Research Projects

The work of our researchers sparks global innovation in effective teaching and learning models.

Past initiatives

The ASKTM project investigated the structure of elementary teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) as it is held by novice or experienced teachers, as it is learned in the context of teacher preparation and practice, and as it is used for instruction and to support student learning. The project team developed a teacher knowledge assessment focused on fractions and decimals and subsequently examine the relationships between teacher knowledge, observed mathematics instruction, and student learning, through applications of recent advances in psychometric methods. The study aimed to advance fundamental knowledge of the structure of MKT and thereby offer theoretical and pragmatic implications for the field of mathematics teacher education. For additional information, please contact Dr. Erik Jacobson.

Supported by a grant from the Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee, the Balfour Scholars Program (BSP) was a program for high school juniors designed to help cultivate student academic and career development as well as minimize misperceptions about affordability, unfamiliarity with higher education, and difficulties with cultural adjustment that prevent students from successfully matriculating and graduating from college. The program was free of cost to all participants.

Investigating Differentiated Instruction and Relationships between Rational Number Knowledge and Algebraic Reasoning in Middle School

Goals

The research goals of this project were to investigate how to differentiate mathematics instruction for middle school students with different ways of thinking, and to understand how students’ rational number knowledge and algebraic reasoning are related. In years 3-6 of the project we also investigated how classroom teachers learn to differentiate instruction.

The educational goals of this project were to enhance the abilities of prospective and practicing teachers to teach diverse students, to improve doctoral students’ understanding of relationships between students’ learning and teachers’ practice, and to form a community of mathematics teachers committed to on-going professional learning about how to effectively differentiate instruction.