Welcome to the Nevada Mathematics Project. We love to hear your thoughts and ideas so that we can continue to build on this work. Project website: http://www.nevadamathproject.com

 Couple of things to consider when watching this video

*What are some ways to build innovative partnerships?

*How can interdisciplinary teams work together to design professional development?

*What are some ways to integrate STEM disciplines to teach core content?

*How can research on learning sciences be integrated with content based professional development?

Hi Teruni:

I liked your video and love that you were working on the whole state of Nevada ;-). Also, the nanotechnology sounds really interesting--was that a hook to help teachers see ideas anew and together? Are you continuing with this avenue, or not? Also, can you say any more about how the groups at different sites interacted--was there a sense of unified purpose across sites, or was each site quite different?

Thanks! Amy

Amy, 

Thank you for liking our video. We took on a huge challenge trying to support the whole state. We had common goals across the four sites, but we used a design research approach to adapt the PD to the localized needs. What we discovered is that through each iteration the PD team became more effective in delivering the professional development. Even Though, we provided opportunities for teachers to interact across the state through social media sites, what we found is that teachers within each site communicated with each other and became a learning community. There were commonalities and differences within each site.

We used a project based learning approach to integrate the Nanotechnology. This provided a very engaging rich context for teachers to explore the mathematics and also think about stem integration and when it made sense to do so. Teachers loved the experience and learning. A series of papers and books have been developed from this project. The data analysis is still ongoing.  Thank you for your comments.

Teruni

Teruni, Thanks for sharing your work! Those photos of Nevada definitely brought back memories! I am curious about the structure for the project, meaning the time the teachers spend in the professional development (e.g. Is it week-long institutes? How often?). Did you have any type of virtual aspect of it? It sounds like you drove A LOT! I am thinking about the rural aspects of Nevada compared with the rural aspects of Idaho and the similar challenges we may face. Thanks for the video! (Did I happen to see Zack in the video!?!)
Julie

Julie, we miss you in Nevada and you were part of the Northeastern Nevada Math Project. This project, we had week long institutes with 3 follow up sessions for each site. Yes, we did drive a lot. The face to face experience is valuable for understanding the unique needs of the region. (We had 4 sites). There is power in personal relationships. Teachers also drove to attend each site. Not all teachers within each site get to see each other physically, so it built a regional learning communities. We had some virtual assignments and resources for them to do. But there is no substitution for the relationships that we built face to face. Also, the project team became a learning community. When you work together for 4 weeks straight, you learn from each other as well and evolve as a team. This type of work is very labor intensive. But the impact the prior project that you were part of is profound. Many of the teacher from the Northeastern Nevada Mathematics project are in leadership roles across the state. This positions us to create better. And, yes, you did see Zack! :) 

Thanks for sharing this interesting work! I totally understood the challenge of delivering the PD and collecting data state wide. I would like to know more about how you measure (or going to measure) the impact. As you mentioned, this initiative has impacted over 12, 600 students. Could you share more on how you measured the impact? What type of data did you collect to measure the impact?

Hi Teruni-

I really enjoyed how you started your video with the story of a 19,000-mile journey - what a fun graphic you had with the map! What program did you use to make it?

I work with Julie on the SyncOn project and had similar questions about your virtual components. How were the virtual assignments structured, and what tools did you use to coordinate this? Were the virtual assignments a part of your data collection, and could you tell us a bit more about them? We are collecting artifacts from participants (via google drive/doc/and draw) and would love to hear any tips you might have about collecting, organizing, and accessing participant work. Oh and PS I am impressed with the still photos you included, it looks like you had a LOT of documentation to draw from for the video!

-Kristana

Here is the framework that was integrated into the professional development. Teachers worked on different aspects of the framework to refine their teaching during the academic year. This framework became a basis for the follow up sessions. It was integrated into the professional development design during the summer institutes.

https://mathdiscussions.wordpress.com/whole-class-discussion-framework-checklist/

The virtual tools were designed around the framework that included videos, worksheets, study guide etc. The teachers formed learning teams and worked on aspects of the framework to help refine their teaching.

 Very interesting work! What was the time frame for the professional development as well as the length of time between the teacher pre and post test.  How did integrating  gestures from the learning sciences impact student understanding?  Did you have some individuals to use math practices with gestures and some without to determine the impact?

Thanks for your hard work! 

Nancy,

Thank you for your comments and questions. The timeframe for the pre and post content test were during the week long summer institute. Three surveys were conducted on teachers use of gestures at the beginning of the week, the end of the week and the end of the follow up sessions. Research on use of gestures was explicitly integrated into the PD along with the whole class mathematics discussions framework. 

Teruni

Teruni