Author(s):
Need
NIMS² is a three-year IUSE project that aims to design, test, and disseminate a video-based curriculum that develops noticing competencies and responsive and equitable teaching practices of mathematics instructional teams at the college level. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Mathematics Department and the School of Education at a Hispanic-serving institution in the West coast of the United States seeks to contribute to improving mathematics instruction in a major where nationally dropout rates are as high as 52% and even higher for under-represented students, reaching 61% of students leaving the major or the university after two years (Leu, 2017).
Teacher noticing is a core skill for engaging in responsive teaching practice (Sherin & Jacobs, 2011), and is conceived as the process of constantly attending to and making sense of student mathematical thinking and of the interactions that unfold in the classroom, while also using that information to both learn and inform next steps in teaching. While most research on mathematics teacher noticing has focused on student thinking, recent studies have highlighted the importance of attending also to issues of equity, culture, and power (Louie, 2018).
Guiding Questions
NIMS² leverages research evidence on teacher noticing in K-12 education to inform the design of a video-based curriculum for college instructional teams teaching transition-to-proof courses. It addresses the following research questions:
-How can research evidence on teacher noticing in K-12 education be leveraged to design a video-based curriculum that develops noticing competencies and equitable mathematics teaching practices for instructional teams at the college level?
-What do instructional teams learn from engaging with the curriculum?
Outcomes
We adopted a design-based research approach to design and test the curriculum. The project team engaged in co-design during the 2021-2022 academic year. This included collecting video-clips of classroom instruction, designing noticing tasks, drafting frameworks that support the analysis of student mathematical thinking and their engagement in the classroom while also promoting self-reflection on issues of equity. In addition, we designed noticing tasks and surveys to measure participants’ learning. The curriculum was then piloted in three separate contexts during 2022-23. Pilot testing allowed for its refinement. The new version was tested again this academic year with two new instructors, their Teaching and Learning Assistants and a few additional graduate students. Observational, survey, and interview data provide evidence of the positive impact of the curriculum on participants’ learning about noticing and emerging evidence of changes in their instruction and vision of high-quality teaching. Overall, participants found the PD engaging and worthwhile and would recommend it to others. In addition, the team members from the mathematics department would like to integrate noticing training for TAs across the department.
Broader Impacts and Implications
Project findings provide promising evidence for the benefits of engaging college mathematics instructional teams in professional development centered on noticing competencies. The structure of the video-based curriculum and accompanying activities could guide the development of noticing training for other areas of mathematics and other STEM disciplines.
Coauthors
Alessandra Pantano, UC Irvine; Roberto Pelayo, UC Irvine; Patricia Fuentes Acevedo, UC Irvine; Christina Kimmerling, UC Irvine.
