We will offer an eight-week summer research experience for eight undergraduates majoring in secondary education in mathematics and for four in-service secondary mathematics teachers. The pre-service teachers will be recruited nationwide (with emphasis on the Midwest region and on institutions that serve primarily minority populations), while the in-service teachers will be recruited from Illinois. The participants will explore, in teams of three, several research topics in discrete mathematics with emphasis on experimentation, conjecture, careful justification, and clear, precise reporting. An added emphasis will be on the development of teaching units for high school students.
The main objective of the project is to provide research opportunities for the participants, helping them become highly-qualified teachers who can meet national demands for increased student proficiency and can adapt to the changing needs of our technological society. An additional objective is to showcase positive teaching role models for the pre-service participants.
The expected outcomes related to the project goals include: (1) "teacher-scholars" teachers and prospective teachers who experience scholarship in mathematics in a setting that emphasizes the interconnections among theory, procedures and applications and who develop habits of mind of a mathematical thinker, (2) likely research publications authored jointly by students and faculty, (3) partnerships between university researchers and high school mathematics teachers, with common goals, and (4) teaching modules in discrete mathematics developed by the "teacher-scholars" that reflect a pedagogical emphasis on deep mathematical thinking.
The pre-service participants will be offered up to $400 in travel support, a dorm room to be shared with other participants in the REU, a meal plan, and a $3200 stipend.
This REU/RET project is jointly supported by the MPS Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (OMA) and the Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS).
