How do people learn mathematics? How do we best teach mathematics? The NSF's Research on Learning and Education (ROLE) program has made an initial round of awards for research into these and other questions about learning. The mathematics-related awards are summarized below. ROLE supports research related to human learning in the areas of brain research, behavioral, cognitive, affective, and social aspects of learning, and the learning of mathematics, science, engineering, and technology in informal or formal settings and in complex educational systems.
At Carnegie-Mellon (J. Anderson, PI), research is underway to improve tools for tracking how students solve mathematical problems. Both eye-movement scanning and fMRI imaging are being used to find improvements for a cognitive tutor that is being adapted for use in middle schools.
Improvement in the preparation of African-American students for algebra and higher mathematics is the goal of the ROLE project coordinated by Lesley College (F. Davis, PI). Schools in three urban settings form the research ground for identifying successful practices that increase the proportion of minority students who successfully complete algebra and enter college preparation tracks in high school.
An exploration of the interactions among diverse, connected classroom technologies is the prime activity of the project at University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (J. Kaput, PI). Three areas of impact are considered - assessment, learning structures, and teaching. The goals are to inform iterative improvement of technological practices that support learning and of teacher development and support structures.
At Boston College (M. Martin, PI), rethinking and reconceptualizing the fifth international study of mathematics and science is supported by a ROLE award. Based on experience with previous assessments, such as TIMSS, frameworks for assessments in mathematics and science will be developed.
Ways to nurture and cultivate mathematical imagination are being investigated at TERC, Inc. (R. Nemirovsky, PI). A series of studies with teachers seeks to confirm that cultivating mathematical imagination is related to effective learning of mathematics.
The University of Colorado-Boulder (A. Perissini, PI) is continuing a study of two reform-based teacher education programs by following a group of pre-service teachers through their second year of teaching. Of particular interest is how teacher education impacts their learning and development as teachers.
The ROLE project at MIT (E. Spelke, PI) seeks to shed light on the teaching and learning of mathematics through a series of studies involving monkeys, infants, children, and adults. The goal is to investigate the sources of mathematical thinking throughout the developmental spectrum.
Sharon Cutler Ross is a member of the FOCUS and MAA Online editorial board. Her NSF Beat column appears regularly in FOCUS.