in inquiry based and active learning, election security, and Lie algebras. Find her on Twitter @malagonmath.