by Melissa Desjarlais
Last year I told you about a grant I received to form a partnership with Michigan City middle schools to get students excited about and be successful in mathematics through participation in a mathematics competition. This summer I received another grant, for $24,000, to expand MATHCOUNTS partnerships in Northwest Indiana. The grant consists of three parts: (1) transitioning the MATHCOUNTS coaching from the VU undergraduates to the middle school teachers in Michigan City, (2) establishing new after-school math clubs at the East Porter County School Corporation, and (3) hosting a one-day workshop for MATHCOUNTS coaches in Northwest Indiana. MATHCOUNTS is a mathematics competition that is administered each year at the school, regional, state, and national levels to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, and the mission of the program is “to increase enthusiasm for and enhance achievement in middle school mathematics throughout the United States” (www.mathcounts.org).

The National Security Agency’s Mathematics Education Partnership Program offered funding for projects in the areas of teacher education or promoting the study of mathematics to K-12 students. For the second type of project, they were looking for ways to foster interest in mathematics among students of any grade. In the United States a significant emphasis is currently placed on preparing students to be successful in science and mathematics, and one reason for this emphasis is that the “U.S. industry faces a dire need for employees with the advanced math abilities required to conduct the leading edge research and design required to remain globally competitive” (www.mathcounts.org). Being successful in mathematics is integrally related to having well-developed problem-solving skills. This project is a means of improving problem-solving performance, enhancing teaching skills of both the middle school teachers and the undergraduates, modeling a MATHCOUNTS coaching program, offering support to regional MATHCOUNTS coaches, and increasing knowledge of student use of problem solving strategies.

One purpose of this project is to use MATHCOUNTS as a method of helping middle school students improve their mathematical problem-solving skills, develop enthusiasm for mathematics, and enhance their mathematical experiences. The first two parts of the program address this purpose.>

For the first part of the grant, three Valparaiso University undergraduates, with the assistance of some middle school teachers, will establish after-school math clubs at each of the three middle schools in the East Porter County School Corporation. During these weekly meetings the middle school students will solve mathematics problems to prepare for a regional MATHCOUNTS competition at VU in February 2010. This replicates the program that was established last year at the middle schools in Michigan City.

This part of the program will run from mid-September through mid-February and will include weekly meetings among the undergraduates in addition to the time at the middle schools. The three undergraduates and I will meet to plan the activities for the following week and to discuss how the program is going so far, both the successful activities and any concerns the undergraduates may have. Then each undergraduate will travel to one of the middle schools to work with the middle school students. The after-school activities will begin with a light snack for the students, and then there will be some brief instruction about a particular problem-solving strategy. The rest of the time will be spent solving math problems with the middle school students occasionally presenting their solutions to the rest of the students.

For the second part of the grant, the middle school teachers at the schools in Michigan City take over the coaching responsibilities, and they no longer will have the assistance of the undergraduates. The teachers will be responsible for planning the activities, meeting with the students, and addressing any details related to the program. To provide support to the teachers, they will have a monthly dinner meeting where they will be able to discuss details related to coaching and general ideas related to problem solving.

In February 2010 eight students from each of the six middle schools, the three in Michigan City and the three in East Porter County, will travel to VU to participate in the regional MATHCOUNTS competition. This competition consists of four distinct components, some which are done individually and others as a team of four students. The partnerships between Valparaiso University and the Michigan City Area Schools and the East Porter County School Corporation is an excellent opportunity for the VU undergraduates and the middle school students to gain experience and have fun while solving mathematics problems.

A second purpose of the program is to provide support to the MATHCOUNTS coaches in Northwest Indiana. As mentioned earlier, the Michigan City teachers will have an opportunity once a month to discuss their coaching activities and problem solving, in general. This will establish a network of support among the teachers. Another way to provide support, and the third part of the grant, is to offer a one-day workshop for the MATHCOUNTS coaches who typically attend the regional competition at VU in February. There will be a plenary talk about problem solving, a panel discussion about coaching a successful MATHCOUNTS team where the panelists are successful Indiana MATHCOUNTS coaches, and following lunch, short talks by the regional coaches where they share ideas they have used as coaches.

Since my research interests include gender differences in mathematical problem solving, a third purpose of the project is to serve as a unique opportunity to gain insight into possible gender differences in the strategies that are used to solve mathematics problems and attitudes about mathematics. I will administer a mathematics attitude survey and ask the students to solve particular problems both near the beginning and the end of the program to measure changes in attitudes and abilities. I will occasionally have conversations with the students where I will ask them about how they solved some of the mathematics problems. The research will benefit the mathematics education community through insight gained into gender differences in choice of problem-solving strategies. Through the student discussions and examining how these strategies affect their success at solving the problems, knowledge will be gained which can be used to improve teaching methods and could lead to improved performance on mathematics achievement tests. Knowledge of these differentiated teaching methods will be of particular benefit to the mathematics educators who prepare pre-service teachers.