The Center of Excellence for Mathematical Inquiry aims to promote the teaching practices of question selection and question creation, particularly in a remote teaching environment.
This project, a partnership with Georgetown County School District, will directly impact twenty-four Algebra 2 teachers in rural and/or high-poverty areas schools/districts through various activities. Teachers will engage in an 8-day, three-phase, active learning, professional development model. Necessitated by the large portion of students failing to meet grade-level expectations in Algebra 2, this short-term CHE Center will drive educational change by creating a collaborative network of mathematics teachers who collaborate, share best practices, and engage in professional development workshops. The Center will also host webinars and a website with resources to further engage with mathematics teachers across the state.
The expected outcomes of the Center of Excellence for Mathematical Inquiry include improving mathematics instruction statewide by not only providing resources (website) and professional development (monthly webinars) for teachers across the state but also by developing a model for immersive questioning PD in a virtual environment. The area of questioning is associated with many other teaching practices and skills, having a potential ripple effect for teachers. Effective questioning has the ability to also bring about positive change with the authentic teaching of critical thinking skills, which results in increased student problem-solving and motivation of students and is ultimately anchored to the teacher’s intended learning goals in math by supporting targeted standards and objectives.