Peer interactions are a critical component of students' academic success and retention in undergraduate programs. Scholars argue that peer interactions influence students' cognitive development, identity development, self-confidence and self-efficacy, and social and academic integration into the university environment (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1980, 1991, 2005). Research shows that reasonable levels of social interactions along with interactions that are academically-centered support students' persistence in undergraduate study (Bank, Slavings, & Biddle, 1990; Liu & Liu, 2000; Loo & Rolison, 1986). While both social and academic interactions among students shape undergraduate learning experiences, these interactions can differentially influence students' academic success and retention in undergraduate education. This study examined the ways first-year students supported their academic success in undergraduate mathematics-based programs by exploring the types of academic-centered peer interactions (ACPIs) in which students engaged both inside and outside of the classroom setting, and the relationship between participation in ACPIs to retention in undergraduate mathematics-based programs.

In this article, the authors propose a department-level curricular committee structure, called Strand Committees, as a mechanism to facilitate oversight and enact significant change to policies and practices in specific courses. The primary goal of the Strand Committees is improving both student success and instruction while upholding a high degree of shared governance. The focus of this paper is based around three recommendations encapsulating the philosophy of Strand Committees: increasing faculty buy-in for change efforts; capitalizing on the enthusiasm of a few faculty members to serve as change agents; and structuring the committees so participation is open, voluntary, and there is continuity to the work. The authors present the history and context of strand committees at a large, recently consolidated public university, highlight examples of successful and beneficial changes resulting from this work, and discuss how Strand Committees may lead to supporting improvements in teaching and learning in undergraduate mathematics.

Opportunities to explore prospective elementary teachers' ideas about the perimeter and area of polygons require more than simply engaging the teachers in mathematical discourse.

This qualitative, longitudinal study explores how student members’ sense of belonging changed over time in a Networked Improvement Community (NIC). Co-authored by researchers and student participants, this study uses the “students as partners” framework and four constructs of belonging (motivation, competencies, opportunities, and perceptions) to examine how sense of belonging manifested and developed for five student NIC members across their first and final semesters of participation in the NIC. Retrospective analysis of journal entries and interview data collected over two years revealed: student motivations shifted from individual goals to a collective investment in the NIC’s systemic improvement goals; students developed competencies in leadership, data-informed decision-making, and equity based on their lived experiences; and intentional NIC structures supported a shift in the student members’ opportunities for belonging from relationship-building and anonymous decision-making to taking on more responsibilities in NIC initiatives. As a result, student perceptions evolved from uncertainty about their roles to having a strong sense of agency, influence, and community within the department. The findings from this study offer evidence that intentionally structured NICs can function as spaces where motivations, competencies, opportunities, and perceptions grow together and position student members as contributors to inclusive systemic change in undergraduate STEM education.

Applying a retrospective, qualitative, longitudinal approach, this study identified aspects of teaching and learning in mathematics and science courses that were the focus of reflections for faculty who were involved early in a STEM improvement effort at an institution oriented toward change. Results indicated an emphasis on instructional considerations but variability in participants’ focus on student learning before, during, and after participating in a yearlong faculty learning community. Implications are described that relate to building on faculty’s sense of caring, so as to centre professional development experiences on student considerations and on fostering change in undergraduate STEM education through a ‘propagation’ approach.

Current work in mathematics education suggests that the learning experiences in which teachers engage during undergraduate study influences their knowledge of and beliefs about mathematics and the ways in which they will teach (Allen, et. al., 2008; CBMS, 2001; Hill, Rowan, & Ball, 2005; National Research Council, 2001). However, very little is known about pre-service teachers’ learning experiences and how those experiences influence their thinking about mathematics teaching and learning. The classroom excerpt described here attempts to illuminate how pre-service, elementary teachers’ active engagement in the learning of geometry and measurement influences their mathematical power: a positive disposition toward mathematics, ability to reason about mathematics, facility in making connections across content strands and to other subjects, and proficiency in communicating mathematical ideas (Baroody & Coslick, 1998; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989; Orrill & French, 2002). The author calls for research that more closely examines students’ learning experiences and educational outcomes such as mathematical power and mathematics knowledge for teaching (Hill, Rowan, & Ball, 2005).