Elizabeth Goldman - US grants

Mathematicians, scientists, and teacher educators at Vanderbilt University will cooperate with 15 selected exemplary classroom teachers to develop and evaluate a model approach to the preparation of elementary teachers of mathematics. A primary goal is to demonstrate how mathematics content and pedagogy are blended in the design of effective mathematics instruction. Elementary teachers will help mathematicians and mathematics educators plan instructional units and classroom activities which the teachers will then model for videotaping in their own classrooms. From these demonstrations videodisc materials will be produced. Materials will be implemented and evaluated in the methods of teaching course, and the preservice teachers will be placed in the classrooms of the exemplary cooperating teachers for actual implementation of teaching ideas. The materials and cooperative model are designed to ensure that participants are aware of research based principles of effective mathematics teaching and that they have a supportive environment in which to practice these strategies. Project evaluation will include systematic formative and summative assessments of project strategies, accomplishments, and consequences. It is expected that university course materials, including print and videodisc/computer components, will result. Further, plans have been made for disseminating the model and materials throughout Tennessee as well as nationally.

This project involves scientists and teacher educators at Vanderbilt University in a program to restructure the natural science component of Vanderbilt's elementary teacher preparation program. New science courses for education and liberal arts students will be designed, and the laboratory experience in these courses will be integrated with the science methods course. Fifteen "consultant" teachers from grades 4-6 in area schools will assist with the preparation of science units and video materials, and the project will use videodisc technology to integrate filmed classroom examples into the laboratories for the basic science courses and into the science methods course. These teachers will also serve as cooperating teachers for practicum and student teacher placements to ensure a coordinated experience from the basic science courses to the classroom applications. Curricula and video matherials will be made available to other teacher preparation institutions throughout Tennessee through the Center of Excellence for the Enrichment of Science and Mathematics Education. The cost sharing will be thirty-eight percent of the National Science Foundation award.

The University of South Alabama in consortium with Vanderbilt University and the University of Alabama, Birmingham, will work with the 11 regional inservice centers to integrate the use of hypermedia into the education of preservice teachers. The regional inservice centers are associated with the teacher education institutions in the state. Vanderbilt University will be responsible for initial faculty orientation and training in the use of hypermedia and interactive videodisc technology to provide a context for the integration of mathematics content and pedagogy in the education of elementary school mathematics teachers. The purposes of the project are to develop a prototypical model of interactive laser videodisc instruction for mathematics teacher education, to disseminate this model and sample material, and to determine the effectiveness of the use of interactive laser videodisc instruction in the mathematics education curriculum of eleven of Alabama teacher education programs. Of particular interest is the diversity of the student populations in the sample the will be part of the intensive study of the effects of the use of the technology. Two historically black institutions are in the group and one is included in the intensive sample. The videodiscs that will the basis for the intervention were produced by a team at Vanderbilt University with a prior NSF grant, Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice... This project will have state wide impact and will be a model of collaboration between universities and schools within a state. At the same time, the project will allow a large scale evaluation of the Vanderbilt materials. The project will have impact on both the faculty of the eleven institution and on the perservice teachers that are in the programs at the universities. There will be 50 faculty and 1,100 preservice teachers involved in the project. In addition, the regional center will work with experienced teachers in each region to assess the use of such technology in teacher enhancement. The number of experienced teachers reached will be approximately 165, 15 per site. Each regional center has responsibility for state sponsored teacher enhancement activities. This gives a natural opportunity to expand the use of the materials.

Vanderbilt University seeks funds to develop and field-test new applications of videodisc and hypermedia technology for use in educating preservice teachers of elementary school mathematics. The project will build upon and extend work supported by NSF. The proposed areas of development include hypermedia cases, library materials, research environments, and prototype assessment materials. The materials will be tested at Vanderbilt and eleven institutions of higher education in Alabama which are already structured into a consortium for the project Validating the Use of Hypermedia in Elementary Mathematics Education, supported under the NSF project TPE-9053826. Cost sharing by Vanderbilt University is 11% of the total cost requested from NSF.