Welcome

Graduate students play substantial roles in undergraduates’ opportunities to learn mathematics. For graduate students planning on employment in academia, the teaching they do in graduate school serves as professional preparation for future pedagogical responsibilities. Over the past several decades increased attention has been paid to the professional development of graduate students for their teaching-related responsibilities.

The primary goal of this NSF funded working conference was to promote dialogue and collaboration among practitioners, researchers, and others involved in the professional development of mathematics graduate students.

The participants of this conference included those who:
  • design and provide professional development for various programs to prepare graduate students to teach undergraduate mathematics 
  • work in or have developed existing programs
  • conduct research on learning, teaching, and learning to teach mathematics
  • are interested in developing and implementing new programs. 
In planning this conference, we hoped that the resulting dialogue and collaborations would lead to:
  • strengthening of existing programs by having practice and research inform one another
  • creation of a repository of work and wisdom of those who made pioneering efforts in this area
  • development of a menu of best practices to disseminate at a later date
  • serving as a resource for those interesting in initiating a program – highlighting key elements, key questions, and various options
  • To maximize interaction and opportunities for networking, conference activities occured in a wide range of formats, including:
    • Panel session presentations about key issues and topics
    • Roundtable discussion sessions that provide more extended time for participants to learn about and discuss a range of topics
    • Working group sessions for extended discussion of issues and ideas that emerge from the conference participants
    • Poster sessions where participants present about the programs at their institution, individual activities/assignments they use, and/or other work they are involved in
  •  Session topics included:
    • The transitions from high school to college mathematics
    • Learning to teach with good questions
    • Case studies
    • Evaluating professional development programs for teaching assistants: progress and pitfalls
    • Worked examples of teaching: using videocases in college mathematics instructor professional development
    • Preparing graduate students to lesson plan for teaching
    • Involving undergraduates in the professional development of graduate students
    • Involving graduate students in the professional development of fellow graduate students: working with centers for teaching and learning


    Funding for this conference was provided by the National Science Foundation DUE Award Number 1258576.