Abstract:

We outline the structure of a very successful mathematics partnership between The University of Texas at Arlington and the Arlington Independent School District funded by the National Science Foundation in the United States: the GK-12 MAVS Program . Now in its fifth year of implementation, the “Mathematically Aligned Vertical Strands Connecting Mathematics Research, Pedagogy, and Outreach for GK-12 Fellows and Teachers" project pairs classroom teachers with mathematics graduate students (fellows) in developing vertically aligned mathematics lessons that fit seamlessly into the school curriculum and maintain the integrity of the link to the mathematical research of the fellow. This university-school partnership deliberately focuses on schools with high enrollments of economically disadvantaged students and students from historically underrepresented minority groups in the United States. The program’s goals relate to teachers, graduate students, and secondary school students. These include enhancing teachers’ knowledge of the mathematics they teach, developing future mathematicians who can communicate mathematics to a broad audience, and fostering school students’ interest in attending college and continuing the study of mathematics.

Evaluation of the impact of the program suggests that fellows in the program benefit by learning to communicate mathematics at various levels of sophistication; the secondary teachers experience a change in what they know and believe about mathematics that strongly impact their instructional decisions and actions, and the secondary students in the fellows’ classrooms gain an insight for the usefulness and beauty of mathematics and acquire a disposition toward inquiry that will be life changing. Lessons implemented in both middle school and high school classrooms will be shared and discussed as well as the overall program concept and implementation.