Research Report: Projects

Mathematics plays a crucial role in engineering education. In this study, engineers, mathematics teachers, and engineering professors were asked whether the engineering problems created by math pre-service teachers represent engineering. The researcher used a mixed-method design to collect data from 92 participants through a questionnaire and interviewed six participants, two from each participant category. No statistically significant difference was found between participants regarding the type of engineering problems used in engineering. All interviewed participants identified a function and a statistics problem as worthwhile engineering problems for mathematics classrooms.  

ULTIMATE (Understanding Learning Trajectories In Math: Advancing Teacher Education) is a new research project supporting early childhood teachers in deepening their understanding of how children learn mathematics and how to use this understanding to help all children develop math ideas and skills—joyfully. Over two decades, we have built a professional development tool called Learning and Teaching with Learning Trajectories, or [LT]². The research team worked with teachers, blending high-quality in-person professional development with teachers using the [LT]² tool. The team is investigating the impacts on teachers (results presented here) and on students.