Motivating Mathematics in the Middle Grades by Learning Through Rough Drafts and Revising

Students’ motivation to learn mathematics in school tends to decline as students move from elementary school through middle school, and changes in how mathematics is taught influence their motivation and interest. When students are more interested in mathematics, they are more likely to continue to want to learn mathematics as they advance from secondary school to college and the workplace. Rough draft mathematics is an engaging and motivating set of teaching practices that can reduce students’ fears so that they participate and experience positive emotions while learning mathematics. The teaching approach gives students the opportunity to revise their thinking so they can receive support for making new connections between mathematics ideas and concepts. The study will explore how teachers' use rough draft mathematics approaches and the influence on students' engagement with mathematics. Three different school districts in Delaware, Washington, and Virginia will participate in the study to understand how teachers use different teaching practices. The project will (1) identify the presence and degree of mathematics teaching practices that promote engaging in rough drafting and revising in 24-32 middle school classrooms, (2) study middle school students’ engagement (participation and emotions) in the moment of a lesson, and (3) examine changes in students’ motivation over time (self-efficacy, mastery goals, growth mindset, and sense of belonging in math) in these instructional contexts. A major goal of this study is to capture how variations in teachers’ enactments of rough drafting and revising have differential impacts on students’ engagement and motivation. Data will come from classroom videos, an observation rubric, and teachers' self-report data in the form of surveys and teaching diaries. The teacher data will gather their plans for teaching and reflections after the class. From students, the data gathered will include experience sampling surveys to capture their engagement during the lesson and surveys about their motivations, goals, and self-efficacy. Students may also participate in focus group interviews about their experience in mathematics class. Findings from the study will help inform how specific mathematics teaching practices might engage students and influence their motivation to learn mathematics. This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, 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.