Working Group for Research About Novice Teachers of College Mathematics
The primary purpose of this working group is to provide a community for educational researchers who are interested in the practices and development of novice teachers of college mathematics. The training or professional development of graduate students and beginning faculty as teachers has become an increasingly visible topic in the mathematics community over the past two decades. This group provides opportunities for people who conduct research in this area to discuss their work, receive constructive feedback on their ideas, and network with other researchers.
We would like to extend an invitation to anyone interested in these issues to join us when the group convenes on Thursday, February 26th, prior to the start of the 2009 RUME conference.
We will use our meeting time as an opportunity for participants in the group to present their research and discuss it with other participants. You do not need to present anything in order to participate – anyone who wishes to take part in the discussions is welcome to attend. If you do have a research project you would like to discuss, directions for how to request a time slot are below.
The research can be at any stage of development. Below are some examples of types of discussions:
a. You have some preliminary ideas for a project and would like an opportunity to talk about your thoughts and receive suggestions about relevant research literature.
b. You have a research question and you would like to brainstorm ideas for data collection methods.
c. You have written some interview questions (or have other data collection instruments) and would like to talk about them to help ensure that they are well-connected with your research questions.
d. You have gathered your data and you would like some feedback on the preliminary analysis you have conducted.
e. You have completed a project and would like to discuss possible audiences and venues for publication.
If you have questions about the group, contact Natasha Speer (
speer@math.umaine.edu). If you are interested in participating in the discussions or would like to have a slot of time during the meeting to share your work, please let Natasha know by January 15th. For people who are requesting time during the meeting, please include the following in your message:
1. Topic (or title) of your research project.
2. A short description of the project, including information about what “stage” the project is in (planning, data collection, data analysis, reporting).
3. A short description of how you would like to spend your slot of time during the meeting.
4. A short discussion of what you would like to get out of the meeting.
The amount of time each person will have for the discussion of their work will be determined once we have received all the requests but we expect it to be at least 30 minutes.