Leveraging Research to Meet Student Needs: First Steps Toward Closing the Research–Practice Gap

• In Event: 35.081 - Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: 35.081-24 - Navigating Research and Theory Into Practice in Teacher Preparation

Abstract

Although research is emerging that identifies practices for advancing equity in PK-12 classrooms, the potential of these practices will not be realized until they are utilized in classrooms. We tested the effect of a structured collaboration between a mathematics teacher educator and an education research librarian to prepare preservice teachers to engage in foundational steps for linking research to practice: (1) formulating researchable questions and (2) engaging in effective search strategies. In our quasi-experimental study, we found that membership in the mathematics methods course with the collaboration was associated with statistically significantly greater scores related to the targeted steps of linking research to practice. We discuss implications for clinically rich, content focused teacher preparation

Authors

• Sarah Ann van Ingen, University of South Florida

• Susan Ariew, University of South Florida