Projects

The Indiana University Mathematics Education Development Center functions as a coordinating unit for research and curriculum projects related to mathematics education (i.e., projects which are distinct from the usual teaching activities of Mathematics Education as a program area within the School of Education). Some of the projects sponsored by the Center in recent years are described below.

Current Projects

Robert S. Noyce Scholarship Program

With funding from the National Science Foundation, IUB offers scholarships for talented undergraduate mathematics majors who also engage in studies toward teacher certification.  Likewise, stipends are available for professionals (who already have a bachelors degree in mathematics) seeking to become mathematics teachers.  Career changers enroll in IUB's one-year Transition-to-Teaching (T-to-T) program.  The Noyce program seeks to increase the number of teachers with a strong mathematics content knowledge available to work in high-need districts.  Thus, scholarship and stipend recipients must agree to teach two years in a high need school district for every year of scholarship funds received.  Principal investigators for the program are Professor Diana Lambdin (Education) and Professor Kent Orr (Mathematics).  See www.noyce.education.indiana.edu for more details.

Recent Projects

IU-NAEP Project

The National Science Foundation has recently awarded the Mathematics Education faculty of Indiana University a three-year grant of $1.3 million to collaborate with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics to prepare and disseminate a series of interpretive reports of results of several of the most recent NAEP mathematics assessments.  In addition, the grant will enable the IU mathematics educators to use NAEP results to develop materials for use in teacher professional development and classroom teaching.  The intended audience for the reports and materials includes all mathematics educators (both classroom teachers and teacher educators) and policy makers at the local, state, and national levels.  The purpose of the materials is to improve teachers' instructional practices and, ultimately, students' performance on high stakes mathematics tests, such as the ISTEP, which is administered to all students in Indiana. (see url: http://naep.crlt.indiana.edu/)

Beliefs of Preservice Elementary Teachers (PSET)

PSET is a collaborative endeavor involving a team of faculty and doctoral students in mathematics education.  The aim of the project is to increase our understanding of the mathematics beliefs and conceptions of pre-service elementary teachers.  Our belief is that research on pre-service teachers' beliefs and conceptions about mathematics and the teaching of mathematics will produce information that can be used as an impetus for mathematics teacher educators to reexamine aspects of their work.  This research is studying two important questions:  What conceptions of mathematics and of mathematics teaching and learning do elementary pre-service teachers bring to teacher education programs?  What can teacher education programs offer to support or challenge those conceptions?

CEMI project

Collaboration for the Enhancement of Mathematics Instruction (CEMI) project engages teams of secondary mathematics teachers, preservice teachers,mathematicians, and teacher educators in an activity inspired by "lesson study," a form of professional development that is widely used in Japan.  Lesson study refers to "lessons that teachers jointly plan, observe and discuss."  Study lessons are developed by a team and then taught in regular classrooms and observed by many teachers.  This is followed by a public discussion of the lesson.  This partnership involves Indiana University pre-service mathematics teachers, mathematics educators and mathematicians along with secondary mathematics teachers from the school district. Interactions will take place both face-to-face and through the Inquiry Learning Forum (ILF).  Further information about CEMI project is available at http://crlt.indiana.edu/cemi/index.html

A Longitudinal Summative Evaluation of TERC's Investigations Curriculum

This recently completed project was funded by a contract with TERC to evaluate their revision of their K-5 mathematics curriculum, Investigations in Number, Data, and Space. Funding for the larger project, including the revision, field testing, and evaluation came from NSF, TERC, and the publisher Scott Foresman.  Indiana University's role involved the design of a 3-year comparative, longitudinal study of two cohorts of students in three states as they moved respectively through the revised-Investigations curriculum in grades 1-2-3 and 3-4-5.  The study involved design, administration, and analysis of written and interview-based assessments, and the use of standardized test data to compare students in revised-Investigations classes with students in non-Investigations classes in terms of their mathematical achievement and development over time.  The study yielded useful information on the effectiveness of the revised-Investigations curriculum, generated vignettes of student understanding of mathematical topics across a three year period of time, and-perhaps most importantly-resulted in helpful insights into the design and conduct of longitudinal curriculum studies.  Personnel involved in the project included: Diana Lambdin (IU, Principal Investigator), Paul Kehle (Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Director), Kathy Essex (IU), Crystal Walcott (IUPUC), Kelly McCormick (University of Southern Maine), Ayfer Kapusuz (IU), and Poloko Lecha (IU).  We are still drafting articles to be submitted to journals and books about our

21st Century Mathematics Teachers

This project, funded by a state of Indiana Eisenhower grant, involves the development of a network of teachers recognized by the Indiana Professional Standards Board (IPSB) to mentor beginning teachers who are being inducted into the profession.  Participants in this project are eligible to be selected to become mentor trainers or attend developmental activities sponsored by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC).

Beliefs and Motivation in School Mathematics Project

The Beliefs and Motivation in School Mathematics Project involved case studies of the factors that influence individual motivation in high school students.  Data from the multiple case studies are showing only limited support for application of general theories of motivation to the mathematics classroom. In particular, there is substantial variation from one student to the next in the school-based and out-of-school factors that affect motivation in mathematics.

Indiana Math Initiatative (IMI)

This five-year project, funded by the National Science Foundation, 1997-2002, focuses on assisting middle school mathematics teachers in 12 urban school districts throughout the state to adapt to recent curricular reforms.  This project has both teacher professional development and teacher action research components. You can find more information at http://www.indiana.edu/~iucme/search.htm

Inquiry Learning Forum (ILF)

The Inquiry Learning Forum (ILF), a project of the Center for Research on Teaching and Learning in the I.U. School of Education, focuses on web-based professional development for secondary mathematics and science teachers. Video of classroom teachers is provided as a focus for discussion on appropriate pedagogy in this age of calculators and computers. Further information is available at http://ilf.crlt.indiana.edu

Mathematics as a Gendered Domain Project

The Mathematics as a Gendered Domain Project is updating research done in the 1970s about the extent to which boys or girls are seen as stronger students in mathematics.  As a collaboration between IU and La Trobe University in Australia, the project is looking at cross cultural differences as well as changes in beliefs about gender and mathematics over time.

Archived Project