This project is supporting a working conference of faculty who are involved in teacher training and long-term professional development for graduate students in the mathematical sciences. The conference is designed to promote dialogue among practitioners in professional development in different programs; between practitioners and those who research learning, teaching, and learning to teach mathematics at the college level; and between those who work in existing programs and those interested in introducing more professional development into their work with graduate students. A parallel aim is to provide opportunities for "inter-generational" discussions and knowledge transfer between people who have spent their careers working in this area and those who are just now embarking on careers that include working with mathematics graduate students as teachers.
Three primary goals frame the conference activities:
(i) to strengthen, inspire and refresh existing programs by having practice and research inform one another;
(ii) to develop a menu of best practices to disseminate via a website and subsequent workshops; and
(iii) to serve as a launchpad for those interested in initiating a graduate student teaching and professional development program, highlighting key elements, key questions, and various options.
This conference is timely, especially given the current national focus on higher education, particularly in STEM. Most graduate students in the mathematical sciences teach in some capacity before receiving their graduate degrees. Moreover, for those aspiring to academic positions, teaching will continue to be a large part of their professional lives. Early attention to graduate student teaching and professional development pays dividends not just to the current undergraduate students in the courses that the graduate students are teaching, but also in the subsequent careers of the graduate students themselves.
A crucial element of improving teaching and learning in undergraduate mathematics is teachers who are equipped to provide high quality instruction in their courses. Historically, higher education faculty in the mathematical sciences have received little formal preparation for teaching, often no more than a few hours of professional development in the week before classes begin. Similarly, despite the important roles they play in undergraduate mathematics education, little attention has been focused on the preparation of graduate teaching assistants (TAs) for the classroom. Currently, this preparation varies widely: some universities have well-established TA professional development (PD) programs while others have no programs at all. This stands in stark contrast to the preparation of prospective elementary and secondary teachers who typically complete courses focused on teaching methods and a supervised student teaching experience prior to entering the work force and who continue to participate in PD during their careers. The primary goal of this project was to convene a conference whose purpose was to promote dialogue and collaboration among practitioners, researchers, and others involved in the professional development of mathematics graduate students. The effort to improve the teaching of graduate students will not only impact the students they teach during their years of graduate study, but it will impact the teaching they do in the rest of their career at institutions around the country. The participants of this conference included those who: design and provide professional development for various programs to prepare graduate students to teach undergraduate mathematics work in or have developed existing programs conduct research on learning, teaching, and learning to teach mathematics are interested in developing and implementing new programs. The goal of the conference was to begin dialogue and collaborations that will lead to: strengthening of existing programs by having practice and research inform one another creation of a repository of work and wisdom of those who made pioneering efforts in this area development of a menu of best practices to disseminate at a later date serving as a resource for those interesting in initiating a program – highlighting key elements, key questions, and various options To maximize interaction and opportunities for networking, conference activities occurred in a wide range of formats, including: Panel session presentations about key issues and topics Roundtable discussion sessions that provide more extended time for participants to learn about and discuss a range of topics Working group sessions for extended discussion of issues and ideas that emerge from the conference participants Poster sessions where participants present about the programs at their institution, individual activities/assignments they use, and/or other work they are involved in Session topics included: The transitions from high school to college mathematics Learning to teach with good questions Case studies Evaluating professional development programs for teaching assistants: progress and pitfalls Worked examples of teaching: using videocases in college mathematics instructor professional development Preparing graduate students to lesson plan for teaching Involving undergraduates in the professional development of graduate students Involving graduate students in the professional development of fellow graduate students: working with centers for teaching and learning More information about the conference and project can be found at: www.math.duke.edu/~bookman/pgs2013.html
