Inclusive Instructor Behaviors in the Calculus Sequence

This project will support an educational research project to design, implement, and analyze the results of survey that explores inclusive teacher behaviors in first year calculus classes. In addition, it will support professional development to enable the principal investigator, a new STEM education researcher, to develop the skills needed to conduct the project. Research at the K-12 level provides considerable evidence that classroom environment and teacher practice affect the growth mindset, sense of belonging, and self-efficacy of students, particularly underrepresented students. Research also shows that marginalized groups in STEM may perceive the environment and teacher behavior in different ways than those from non-marginalized groups. Little work in this area has been done at the undergraduate level. In this building capacity project, a survey instrument to measure inclusive instructor behaviors will be developed and given to over 1000 STEM majors in calculus at Penn State University. Simultaneously, the investigator will be involved in an intensive, two-part professional development process. The PI will have a mentor team consisting of experts in mathematics education and STEM diversity research who will support him during the entire project. In addition, he will take graduate level classes in statistics and mathematics education to increase his knowledge and skills in math education research.

In this project, an instrument to measure inclusive teacher behaviors will be developed by using items from relevant K-12 and undergraduate surveys. The instrument will be piloted in year one, and then revised based on the results. Students in calculus classes at Penn State University will be asked to complete the instrument, and the investigator will analyze and interpret the survey results. In addition, qualitative data from classroom observations, focus groups, and cognitive interviews will be gathered and analyzed to help validate instrument validity and interpret the data. Results of this two-year capacity building project are expected to lay the foundation for future work related to equitable teaching practices in college mathematics courses.

The project is supported through the EHR Core Research: Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) competition that is designed to build individuals' capacity to carry out high quality fundamental STEM education research in STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.