MATH30340 Peer-Assisted Tutoring

Academic Year 2022/2023

The aim of this module is to provide you with the opportunity, the practices, and the support, to notice students' mathematical thinking in a first-year mathematics module. In the first week of the trimester you will be assigned to a module as a tutor, and for the duration of the trimester you will act as a peer-tutor in one tutorial or workshop per week.

As well as acting as a peer-tutor for one hour per week, there will be lecture sessions (some face-to-face and some online) where you will be introduced to mathematics education research in three broad areas: mathematical knowledge required for teaching; professional noticing of students' mathematical thinking; and, in-the-moment decision making in the classroom and the factors that impact the decisions made. For mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) we examine the classic paper by Shulman (1986), before moving on to the categories of MKT proposed by Ball, Thames, and Phelps (2008). The complexities of teacher noticing in the classroom is a growing area of research and we will specifically examine what is involved in the professional noticing of students' mathematical thinking. Specifically we will examine the skills involved as proposed by Jacobs, Lamb, and Philipp (2010). Closely linked to noticing are the in-the-moment decisions that an educator must make while in the classroom. Schoenfeld (2011) proposes that the decisions made in the moment are a function of one's resources/knowledge, orientations/beliefs, and goals. A study by Rowland, Thwaites, and Jared (2015) describes moments when one has to think on one's feet as contingent moments and examines the triggers for these in the classroom.

You will be required to keep a weekly journal. A key aim of the journal entires will be to encourage you to link the research theory to your tutoring practice. Another aim will be to enable you to start to develop the skill of a reflective practitioner. Your weekly journal reflections will be assessed and you will also be asked to write a reflective essay based on your reflections that aims to trace the development of your knowledge and/or skills for teaching mathematics as you progress through the trimester. Some of the knowledge or skills that you work on must be grounded in the research discussed. You will also be asked to undertake a group project with other PATs in the same module as you, that will be focused on some aspect of MKT or noticing of students' mathematical thinking or in-the-moment decision making. Your team will be asked to make a group presentation.

This module is core for Stage 3 students taking a BSc in Science, Mathematics and Education. For all other students interested in taking the module, you should contact Assoc. Prof. Maria Meehan at maria.meehan@ucd.ie before end August 2022 expressing your interest in taking part as places on the module are strictly limited due to the placement component. If necessary places on the module will be awarded based on GPA.