Principal Investigators: Peter Youngs, Ginger Watson, and Scott Acton

Project website: www.aiaiproject.weebly.com

The Artificial Intelligence for Advancing Instruction (AIAI) project is exploring several ways that deep neural networks can be used to classify videos of elementary mathematics and English language arts (ELA) instruction. Research developments in deep learning indicate that it would be feasible to train neural networks to classify basic activities in videos of elementary mathematics and ELA instruction such as whether a teacher is presenting a lecture, facilitating classroom discussion, or a combination of the two. However, little is known about the feasibility of having a computer discern more complex activities such as representations of content, teacher questioning, modeling of learning strategies, and student engagement. This project will train neural networks to identify such complex activities in elementary videos.

University of Georgia

Co-investigator: Eric Siy

The purpose of this project is to describe (a) how two cohorts of prospective secondary mathematics teachers anticipate classroom discussions in relation to their identities and (b) what experiences from the methods course, from the teachers' perspective, influenced their anticipated discussions, if at all. Additionally, the project examines how the prospective teachers’ anticipated discussions aligned with the goals and the discourse of the instructor of the course. 

Publications

Siy, E. & Foster, J. K. (2019) Prospective secondary mathematics teachers proposed identities as enacted in imagined discussions. In Otten, S., Candela, A. G., de Araujo, Z., Haines, C., & Munter, C. Proceedings of the 41st annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp.1353). University of Missouri.

Principal Investigators: Timothy Foutz, Barbara Crawford, Roger Hill, ChanMin Kim, & AnnaMarie Conner

The CALC project aims to develop (a) a learning approach in which novice programmers (i.e., elementary teachers and students) use arguments to develop a coding sequence using structured reasoning instead of trial-and-error, (b) help teachers build content knowledge of programming and extend their knowledge of appropriate mathematics and science pedagogy into the teaching of coding through argumentation, and (c) emphasize the argumentation approach as an integrator for the teaching and learning of coding, mathematics, and science in grades 3 to 5. As part of the research team, I assisted in analyzing (a) how elementary school teachers use the CALC approach to support their students’ learning of coding, mathematics, and science content and practices and (b) elementary teachers’ beliefs about using collective argumentation in teaching coding, mathematics, and science.

Publications

Foster, J. K., Schneider, J. G., Franco, L., Zhuang, Y., Crawford, B., & Conner, A. (2022). Categorizing classroom-based argumentation in elementary STEM lessons: Applying Walton’s types of argument dialogue. Journal of Research in STEM Education, 8(2), 79-110.

Zhuang, Y., Foster, J. K., Conner, A., Crawford, B., Foutz, T., & Hill, R. (2022). Teaching elementary mathematics with educational robotics. Journal of STEM Teacher Education, 57(1), 62–86.

University of Georgia

Co-investigator: Hwa Young Lee

The initial goal of this project was to understand the development of prospective secondary mathematics teachers' (PSTs) mathematical knowledge for teaching and noticing of opportunities to build on student thinking. The project evolved into understanding what mathematical connections PSTs marked during their first field experience and their pedagogical considerations regarding the mathematical connections. The findings showed that PSTs marked a variety of mathematical connections during their field experience. From the project, a framework for pedagogical considerations for mathematical connections was developed. 

Publication

Foster, J. K., & Lee, H. Y. (2021). Prospective teachers’ pedagogical considerations of mathematical connections: A framework to motivate attention to and awareness of connections. Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, 23(4), 95–118.

Principal Investigator: AnnaMarie Conner

This project documented how mathematics teachers learned to support their students in engaging in productive collective argumentation. The research team followed a cohort of prospective secondary mathematics teachers through their mathematics education coursework, observed their engagement in collective argumentation and opportunities to learn about supporting collective argumentation. The team continued to follow the participants into their first few years of teaching, focusing on how their support for collective argumentation evolved over time with input from the participants. As part of the research team, I assisted in analyzing (a) what opportunities the participants had to learn about collective argumentation during their mathematics education coursework and (b) how participating teachers analyzed the collective argumentation in their classes (what do they notice and point out as important) when presented with video recordings and diagrams of arguments from their classes.

Publications

Conner, A., Gomez, C. N., Park, H., Zhuang, Y., & Foster, J. K. (2018). Prospective teachers’ interpretation of argumentation and corresponding teaching actions. In T.E. Hodges, G. J. Roy, & A. M. Tyminski, (Eds.), Proceedings of the 40th annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 731-734). Greenville, SC: University of South Carolina & Clemson University

Foster, J.K., Zhuang, Y., Conner, A., Park, H., & Singletary, L. M. (2020) One teacher’s analysis of her questioning in support of collective argumentation. In A.I. Sacristán, J.C. Cortés-Zavala & P.M. Ruiz-Arias, (Eds.). Mathematics Education Across Cultures: Proceedings of the 42nd Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 2067-2071). Mazatlán, Sin. México. 

Gomez Marchant, C. N., Park, H., Zhuang, Y., Foster, J. K., & Conner, A. (2021). Theory to practice: Prospective mathematics teachers’ recontextualizing discourses surrounding collective argumentation. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 24(6), 671–699.

Park, H., Conner, A., Singletary, L.M., Foster, J.K., & Zhuang, Y. (2020) One teacher’s learning to facilitate argumentation: Focus on the use of repeating. In A.I. Sacristán, J.C. Cortés-Zavala & P.M. Ruiz-Arias, (Eds.). Mathematics Education Across Cultures: Proceedings of the 42nd Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 1961-1962). Mazatlán, Sin. México.