New Math Education Center Hosts First Summer Institute
The center is part of a nationwide effort that UGA's College of Education is helping lead that aims to revitalize the teaching of mathematics from pre-kindergarten through college.
Last fall, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $10.3 million grant to UGA’s department of mathematics education for a five-year project that focuses on improving the mathematical proficiency of both new teachers and those already in the field. Research in the project will help determine how to improve proficiency in teaching mathematics.
The grant is part of a $100 million initiative the NSF is financing
across the country to improve teaching and leadership in mathematics, science
and technology. It funded two centers last year and three centers this year,
including the one at UGA. The NSF and others are concerned that 33 percent
of mathematics teachers in grades 7-12 have neither a major nor a minor
in their teaching field, yet teach more than 26 percent of all mathematics
students.UGA researchers say that mathematics teachers need a special kind of math knowledge to teach more effectively – one that differs from the type of mathematics that is taught architects, engineers, computer scientists and research mathematicians.
“We want teachers to have a profound understanding of mathematics. They have to be able to unpack the mathematics so students can learn it. They need to be able to connect it to other ideas both in and outside of mathematics,” said Pat Wilson, professor and department head of mathematics education and principal investigator for the project.”
To achieve this goal, UGA created the national Center for Proficiency for Teaching Mathematics , which aims to enhance teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom through changes in their mathematics preparation and by making practice the primary site and resource for their professional learning.
“We’ll be grounding our teaching in practice,” said Wilson. “We’ll use videotapes of teachers teaching. We’ll use student work. We’ll use teacher-identified problems in the schools to develop ways to better prepare teachers. This will make the practice more relevant to the education. That’s what we mean by making practice central.”
The center is using a model of proficiency from a 2001 National Research Council report, of a committee chaired by UGA Regents Professor Jeremy Kilpatrick, which said an overhaul of school mathematics would be necessary for students to boost achievement. Kilpatrick and UGA colleague, Brad Findell have recently co-edited the committee report titled, “Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics.”
Paramount in the report’s recommendations is the finding that the nation can and should groom all students to be “mathematically proficient,” mastering much more than disconnected facts and procedures. Further, their teachers can and should be proficient in teaching mathematics.
“In a lot of ways we have been teaching mathematics proficiency. But I think we’ve focused more on concepts and skills,” said Wilson. “This center is working on incorporating strategies, reasoning and disposition as well as understanding and procedures.”
The project also addresses a bigger challenge -- the nation's need to prepare a new generation of teacher educators. Alarmingly, human resources for training new mathematics teachers are dwindling. More than half the faculty in universities that grant doctoral degrees in mathematics education will be eligible for retirement in two years, and nearly 80 percent will be eligible in 10 years, according to the NSF.
“Last year half of the mathematics education positions (in the nation) went unfilled,” said Pat Wilson, principal investigator and professor of mathematics education. “So we not only have a shortage of teachers, but now we’re seeing a shortage of people preparing the teachers -- mathematics educators.”
Participants in the June 2-6 summer institute -- the first in a series of such events -- included middle school teachers from the city of Social Circle, Barrow, Cobb, Gwinnett, Hall, Morgan and Rockdale counties.
Teachers who are taking the course as a UGA 3-credit course are paying their own tuition, according to Wilson. Some teachers are taking it for staff development credit that is offered by their school district. Others are taking it for personal enrichment with no credit from school or university. All participants (teachers and professors) receive re-imbursements for expenses and a stipend for their time.
Teacher educators came from Georgia Southwestern State University, State University of West Georgia, Fort Valley State University, North Georgia College & State University, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Floyd College, UGA, Georgia State and Auburn universities.
The institute was planned and directed by UGA faculty members
Clint McCory and Elliot Gootman of mathematics; and James
Wilson, Jeremy Kilpatrick, Heide Wiegel, and Pat Wilson of
mathematics education. Dr. Tonya Cofer, a
mathematician who is
doing post doctoral work in mathematics
education, was instrumental in planning teacher educator
sessions. 
About a dozen doctoral students from UGA assisted the instructors, videotaped the activities and
took field notes for research on what the teachers and teacher
educators get out of the institute. The
curriculum for the classes was based on the InterMath materials which
were developed through a NSF grant to UGA and Georgia Institute
of Technology.
About a dozen doctoral students from UGA assisted the instructors, videotaped the activities and
took field notes for research on what the teachers and teacher
educators get out of the institute. The
curriculum for the classes was based on the InterMath materials which
were developed through a NSF grant to UGA and Georgia Institute
of Technology.UGA’s partners in the center include the University of Michigan and several Michigan colleges and school districts. Georgia partners are the Board of Regents and school systems in the City of Social Circle, Morgan and Gwinnett counties.
Kilpatrick and James Wilson, professors of mathematics education, are co-principal investigators in the project, but the center’s work will involve all faculty members in the department as well as faculty in UGA’s mathematics department. The center is working through the Board of Regents with mathematicians and math educators at teacher preparation institutions throughout the state.
The local advisory board includes William Schofield, superintendent of Social Circle City Schools; Stan DeJarnett, associate superintendent of Morgan County Schools; Lynda Luckie, mathematics supervisor of Gwinnett County Schools and Sheila Jones, executive director of P-16 Programs from the Board of Regents.
Thursday, June 5, 2003
WRITER: Michael Childs, 706/542-5889, mchilds@coe.uga.edu
CONTACT: Pat Wilson, 706/542-4547, pwilson@coe.uga.edu