Studying Mathematics TAs’ Responsive Teaching (Project SMART)

​Graduate mathematics teaching assistants (TAs) for Calculus courses play a crucial role in educating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students. Based on well-established literature showing that one of the most important features of effective teaching involves  knowledge about their students’ mathematical thinking, Dr. Park and Dr. Rizzolo are conducting a study investigating TAs’ interaction with students’ mathematical thinking as reflected in their work and its impact on TAs’ teaching with Funding from the Spencer Foundation. During the Professional Development that Dr. Park and Dr. Rizzolo designed, TAs work on analyzing students’ work with a focus on the errors that students’ made, and potential reasoning behind those errors, and plan on how to address those errors by providing students the opportunity to revisit their own thinking in their discussion sessions. By investigating these aspects simultaneously, Dr. Park and Dr. Rizzolo hope to understand the impact of TAs’ knowledge about students’ work on their teaching. This study would have a significant impact on how we support our TAs and allow us to support them to plan and implement lessons that are responsive to the current stage of their students’ thinking.