UW MATH STUDY CENTER PROFESSIONAL

While these changes cannot be attributed to policy change, both respondent testimony and related research findings indicate that the presence of collegial support and professional communities is a crucial aspect of institutionalizing a culture of reform. The effects of a cohort of like-minded colleagues also include providing faculty with the benefits of professional networks and resources. Another preliminary effect of SCALE is to further develop and foster a cohort of STEM disciplinary faculty who are engaged in pedagogical reform and K-12 education. Moreover, by actively training STEM faculty in these pedagogical methods, SCALE is beginning to influence participating faculty's conception of their own teaching and of K-12 issues. Through the science immersion institutes and the math institutes for LAUSD teachers, SCALE is engaging STEM faculty in both learning and modeling inquiry-based pedagogy.

Preliminary findings indicate that through summer professional development institutes that are co-constructed and co-facilitated by IHE faculty and K-12 personnel, SCALE is expanding upon and enhancing existing reform efforts under way at CSUN. The case study methodology adopted for this study attends closely to the diverse contexts that influence individual faculty practice within an IHE and analyzes observed program effects and outcomes in light of these contexts. The exploratory analysis focuses on the structural and behavioral dynamics influencing the implementation of the four core SCALE strategies for effecting change in IHEs: (1) improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate education (2) promote collaborations between STEM and education faculty regarding preservice programs (3) promote collaborations between IHE faculty and K-12 districts regarding in-service training and (4) improve institutional policies and practices at the IHE level that support faculty engaged in pre- and in-service activities. This interview-based study (N = 19) includes a descriptive analysis of SCALE activities and an exploratory analysis of the relationship between the institutional context and SCALE activities. This report of the National Science Foundation-funded SCALE Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) Case Studies line of work provides preliminary findings about SCALE activities at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN).

Uw math study center