School algebra plays an important role as the gatekeeper to higher-level mathematics and is critical to the pursuit of a career in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Thus, it is imperative to understand the teaching and learning of algebra in grades K-12.
The Meta-Research Algebra Project advances the understanding of teaching and learning algebra in grades K through 12 by using a methodology that leverages the cumulative power of many studies into one detailed analysis. The project is a systematic review and meta-research of empirical algebraic studies in the U.S. across grades K-12 between 1980 and 2022. Systematic review is the process of methodically searching and screening studies. Meta-Research is a mixed methods analysis including a meta-analysis on quantitative studies and a meta-synthesis on qualitative studies. The goal of the meta-analysis is to investigate the effectiveness of algebraic teaching interventions. The goal of the meta-synthesis is to describe the characteristics of effective algebraic teaching interventions across algebraic topics and grade levels. The meta-synthesis will also investigate the links between algebraic topics, algebraic teaching interventions, and students’ mathematical learning. Algebraic Teaching Interventions are strategies, materials, experiences, and instructions provided by the researcher/teacher in the classroom that are different from business-as-usual with the goal of improving the teaching and learning of algebraic content.
This project also employs a multi-level mentorship plan, where the PI mentors the postdoc and graduate students, and the postdoc mentors the graduate students.